But given the way the human mind tends to streamline and simplify, multiculturalism has been streamlined in many minds into "my own culture is evil."
The original purpose of multiculturalism was to prevent the self-righteous arrogance of European and American Judeo-Christian cultures. There was a time when they encountered people from other cultures and they judged them to be barbaric, savage, or simplistic. In many cases Europeans and Americans used force to impose their own "superior" culture on the native cultures they came across.
This kind of blind arrogance is ugly and it is right and good that it has been discredited. It other words, multiculturalism is a good thing.
But in our passionate commitment to multiculturalism, we tossed out a very important item: Our own culture. We should look our own culture to find what's good about it, and we should do it just as impartially and as appreciatively as we look at other cultures.
One of the things we will find is that the basic principles of liberty and equality are so pervasive in our culture, we take them for granted. They are like water to a fish. They go into the background and we stop noticing them. Some Americans have told me "we don't really have a culture."
But if our pervasive right to liberty and equality were suddenly taken away and we were dropped into some exotic and seemingly attractive culture in say, Somalia or China or Saudi Arabia or the Maldives, the lack of natural freedom and equality would be shockingly noticeable.
But we don't live in those cultures. We enjoy all the protections of liberty and equality we have enjoyed our whole lives. In fact, many of those liberties and equalities have improved over our lifetimes. This all seems right and proper to us.
But it is not natural. It is not inevitable. It is not "self-evident." In fact, if you look at the history of civilization, what you see is a glaring lack of liberty and equality all over the world and as far back as we have historical records. And unless those liberties and equalities are protected and defended, they will be lost. Really.
Orthodox Muslims are actively working to take them away and replace our guaranteed rights with the law of Allah (Shari'a). Luckily for the blind multiculturalists who think their own culture is evil, others are busy protecting their liberty and equality for them at the moment.
You probably know all this already. But when you encounter someone who has this my-own-culture-is-evil attitude, speak up and explain this concept. We need every ally in this fight we can get. Our culture of liberty and equality needs to be defended. As Robert Spencer said, "People who are ashamed of their own culture will not defend it."
Explain to them what the world is like in other parts of the world. Explain to them how women in Saudi Arabia cannot go outside their home unless they are accompanied by their husband or a male relative. Explain to them that in Iran they have "clothing police" that go around beating and arresting women if their ankles show. Explain to them that in Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Somalia, if a woman is raped, she is usually jailed and sometimes stoned to death for "fornication." Encourage them to watch Osama the movie and Not Without My Daughter.
You can do all this with the attitude that you are on their side. They want to be multicultural. You can wholeheartedly agree: Multiculturalism is great. Studying other cultures is illuminating. And then educate them on how some other cultures live today. Compare and contrast those cultures with the freedoms and equality we enjoy in this culture.
Explain to them also that there are billionaires, and tens of thousands of skilled orthodox Muslims, and well-funded groups of politically-savvy lawyers, all working actively to overthrow our own government and establish those same restrictive laws on everybody here. They are successfully intimidating with violence and also waging jihad by gaining concessions.
Liberty and equality are not ours alone. They are features of many cultures. But they are salient and foundational features of our own culture, and in the interest of appreciating all cultures, these features should be seen for what they are: Precious and worth protecting. Handled the right way, even a young, passionate multiculturalist should be able to see that.
Citizen Warrior is the author of the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam.
An excellent article. It is almost too late for America. The time is now to activate, activate, activate.
ReplyDeleteNo more tolerance for alien, destructive cultures. All of Christendom is in great danger. The boom of third worlders in our country has brought with it all the horrors and the mindsets of the third world. The Somali populations (only one example) which have formed nests in too many states already have quickly learned to exploit the system and receive federal and state benefits. Too many are not here to amalgamate but to infiltrate and change what is already here - and need to be stopped. Americans are in grave danger and seem blind to the world eroding around us.
I fear that the new administration will be in cahoots with even more sub-radar invasion plans via immigration and jihad financing for easy fixes.
The time has come to stop apologizing for being Caucasian and/or Christian and claim our incredible achievements with great pride. Learn from the mistakes of the past but do not negate the wonders which exceed the wrongs.
We are unequally yoked with either heathen or jihad cultures. Harmless and peaceful Muslims should be harmless and peaceful in their own Muslim countries - not in ours. They have NO place here and need to go.
The principles of liberty and equality are neither Caucasian nor Christian, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWe're talking about culture. A culture can be adopted by anyone. There was a time when Europe and America expected and even insisted that new immigrants adopted our culture, or at least the core parts of it. And our language.
So we had people of all races and religions who adopted our culture of liberty and equality and made it their own.
Brilliantly said!
ReplyDeleteI could never thank enough the owners of sites like this one.
ReplyDeleteI´m fifty years old and have observed the dreadful spread of Islamic ideology through the decades in the media with sheer horror. When we look into the past and see whole countries,like Iran (this one a Zoroastrian,indo-european country), Iraq,Lebanon and Syria(the latter , even being secular,has seen its muslim population overgrow the Christian one in decades,according to the Asia Times,please see http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KH11Ak02.html ) or Lebanon,all of which once had the oldest Aramaic-speaking Christian communities thriving, we wonder if modern historians are not missing the crucial factor of the
(previous,of course)Islamic Conquest in these regions : the cunning, sly undercover agenda Islam has always had, wherever it clutches its talons.Oh but we know,they could never admit it,or they would sound unscientific,
biased.However,no matter how many mainstream historians neglect this,
the facts keep poiinting towards the truthof Islamic cunning ways of sedition and deceit.
Excellent comments and commendable work Citizen warrior.
ReplyDeleteMulti ethnicity is good but multiculturalism is ultimately destructive and corrosive of a democratic free society. Multiculturalism encourages abuse of the freedom and rights of women amongst certain groups, and abuse of young girls by other cultural groups - which one apparently cannot complain about as one may otherwise be accused of being racist. I'm all in favour of multi ethnicity and immigration, but if people want to come into our country they should adopt our way of life. Go and live in certain ME states and you have to live according to their dictates or one can end up incarcerated!
ReplyDeleteThe "doctrine" of multiculturalism, if you want to call it a doctrine, had its origin in the desire of good people to avoid the natural human tendency to think that one's own race and one's own religion are better than anyone else's, and the natural tendency for people with superior weapons to impose their values on others. That's where it started, and it was (and is) a GOOD thing.
ReplyDeleteBLIND multiculturalism, however — multiculturalism that doesn't respect one's own race or religion, multiculturalism that doesn't insist that the respect be mutual — is a formula for cultural extinction.
You people must constantly flood your Senators and Representatives with emails, letters, and phone calls demanding that the 1965 Immigration Law must be changed to exclude Muslims and add to that, any more Hispanics from third world countries.
ReplyDeleteAll we have done is talk about this for years. Nothing has been done. There are more of us than them. Get off your duff and fight to get our country back.
If you care anything about your children and theirs, you must fight now.
Speak up!! Who cares if we are called bigots, Islamophobes. I could care less. Just do it!
Citizen Warrior,
ReplyDelete"So we had people of all races and religions who adopted our culture of liberty and equality and made it their own."
Years ago, the majority of Americans were white European, those who founded this country. White Europeans set the tone because they were the majority.
They were one race with similar values and morals. That is the secret to a successful country.
Opposing cultures and political beliefs pull everyone apart as we are seeing in this country today.
The much smaller minorities did not have a voice because of limited numbers. As you see today, Hispanics and Muslims have no fear in expressing what they want at the expense of other minorities and the majority. That is the problem. They are bold and brazen cultures that do not fit here. They do not want to assimilate.
Mexicans claim they are taking back their country. Muslims want to take the country as well.
Both are dangerous.
Citizen Warrior,
ReplyDelete"The "doctrine" of multiculturalism, if you want to call it a doctrine, had its origin in the desire of good people to avoid the natural human tendency to think that one's own race and one's own religion are better than anyone else's, and the natural tendency for people with superior weapons to impose their values on others. That's where it started, and it was (and is) a GOOD thing."
The truth is not all races are equal. You must investigate this. There is mountains of research done. You can start with reading "The Bell Curve."
For example, Chinese, Japanese, and white Europeans have the highest IQ's in the world based on quite a few different IQ tests.
Muslims and Hispanics average about 15 points lower, 85, than whites and 20 points lower than the Chinese and Japanese, 105, with one exception, Germans' IQ is 107 without the Turks included in their overall scores. IQ is mostly hereditary.
This is very important. Our government is allowing a massive influx of lower IQ scoring immigrants into the country who will eventually be running it.
Excluding those with lower IQ's is nothing more than what universities do. No one calls them prejudiced or bigots. If applicants can't do the work, they shouldn't be admitted, period. That applies to the United States, as well.
This is not prejudice, or bigotry. It is fact. Someone needs to be realistic. These people do have something to offer in this world; however, let them offer it to their own countries.
"natural tendency for people with superior weapons to impose their values on others."
United States does impose its values on other countries which I disagree. Let others live as they wish, but allow us to live as we wish without the massive immigration.
Multiculturalism is a disaster. Throwing a bunch of different cultures together and expecting them to live together peacefully is insane. Already there are gangs of blacks and Hispanics fighting each other. Blacks and Muslims. Whites and Hispanics. Christian Blacks and Muslims.
Few are assimilating. Blacks never assimilated. We have not learned one thing from our history. We are seeing Hispanics and Muslims taking over cities and states, throwing up all kinds of cultural specific symbols from their own countries, carrying their native flags, and basically carrying on as if they were in their native countries. They demand their own ways at the expense of Americans who have one hundred, two hundred, three hundred year ancestries.
They are taking over and our government is allowing it. They are establishing foreign countries within the United States.
It isn't just Muslims, it's Hispanics, who are a dire threat to this country, as well.
Multiculturalism is destroying us.
Multiculturalism is going to be the downfall of the Western world, if they adopt it fully and go any further.Tell me which muslim country has adopted to multiculturalism? The West must wake up if it does not want to become part of muslim world or taken over by muslims. see www.blip.tv/file/1382254 Barbara , you are spot on.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article CW. Thanks.
ReplyDelete