Multiculturalism: Tested And Failed
By Daniel Miessler on January 29th, 2007: Tagged as America | Culture | Multiculturalism | Philosophy | Politics
What people fail to understand about diversity is that it should be used to make a culture stronger — not to fragment and destroy it. This is what’s happening to Britian, the U.S., and even Canada. It’s time to put an end to this. One language. One culture. Unity.
Immigration and inclusion should be continued — there’s no question about that — but it should be done from the standpoint of, “What can you offer us?”, rather than, “How can we help you?” At some point, if we want to continue to be in the position of being able to help anyone, we need to start looking after ourselves.
An analogy comes to mind. When you’re preparing to fly and the flight attendant explains what would happen in the event of a loss of cabin pressure, what does she tell you?
Put your mask on first, then help the person who needs assistance.Why is this so hard for people to grasp? You can’t help others if you are barely handling your own affairs. Think about it — we don’t make anything anymore, our kids can’t read, write, or do basic math, and our currency is becoming a complete laughing stock. We need to wake the hell up before it’s too late.
The very first step in this process is deciding who we are. And in my humble opinion, that means dropping a bit of the sophisticated, academic approach of globalism/multiculturalism and deciding to be American, through and through. First and foremost, that means leaving behind whoever you used to be and taking pride in what you are now.
This doesn’t mean be ashamed of your background or culture — in fact it’s quite the opposite; these various backgrounds help make the single, unified nation stronger. But only if the conversion to being American takes place. If newcomers to this nation are unwilling to shed their culture and adopt ours, they should not have come in the first place. I don’t fault them for coming, however; I fault our government for not looking after the interests of the nation as a single, living organism.The only way this (or any) nation can succeed is for it to move forward as one unit. Unfortunately, we’re heading in exactly the opposite direction, and something must be done…soon.:
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“First and foremost, that means rejecting whoever you used to be and taking pride in what you are now.”
I’d argue that “rejecting” is too strong a word, but I do think that “E Pluribus Unum” remains a relevant philosophy.
Comment by Carl M. — 1/29/2007 @ 2:17 pm
Agreed, “rejecting” is not appropriate. I was looking for something more like “leaving it behind…”
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 1/29/2007 @ 3:47 pm
You are absolutely correct. But nothing will likely be done, at least in the U.S. and Canada. Few prominent North American politicians have the guts to point out and discuss the very real problems you write of.
Some likely fear the media backlash, even if there is support among many of their constituents for the better management of immigration.
Others likely fear physical attacks from immigrants and refugees, which just goes to prove that a major problem exists in this area.
And yet others are likely too lazy to want to deal with such issues, or otherwise don’t realize that there are cultural problems relating to immigration that need to be dealt with.
At the very least, nations like Canada, the U.S., Britain, Germany and France should put an end to accepting refugees. In many cases they contribute very little benefit to the society they move into, as they often come in without any useful skills or knowledge. Increased screening is likely needed for economic immigrants, with standards put in place to ensure that they have a suitable mastery of the native language or languages of the nation to which they are entering.
Comment by Steve American — 1/29/2007 @ 4:29 pm
Hmmmm…. You sound like the Serbians before they went and cleansed their society….
Comment by garrett — 1/29/2007 @ 5:39 pm
This is interesting that you have been writing about this. I just had a conversation with a person at work today who used to live in Miami and I also have three very good friend who used to live there too.
Apparently, the city of Miami, which is in Miami-Dade county is completely run by corrupt Cuban politicians. And I say Cubans because the ones living there do not consider themselves American but Cuban.
Miami is a text book example of a self sustaining cycle of poverty that was created by political correctness.
-Cubans move in and take over. Refuse to be American and live by our laws. -Politicians let it happen in the interest of political correctness. -Middle class leaves because of Cubans. -Tax base erodes leaving city services, education and business in steady decline. -Poverty grows.
And as the final finishing touch. -You cannot work in Miami unless you speak Spanish.
So much for diversity.
Comment by Craig — 1/30/2007 @ 12:00 am
There is no excuse for allowing people to refuse to live by our laws.
But that’s got nothing to do with political correctness. Nothing (in my view) in political correctness says “let people do whatever they want .. who are we to say what’s right and wrong.” To me, political correctness has to do with the fact that racial and other offensive humor is not considered humor. That’s the sort of thing that political correctness entails. Treat people with respect and as fellow human beings … EVEN if they are different. THAT is political correctness. Don’t believe the twisted definition of political coorrectness that you hear on FOX News.
I’ve already expressed my opinion on this forum that I believe rather strongly that there is a place for multiculturalism I believe that variety is wonderful, and whatever people do (or choose to believe) that does not impose on the rights of others is fine by me. This does not include breaking laws. … Have to run to class .. but I’ll have more to say later. :)
Comment by Carl M. — 1/30/2007 @ 7:54 am
OK .. I’ll not dwell on this stuff … BUT
I think that most of the anger about multiculturalism is misplaced and misinterprets what multiculturalism means to most of those who value it. To be sure, there are those who take things too far, but multiculturalism does not (for most) say “all cultures are equally good and are to be equally valued by those in the dominant culture.” (This is how FOX News would define it because this stance is so easy to attack.) As I said in my last post, people should be treated with respect and not be dismissed SIMPLY because they are different.
This is NOT to say that people choosing to move to the US should be allowed to continue to live according to the laws and traditions of their native lands when those behaviors clash with laws and expectations in American culture. That they should not be allowed to violate the LAWS of the US should be clear. That they should not expect to succeed when violating the EXPECTATIONS of American culture may be less clear, so let me give a couple of examples.
American culture typically expects people to be on time for meetings/appointments. If a foreign culture is more lax about this sort of thing and someone shows up an hour late to a job interview, they should not expect to get that job (they certainly wouldn’t if I was doing the hiring). If someone moves here from a country where the native language is NOT English, then they should understand that they are moving to a country where the dominant (if not official) language IS English and that to maximize their chance of success in our society, they should learn English. They should not expect the institutions of our society to adjust to THEIR language.
I have no problem with those who maintain their native languages. I don’t even care if they don’t learn English. But, they should not EXPECT our institutions to bend to their language needs. In the spirit of a free economy, I don’t care if some (non-government) businesses do cater to the language needs of those they serve. That’s what the free market is all about. (I don’t think I’d have a problem requiring all businesses to be able to conduct their busines in English when needed, but I’d have to think that through a little.)
I could go on and on, but I think I’ve expressed what I wanted to express.
Comment by Carl M — 1/30/2007 @ 1:17 pm
Carl,
The issue is that you speak of ideals, when in fact they tend not to exist in reality. I think real-world complex systems tend to move toward disorder when not kept it check through deliberate policies. Entropy comes to mind.
So what ends up happening is unless we as a society say, “This will remain organized and unified.”, and we put strong, proactive policies in place that will support such a mission statement, we essentially guarantee that it will not remain organized and unified.
So if you 1) allow basically anyone into the country, and 2) don’t require that they conduct their public affairs in the country’s language, then what you end up with is Miami. The place is scarcely recognizable as America, and this is where many of our large cities are heading (to be followed by the rest of the country).
In other words, disorder is natural; we as civilized people must consciously fight to keep it from moving in that direction. Policies that encourage unity and cohesion are how we stave off the constant push toward chaos, and what we’ve done in this country is abandon such policies because they are not politically palatable.
Or, more to the point, it’s actually politically advantageous to endorse the opposite policies, i.e. those that ultimately destroy the very environment that people flock here to participate in.
Comment by Daniel Miessler — 1/31/2007 @ 10:44 am
[...] I’ve talked about this a number of times. Now here’s some support from Harvard. IT HAS BECOME increasingly popular to speak of racial and ethnic diversity as a civic strength. From multicultural festivals to pronouncements from political leaders, the message is the same: our differences make us stronger. [...]
Pingback by Too Much Diversity Really Does Cause Harm | dmiessler.com — 8/15/2007 @ 7:56 pm
Multiculturalism WORKS. Prejudice doesn’t. Spend a week in Toronto, maybe.
In the US, economic disparity has served to maintain much of the separation previously established by overt legislated racism. How’s that workin out for ya?
Miami is not an example of multiculturalism gone bad, it’s an example of a population segment displaced when the poor people’s bastard (Castro) kicked out the rich people’s (and the American’s preferred) bastard (Batista) some 40 years ago. Alot of them still think they’re going back, so they’re not emotionally investing in their new home. That’s problem one.
Anyway, the Cubans make Miami alot more interesting. Learn some Spanish and have yourself a great time. Without them Miami would be awash with white and purple hair, white belts and shoes, and Lincolns and Caddys fighting to park at the Denny’s in time for the Senior Special.
Comment by ken — 4/1/2008 @ 2:07 pm
3,000/day enter illeagly. No English. Hmmm
Cheers ratsarsed
– Use a rotary telephone and never need to Press # 1 to Speak English http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEJfS1v-fU0
Comment by ratsarsed — 5/16/2008 @ 10:22 pm
As a person who was born in this country, I never could “embrace American culture and leave my own behind” I guess i consider my culture to be a sub-culture. It always seemed to me that American “culture” was pretty much a lack of culture. Get yours while you can, Blow money on things you think will make your life better, (probably because you saw it on TV), Make sure you have nicer things than your neighbor, etc… I agree that it is important to be unified, and to educate our children, but a person’s culture is something that is part of them for their whole life. It is not something you can just leave behind. And furthermore, it is possible to embrace more than one culture. Maybe that’s just a difficult concept for most Americans to grasp.
Comment by marie — 8/26/2008 @ 11:23 pm