I have wanted to comment on the cultural issues facing Europe and how they highlight a similar problem for American liberals–multi-culturism. We should all want it, but was does it really mean to be a multi-culturist and what boundaries can one place on it before finding oneself a nationalist? Fortunately for me, I was looking at a pingback to our thoughtful piece on French journalist Melissa Theuriau, and saw traffic from a site called Peaktalk (written by a Dutchman now living in Canada) and it has become an instant favorite read. More to the point, they had an outstanding piece on the issue of multi-culturaism which I will excerpt here:

…I am a staunch multi-culturalist, but to date have not really invested time into describing what the term actually should mean. Victor Davis Hanson in a very interesting interview comes very close to nailing down what it should stand for:

The very affluent, mostly white, liberal people who use it don’t actually want the police in their neighborhood to have the culture of Mexican officers. They don’t want to be treated with the same medical protocols that prevail in China. They don’t want their daughters to have clitorectomies as in Sudan. So what do they mean with this idea of a salad bowl of culture?

What they really mean is they want a core culture that is Western, enhanced by exotica on the periphery, such as fashion, food, literature, and movies. That’s a very different concept from multiculturalism. What we have to agree on is one culture, one language, one notion of what the law is, respect for private property, faith in democracy, capitalism, a transparent society, free speech. And those things are pretty much confined to those countries that are Western or Western-inspired.

There’s no harm in enjoying your own culture while adhering to the values and adapting to the norms of the society you live in.

It seems to be the case that in the traditional Anglo-Saxon immigration countries (USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) all the values Hanson is talking about have more or less thrived while ethnic groups from all over the world generally assimilated without much problems. And that I see all around me with ambitious Chinese, Iranians, Japanese and Peruvians who are all proud of their culture master English and participate as loyal citizens in a new world to improve their well-being. Their presence is a good thing and our lives would be so much duller without their unique cultural input.

The one place where this model has not worked is in Europe where the existing political culture and the socio-cultural status of the immigrants have created a potentially toxic mix that threatens the survival of the old continent itself.

Postscript: The problem for Europe is that certain segments of the Muslim population (I have before tried to make the distinction between for instance Turks and Moroccans, no broad brush here) adhere to an identity that firmly rejects the culture and core beliefs of the host nation.

The liberal and democratic values on which western societies have been built conflict with the value set of a significant portion of immigrants, a group that has a birth rate that outstrips that of the native population. So, the risk is that out of sheer political expediency some core western rights (freedom of speech, women’s rights, partner choice, sexual orientation) may be adapted or altered in order to placate one particular group with beliefs diametrically opposed to ours. Hate speech laws, is a good example, as it is a first dent in the right of freedom of expression. Others are turning a blind eye on the abuse of women in the house and explain it away as ’something cultural’ or, reconsider the rights that gays have in order not to offend the other group’s exclusive definition of sexual relationships.

The bottom line, there’s nothing wrong with cultural individuality, but it should always be subject to the uniformity of the law. And as it happens, it is the most liberal, most inclusive law ever known to humanity. To enjoy its benefits you will have to live up to its principles.

Good stuff. Now If I can just find an equally good piece to copy on why apologists have ruined California schools, I’ll be done for the day!

Additional reading: While you are at Peaktalk, check out this post on the decline of Europe. It was written in 2003 but still a compelling post.

technorati: multi-culturism

This entry was posted on Friday, November 11th, 2005 at 11:06 am by Insider and is filed under Big Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.