Rethinking Multiculturalism

While perusing some of the clips at 3 Quarks Daily I came across an article by Ted Cantle on the Eurozine website. I thought the article was good so I commented on blogger Robin Varghese's decision to include it on the 3 Quarks site. Here is that reply:

Excellent and timely post Robin. I used to think that xenophobia was the specialty of a socially conservative America, but having lived in the Netherlands for a year, it is evident that issues of immigration and nationalism have once again become divisive political topics even among the notoriously tolerant Dutch. With the murder of prominent and controversial film director Theo van Gogh at the hands of a Moroccan man in 2004, many people have come to question the Netherlands' liberal immigration policy. Moreover, some people in this crowded country have expressed concerns that the growing Muslim population here may at some point politically threaten Dutch policies such as homosexual marriage and legalized prostitution. Officials of the European Union have also reported on the growing influence of racial hate groups and neo-Nazism, especially in former Eastern Bloc countries. With the continued integration of these nations into the EU, it seems likely that these trends will continue. On the other side of the Atlantic, G.W. recently signed the bill authorizing the construction of a fence stretching the length of the U.S. border with Mexico. These are just a few examples of the disturbing increase in intolerance and xenophobia in the western world. Clearly it is necessary to rethink our definition of "multiculturalism" if we wish to build pluralistic and democratic societies of the future.

Perhaps even more disturbing however, was the comment left after mine by one Luke Lea. It's hard to say just where Luke stands on the issue since his (I'm assuming it's a he) rather incohate bile spewing suggests that he didn't even read the original article which was actually about the loss of meaning in the word 'multiculturalism' as a result of its being bandied about so much. Thankfully, this person clarifies their position by beginning and summarizing with an insult. A real class-act. If you have a spare moment you may want to read it for yourself. One of my favorite sentances is, "Realism is the first requirement of moral responsibility." Perhaps "Cool Hand" should take some of his own advice and Wiki 'realism.' In any case this is why I try to stay away from politics in my blogging since it tends to degenerate into this type of thing. I'll stick to politically incorrect, intellectually elitist humor instead.