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multiculturalism Archive

Saturday

13

November 2010

1

COMMENTS

Student Told American Flag Will Cause Racial Tensions

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society

The story:

A California middle school student was told to remove a U.S. flag from his bike to avoid ‘racial tensions’ with other pupils.

Cody Alicea, 13, was told not to fly the flag from his bike while at Denair Middle School, in Sacramento, after other students made complaints, according to KCRA-TV.

District superintendent Edward Parraz said that racial tensions at the school boiled over during the Cinco de Mayo holiday – a national holiday in Mexico.

Mr Parraz said: ‘The First Amendment is important. We want the kids to respect it, understand it, and with that comes a responsibility.

‘Our Hispanic, you know, kids will, you know, bring their Mexican flags and they’ll display it, and then of course the kids would do the American flag situation, and it does cause kind of a racial tension which we don’t really want.

…The teenagers parents said he flies the flag from his bike as a tribute to service veterans in his family.

I get so tired of this nonsense. I welcome all races and cultures that want to come to America, and I think it would be smart for us to streamline the process by which they are allowed to legally do so. But anyone who finds the American flag offensive, racially or otherwise, can get the hell out. The American flag is not an insult to Hispanics, and anyone who prefers the Mexican flag so much should go live in Mexico.

It is a gross indictment of our ability (or lack thereof) to integrate and assimilate newcomers that such blatant racial-nationalism is tolerated in the slightest.

Monday

18

October 2010

1

COMMENTS

Germany Ends Experiment In Multiculturalism

Written by , Posted in General/Misc.

Germany’s failed experiment in multiculturalism – not to be confused with the acceptance of other cultures – has come to an end (Hat-tip: Hot Air):

“Multikulti”, the concept that “we are now living side by side and are happy about it,” does not work, Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party at Potsdam near Berlin.

“This approach has failed, totally,” she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany’s culture and values.

…”Subsidising immigrants” isn’t sufficient, Germany has the right to “make demands” on them, she added, such as mastering the language of Goethe and abandoning practices such as forced marriages.

Multiculturalism is the idea that it is up to the host society to accommodate new arrivals, rather than the responsibility of immigrants to adapt and assimilate. This pernicious doctrine – promoted most often by the self-hating far left, which never really liked Western society anyway – leads ultimately to Balkanization.

America, unfortunately, has increasingly abandoned the time-tested idea of a melting pot – in which society and new arrivals blend together – in favor of the self-flagellation of multiculturalism. Perhaps Germany’s example can lead us to correct our own course before it’s too late.

Tuesday

10

November 2009

0

COMMENTS

The Lesson From Fort Hood

Written by , Posted in Foreign Affairs & Policy

The story of the Fort Hood shooting isn’t all that complicated.  Muslim radicalizes and becomes jihadist.  Radical jihadist then kills 13 infidels.  It’s quickly becoming as common as boy meets girl.

The story of the lead-up to the shooting is far murkier.  As the evidence continues to trickle out about the degree to which authorities were aware of Nidal Hasan’s radical beliefs, a single question emerges: just what the hell were they thinking by allowing this jihadist to remain in the military?

Hasan often railed against both U.S. wars in the Middle East and was known to have anti-American views and a propensity for seditious commentary.  He also had ties with a radical mosque connected to the 9/11 attacks, and sought to communicate with a terrorist supporting, anti-American imam.  Given what the FBI knew of Hasan’s views and actions, it is inexcusable that no action was taken.  One can only conclude that excessive multiculturalism contributed to this failure.  Questioning or removing a Muslim soldier for radical views would just be too insensitive.

This episode illustrates perfectly our self-imposed incapacity to deal with radical Islamic jihad.  Yet we do not learn.  Immediately after the attack, as with all radical jihadist attacks, our leaders wring their hands about an “anti-Muslim backlash” that is often predicted but never materializes.  Everyone knows this isn’t about Muslims or Islam in general, but a particular and toxic strain that wages war against us.  The denialist culture that allowed an outspoken, anti-American jihadist to remain in the US military despite frequent seditious outbursts continues unabated.  When will we get serious and treat jihadism as the enemy that it is?

Wednesday

7

February 2007

0

COMMENTS

Europe's National Identity Crisis

Written by , Posted in Culture & Society, Foreign Affairs & Policy

There’s an excellent Australian op-ed that addresses the predicament Europe finds itself in. The author concludes that a strong rise of right-wing European nationalism is almost an inevitable response to the failures resulting from years of extreme multiculturalism.

Elsewhere in the West, a renewed clamour for national identity is a predictable and overdue response to the permissive extremes of the decades-long embrace of no-rules multiculturalism. The trend has been provoked by the rise of militant Islam, with its own competitive identity that transcends national borders.

. . .The new reality sits uncomfortably with the so-called progressive view that favours unbridled tolerance for the minority and a loathing for the dominant culture or conventional view. These themes are explored by Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, who says that if existing citizens do not sufficiently value their national citizenship, they can scarcely expect newcomers to value it. The potential cost of inaction is evident in comments by Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes in The Australian today that opinion surveys in Britain consistently show 50 per cent of British Muslims would like to see the introduction of sharia Islamic law. This is akin to exchanging the constitution for the Koran.

Professor Fukuyama hits the nail square on the head. Modern Europe is so disgusted by its own existence and overwhelmed with Western guilt that it’s practically inviting a cultural invasion. How can people be expected to care for their country’s existence when nations are evil constructs to be scorned because they cause war, when values are to be dismissed because the adoption of certain beliefs itself represents a rejection of others, or when you can’t be proud of who you are because that means you think you are better than others? The problem is when a strong transnational ethos such as Islamism moves in and takes advantage of the identity void created by the self-hatred that comes from excessive multiculturalism.

. . .Unfortunately for the West, the liberal tolerance shown by the Left to minority groups has not always come with reciprocal obligations. Professor Fukuyama argues that Europe’s failure to better integrate its Muslim population is a ticking time bomb that has already contributed to terrorism. It is bound to provoke a sharper backlash from populist groups, and may even threaten European democracy itself.

At this point I’d have to say we’re well beyond “may…threaten”.