German Chancellor Merkel announced yesterday that the project of multiculturalism failed in her country. Others are saying it is dead. And not just in Germany, but all over Europe.
I am a firm believer in multiculturalism, and I don't accept that it is dead. But there's no point in a knee-jerk reaction against Merkel's announcement. One has to face up to the truth, and adjust accordingly.
The premise behind multiculturalism was that most people want to live in a free society, and given the chance, they would change their own culture and make it pluralistic. This did not happen. Some immigrant cultures only exploited their freedom to maintain a sense of isolation, supremacy and hate towards other cultures, and teach it to their children. I still believe that given more time, they would eventually change, but we are running out of time. The extreme right is exploiting the matter to gain popularity and spread hate against all immigrants, and anti-Western forces are using the immigrants as a breeding ground for their views. The more enlightened people need to adjust their views and come up with a better plan.
Freedom requires responsibility, and a free society can exist only if all its participants take it upon themselves to respect the freedom of others. So for multiculturalism to work, we first need to ensure that every culture actually wants to live in a multicultural society. If there are certain cultures who are not so inclined, then they should change. And if they are unable to change on their own, then they should be forced.
There is no need to force the Western culture upon them. Every culture has the potential to change and become pluralistic, while maintaining its uniqueness and core tenets. And every culture has enough enlightened people who can realize that potential, and change their culture from within. The new plan should be to neutralize the negative elements in the group, and strengthen the positive forces in it, those who can bring about the change.
Europe still has plenty of time. I'm sure they will eventually find a formula that works.
Showing posts with label multiculturalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label multiculturalism. Show all posts
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Not a good time for liberalism
Everywhere I look, I see depressed liberals. They are depressed in Israel, they are depressed in Europe, they are depressed in the US. American liberals thought that they scored big with the election of Obama, and now walk around feeling betrayed and discouraged. But the problem is not Obama, nor any other person or group. This is simply not a good time for liberalism.
It is not a good time for socialist reforms. Basically, globalization gave the rich more power, and they have us by the balls. If they don't like the policies of one country, they can take their business elsewhere, and find plenty of better offers in many places around the world. In such an environment, the people will not want to hear our ideas, and if we do manage to implement some reform, it will fall flat on its face. But globalization will also gradually level the economies around the globe, until the markets become more equal. When this happens, we can think of big reforms again. Until then, no chance.
It is not a good time for peace. The enemies of the West at the moment are fundamentalist Muslims, and they are driven by an ideology of non-compromise. Until they change and become more pragmatic, there is no sense in talking peace to them.
It is not a good time for multiculturalism. The fundamentalists are using the West's multiculturalism not to integrate better in Western society, but to maintain and spread their anti-Western ideology. Again, we liberals have to face up to this reality.
It is not a good time for liberal immigration policies. The West is being swamped by immigrants from all over the world, and until the situation in their countries becomes better and the stream slows down, immigration policies will have to be more restrictive.
You get the idea. So, what should liberals do, until the environment becomes open to liberal thought again?
Play defense.
No point in getting frustrated or discouraged. Face reality, and realize that now is the time to defend and bolster what we have achieved since the sixties. This time can be used to rethink, to reevaluate, to reassess what has been done and what we should do in the future. There are also many small battles that can be fought and won. But don't waste energy on trying to bring on big progress. Conservatives have the wind in their back at the moment, they are on the offense, and our job is to hold our ground until the wind blows in our direction again.
That's all I had to say for today. Happy Superbowl!
It is not a good time for socialist reforms. Basically, globalization gave the rich more power, and they have us by the balls. If they don't like the policies of one country, they can take their business elsewhere, and find plenty of better offers in many places around the world. In such an environment, the people will not want to hear our ideas, and if we do manage to implement some reform, it will fall flat on its face. But globalization will also gradually level the economies around the globe, until the markets become more equal. When this happens, we can think of big reforms again. Until then, no chance.
It is not a good time for peace. The enemies of the West at the moment are fundamentalist Muslims, and they are driven by an ideology of non-compromise. Until they change and become more pragmatic, there is no sense in talking peace to them.
It is not a good time for multiculturalism. The fundamentalists are using the West's multiculturalism not to integrate better in Western society, but to maintain and spread their anti-Western ideology. Again, we liberals have to face up to this reality.
It is not a good time for liberal immigration policies. The West is being swamped by immigrants from all over the world, and until the situation in their countries becomes better and the stream slows down, immigration policies will have to be more restrictive.
You get the idea. So, what should liberals do, until the environment becomes open to liberal thought again?
Play defense.
No point in getting frustrated or discouraged. Face reality, and realize that now is the time to defend and bolster what we have achieved since the sixties. This time can be used to rethink, to reevaluate, to reassess what has been done and what we should do in the future. There are also many small battles that can be fought and won. But don't waste energy on trying to bring on big progress. Conservatives have the wind in their back at the moment, they are on the offense, and our job is to hold our ground until the wind blows in our direction again.
That's all I had to say for today. Happy Superbowl!
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