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Report: Why multiculturalism can be fatal
By Staff Writer
Posted: March 20, 2006
Multiculturalism is a divisive political doctrine that creates enormous
costs, foments racial hatred, and may even have been complicit in
cultivating the homegrown suicide bombers of July 7, according to a
new report from the independent think-tank Civitas.
In The Poverty of Multiculturalism Patrick West argues that there is a
difference between Soft Multiculturalism -- the idea that minorities
should not face discrimination and that the customs of different people
should be tolerated, and which he describes as a 'benign force' - and
Hard Multiculturalism, which insists no culture is better than another,
and which believes society should not only tolerate difference but
promote it (pp.3-4).
This leads some Western intellectuals, who regard themselves as
progressive, into the perverse position of defending cultures that
condone the killing of homosexuals and the virtual enslavement of
women, whilst denigrating the culture of the free societies of the West,
inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, 'in which universal
franchise, free speech and democracy are the norm and the
expectation' (p.9).
Far from creating tolerance, multiculturalism can lead to bitter divisions
along ethnic lines, splitting communities into hostile factions:
'State-sponsored multiculturalism has led to cities such as Bradford,
Burnley and Oldham fissuring along sectatrian lines, and to
heightening racial tensions between whites and Asians - with white
people feeling "the other lot" are getting favourable treatment from the
local council… The rise of the BNP in the north… is the result of white
people seeing themselves discriminated against by local authorities' (p.
47).
No society can survive unless its members subscribe to a set of core
values, but multiculturalists encourage members of minority groups to
see themselves as separate.
Nothing shows more clearly the way in which the ideals of the
Enlightenment have been abandoned than the failure to condemn or to
punish appropriately so-called 'honour killings'. Under an impartial
judicial system, murder would be murder, regardless of race or culture.
But when Asian women are killed for supposedly dishonouring their
families by disapproved-of relationships, the courts have
been lenient towards their killers.
Patrick West points out the central paradox of multiculturalism: it is an
entirely Western concept which is not found in any other culture (p.35).
'To promote multiculturalism is, paradoxically, to champion Western
values' (p.2). In The Poverty of Multiculturalism West champions the
values of Western culture as expressed by the great thinkers of the
Enlightenment.
'It is time that we respected our own culture, both as Westerners and
Britons..... It is time we cherished the tradition of the Enlightenment,
with its aspiration that the prizes of liberty, democracy, colour-
blindness, equality of opportunity and progress can be shared among
all. We should certainly afford respect to traditional British values which
influenced the beneficent aspirations of the Enlightenment. While
admitting our country's short-comings in the past, we should desist
from perpetually dwelling on them, and recognise that of which we
should be proud.' (p.2)
### ### ###
The Poverty of Multiculturalism
By Patrick West
A Civitas Online Report
www.civitas.org.uk
By Staff Writer
Posted: March 20, 2006
Multiculturalism is a divisive political doctrine that creates enormous
costs, foments racial hatred, and may even have been complicit in
cultivating the homegrown suicide bombers of July 7, according to a
new report from the independent think-tank Civitas.
In The Poverty of Multiculturalism Patrick West argues that there is a
difference between Soft Multiculturalism -- the idea that minorities
should not face discrimination and that the customs of different people
should be tolerated, and which he describes as a 'benign force' - and
Hard Multiculturalism, which insists no culture is better than another,
and which believes society should not only tolerate difference but
promote it (pp.3-4).
This leads some Western intellectuals, who regard themselves as
progressive, into the perverse position of defending cultures that
condone the killing of homosexuals and the virtual enslavement of
women, whilst denigrating the culture of the free societies of the West,
inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, 'in which universal
franchise, free speech and democracy are the norm and the
expectation' (p.9).
Far from creating tolerance, multiculturalism can lead to bitter divisions
along ethnic lines, splitting communities into hostile factions:
'State-sponsored multiculturalism has led to cities such as Bradford,
Burnley and Oldham fissuring along sectatrian lines, and to
heightening racial tensions between whites and Asians - with white
people feeling "the other lot" are getting favourable treatment from the
local council… The rise of the BNP in the north… is the result of white
people seeing themselves discriminated against by local authorities' (p.
47).
No society can survive unless its members subscribe to a set of core
values, but multiculturalists encourage members of minority groups to
see themselves as separate.
Nothing shows more clearly the way in which the ideals of the
Enlightenment have been abandoned than the failure to condemn or to
punish appropriately so-called 'honour killings'. Under an impartial
judicial system, murder would be murder, regardless of race or culture.
But when Asian women are killed for supposedly dishonouring their
families by disapproved-of relationships, the courts have
been lenient towards their killers.
Patrick West points out the central paradox of multiculturalism: it is an
entirely Western concept which is not found in any other culture (p.35).
'To promote multiculturalism is, paradoxically, to champion Western
values' (p.2). In The Poverty of Multiculturalism West champions the
values of Western culture as expressed by the great thinkers of the
Enlightenment.
'It is time that we respected our own culture, both as Westerners and
Britons..... It is time we cherished the tradition of the Enlightenment,
with its aspiration that the prizes of liberty, democracy, colour-
blindness, equality of opportunity and progress can be shared among
all. We should certainly afford respect to traditional British values which
influenced the beneficent aspirations of the Enlightenment. While
admitting our country's short-comings in the past, we should desist
from perpetually dwelling on them, and recognise that of which we
should be proud.' (p.2)
### ### ###
The Poverty of Multiculturalism
By Patrick West
A Civitas Online Report
www.civitas.org.uk
| (c) 2006 New Criterion Foundation, London |