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| Britain | |
| Britain âmust scrap multiculturalismâ | |
| 2004-04-04 | |
| Via An Englishmanâs Castle: BRITAINâs race relations chief last night called for the abandonment of the policy pursued by successive governments since the 1960s of building a âmulticultural societyâ. Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, said that multiculturalism was out of date and no longer useful, not least because it encouraged âseparatenessâ between communities. As British-born Muslims burnt the Union Jack on the streets of London yesterday, he said that there was an urgent need to âassert a core of Britishnessâ across society.
Maybe one of our Brit allies would give us more??? | |
| Posted by:Anonymous2U |
| #10 I think culturally aware is healthy. For an American that includes identifying with your cultural roots with an understanding of why the people in your family chose to come to America and assimilate. Cultural festivals are good. I don't think that there is much harmful in the pride of the family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Multiculturalism becomes dangerous because it rejects assimilation and refuses to acknowledge the parts of the new society that an attracted the immigrant to his or her new country. I differentiate multiculturalism from cultural awareness in that multiculturalism implies an unhealthy degree of social separation. When it functions successfully, America becomes a true melting pot. Multiculturalism, in contrast, implies four separate pots on the stove top - no succotash allowed. Can anyone imagine a man dressed as a leprechaun going door to door making sure that no Scots are celebrating St. Patrick's day? There certainly exist some cultural events that are predicated on the principle of exclusion. IMO underneath much of the push for multiculturalism and bilingualism there is a an element of political cynical voter-block creation. In America, the Black vote has been successfully herded for the last 40 years. That is an impressive accomplishment by the politicians who have made this happen because there exist within that herd both militant Moslems and socially conservative Baptists - groups that you would expect to be political opponents. The attempt to fashion Latinos into a homogeneous voting block has been moderately successful as well - and would be even more successful if Spanish speaking immigrants are prevented from learning English. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-04-04 8:35:54 PM |
| #9 Methinks Trevor better watch his back, and check under his car. He's made nasty enemies with this spot-on speech. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-04-04 8:09:32 PM |
| #8 Lucky how's the recovery? Do they plan on nuking ya? Do you plan on nuking them? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-04 6:49:28 PM |
| #7 the quicker people drop the cultural identity and its imaginary benefits, they reap the real benefits that come from working toward bona fide integration. Damn that's good. I'm stealing it. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-04 10:04:37 AM |
| #6 For the multiculturalists out there, these rants are not rooted in racialism and intolerance. The true issue is culture, not race. The U.S. threw in the towel years ago...they have no hope of integrating immigrants into a homgenous culture (U.S...what culture?) The Brits still have a chance, as do the Germans because their historic cultures are still observable,...still exist. |
| Posted by: Vandor 2004-04-04 8:11:31 AM |
| #5 BD - IMHO, the quicker people drop the cultural identity and its imaginary benefits, they reap the real benefits that come from working toward bona fide integration. Obviously, from what you've said and I've read, Phillips isn't insane or a looney - seems rather solid overall. If I lived in London, he could certainly count on my vote over the infamous Red Ken. Now he is an embarrassment, IMHO, much like Skeery and Kennedy are for us. Sigh. ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-04 5:05:57 AM |
| #4 ...Only now, it seems he's gone off the word "multiculturalism" as a government social policy specifically intended to keep communities segregated. You'd have to be mad and unrealistic to demand total monoculturalism in a country like the United Kingdom, which, before religious, ethnic, immigrant and regional groupings, comprises four major distinct 'nationalities', but it's only sensible to expect all British nationals, whatever their cultural background, to ultimately be British first, cultural minority second. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-04-04 4:55:41 AM |
| #3 This is all a little less surprising when you learn that Trevor Phillips is black. Sadly, I don't think a white man making sound comments like these would be tolerated in such a position for very long. Makes not one jot of difference, of course, but when you're fighting a left-wing entrenchment, if a little camouflage helps you creep closer before tossing in the grenades, I'm not going to complain. Phillips has come out with some surprisingly candid stuff before this. He's called for faster (read: called for, for all intents and purposes) deportation of scum like Hookhand, and he's criticised ethnic shortlists and racial ('positive') discrimination by proudly racist orgs like the BBC (for whom he worked in the past). He's also railed against both anti-semitism and Islamophobia. And he don't get on well with "Red Ken" Livingstone; in fact, he wants his job. Perhaps this sums him up: The French are about to make that "huge, stupid mistake" with President Jacques Chirac's proposed ban on hijabs - Muslim headscarves - in school, says Mr Phillips. "It's unbelievable. I'm glad the talks on an EU constitution broke down. How can we have a common constitutional settlement with a country that thinks that unless you are cut out according to a pattern decided by Jacques Chirac you can't be French?" Part of the British identity is to accept that you can be British but different. "People from Yorkshire are different from people in London but we are all British and we share a common core. We are going to look at what that common core is," he said. The erosion of "English" identity is something he intends to address. "The two great influences on this country are Shakespeare and the Bible. You don't have to be a Christian or a lover of Shakespeare to understand that. Knowing these things is not the enemy of multi-culturalism." |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2004-04-04 4:45:16 AM |
| #2 Like taking dope for cancer. Yes I feel better now. Take your meds every six hours and you'll always feel fine. But will I be better? Yes we're all better. So I'll be better. No, we're better. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-04-04 3:20:10 AM |
| #1 "because it encouraged âseparatenessâ between communities" And a massive "f**kin duh" for that rather belated observation. Of course, "rainbow" / "multiculti" was an absurd notion from the beginning... but that didn't stop most of the West from treating it with amazing reverence, a social "third rail" on the order of the Holy Grail, instead of the most obviously inane social twittery yet dreamed up. The size of the Clue Bat⢠that obviously brained ol' Trevor must've been phreakin' huge! Uh, Bulldog, Tony, Howard, et al - can we, um, sorta borrow it when you're done? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-04-04 1:01:15 AM |