The ideology of multiculturalism

Nick Seddon (Civitas) on multiculturalism:

...there is a difference between multiculturalism as a lived experience and multiculturalism as an enforced ideology. There is a difference between living alongside people who have different customs and outlooks, and the state forcing us all to retain these differences, using its muscle to do so – through financial aid to ethnic minorities, prioritising foreign festivals and language teaching in state schools, and so on. What in its inception was a tolerant ideal to encourage mutual understanding ends up emphasising difference and acting as an agent of separatism.

In the old days a common phrase used to discourage racism or cultural intolerance was "they are exactly the same as us" which is true. This has morphed in more recent times to "we must celebrate our differences" which is also true in many ways. The fact that both these seemingly opposite statements are true in one way or another just helps to highlight the complexity of the situation. Of course the first statement refers to the humanity of individuals and the second to a way of life but these concepts and realities are not completely inseparable.

The real problems come when there is an artificial acceleration in the dilution of the things that define an accommodating culture due to an enforced ideology.

A little something on the same theme from Guido:

The law is being abused to the point of farce by the people who set up and run these centres for one purpose only - to be able to justify their blatant discrimination on the grounds of gender and colour in order to meet meaningless targets and address what they perceive as “wrongs” from the past, by imposing discrimination now and in the future. Where does it end? In an apartheid society - precisely what Mr Phillips of the CRE has been sounding off against.

The results of cultural friction from Gandalf.