Posted on 06/13/2004 6:47:26 AM PDT by SandRat
We've had two weeks of nostalgia and patriotism, celebrating the World War II generation and mourning the death of Ronald Reagan.
We've waved flags, embraced heroes and drawn tears in remembrance of things past, of good times and bad in another time and another country. We lifted voices in prayers of thanksgiving for the good fortune to live in a country that cherishes democracy. We honored those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the rest of us.
But that was then. With spring surrendering to summer and as we move closer to another election campaign, we'll once more emphasize what divides us rather than what brings us together. That's as it should be as we debate who we are and where we're going.
Honest debate is exactly what we should have about certain phenomena that divide us: "multiculturalism" and its popular enforcer, "political correctness."
If multiculturalism actually meant striving to understand other cultures, that would be a genuine contribution of seasoning to the melting pot, enabling young people, especially, to contrast and compare differences.
But multiculturalism has become the prevailing euphemism for discounting Western values and celebrating every ideology and mind-set with an anti-American core.
"Wherever the imperatives of multiculturalism have touched the curriculum, they have left broad swaths of anti-Western attitudinizing competing for attention with quite astonishing historical blindness," writes Roger Kimball in the New Criterion.
This is hardly a new observation. Myths reflecting other cultures have dominated the education of our children for two decades, appealing to a psychological fragmentation that, if it continued unchecked would surely lead to an ethnic balkanization of America.
Al Gore got it right in the 2000 campaign when he described E Pluribus Unum as "out of one, many," instead of the other way around, which is what Franklin, Jefferson and Adams invoked when they wanted to connect the nation's principles to a unified vision.
This vision has been aggressively assaulted by hyphenated Americans who elevate their often exotic and usually undemocratic countries of origin.
"No one idea has given rise to more oppression and persecution toward the colored people of this country," wrote Frederick Douglass 150 years ago, "than that which makes Africa, not America, their home."
When the freedmen more than a century ago took new names after emancipation, they chose those of such American heroes as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln.
Today, African-American studies encourage an Afrocentrism that ignores the self-correcting history of civil rights in America.
Multiculturalism not only weakens community bonds, but reduces the motivation for new immigrants to participate in the common culture, the shared history and a common language. No matter how much multiculturalists try to elevate other cultures, the American ideas of liberty, law, democracy and freedom of expression, religion and human rights are Western values.
"These are European ideas, not Asian, nor African, nor Middle- Eastern ideas, except by adoption," historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. wrote a decade ago in "The Disunity of America," a critique of multicultural society.
"There is surely no reason for Western civilization to have guilt trips laid on it by champions of cultures based on despotism, superstition, tribalism, and fanaticism."
We may still turn such attitudes around if we bring back to the schools an appreciation and understanding of Western values and American history.
Whatever America's flaws, no other country has worked harder to change, and this is what we must teach our young.
The National Endowment for the Humanities will soon distribute to schools and libraries a set of 15 books that emphasize freedom.
Kids from kindergarten through third grade can read books with such titles as "Sam the Minuteman," and "Paul Revere's Ride."
They can later read "To Be a Slave" by Julius Lester, "1984" and "Animal Farm" by George Orwell and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
"These books," says Bruce Cole, chairman of the endowment, "are about freedom sought, freedom denied, freedom lived." That's telling it like it is.
° Suzanne Fields is a columnist for The Washington Times, 3600 New York Ave., Washington, DC 20002; e-mail: sfields1000@aol.com.
PING
Probably the only time in his life this world-class imm-bah-sill actually "got it right."
"But multiculturalism has become the prevailing euphemism for discounting Western values and celebrating every ideology and mind-set with an anti-American core."
This is just one of the inciteful comments in this piece.
Hear, hear!
It's "E Pluribus Unum," not "E Unum Pluribus."
I thought all guilt trips in the U.S. ended on 9/11/02! /sarcasm>
Very sneaky.
We are a Multi-Ethnic Society NOT a Multi-Cultural one. We already have a culture, thank you very much.
Bumo.
As I gassed up at a service station, I chatted with an immigrant from Greece this week - he has been in the country for 3 weeks, sponsored by his brother. He spoke halting English, but already was working 7 days a week, reading the newspaper, paying taxes and said he only speaks English with his 6 year old to get them both more comfortable in their new country. I shook his hand.
Two points:
1st Of all the black people I have ever met, I have never met one that was born in Africa.
Next, I do not know the origin and
I did not write this, it was sent to me in an email from a friend.
IMMIGRANTS, NOT AMERICANS, MUST ADAPT
I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.
I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants. However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of America being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.
We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language! "In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture. If Stars and Stripes offend you, or you do not like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really do not care how you did things where you came from.
This is OUR COUNTRY, our land, and our lifestyle. Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion and we will allow you every opportunity to do so. However, once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, we highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great American freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.
When cultures move to other regions they try to grasp some aspects of the past. People are afraid of change. When one moves it is unfair to force change on the new world to conform with their old world. If cultural assimilation is a concern perhaps the people should stay put within its own culture and work for change rather than run to change.
We were here first so they have to adopt our language, laws, and social standards. It is idiocy to think that non-conformists will blend in harmony, when in reality they are a dividing force that will bring us all down to 3rd world standards.
We are a culture from many lands...and have the best and the worse of those cultures within our shores. We are all Americans, and therein lies our dilemma. Amercian culture, and language is the norm. If we lose site of our borders, culture and language, we are dead in the water.
An interesting take on all of this is that my wife was a teacher in Indiana at a K-12 school of about 30% Amish and about .05% African-American.
Well, they had teacher "Diversity-Training-Workshop" and during the class my wife thought that the Blacks were fine but the kids and teachers needed to respect the Amish more. There we lots of incidents of harassment and hazing of the Amish children. You guessed it there will be no sensitivity to the Amish on an official basis from the administration - it is not a subject that will get mentioned. (There had also never been any incident involving the Black kids -- except that most of the white boys try to act/talk/dress like black ghetto kids -- which is hard to understand.)
The fact is Amish don't vote Democrat and therefore can expect no protection from the official school leaders. The reason that this whole "Diversity" (or identity-politics) took hold in the USA is that the Demon-Crats realized the idea worked with their power base.
We had a very successful immigration policy and none of this multicultural nonsense when the immigration ratios were more heavily weighted toward people with similar cultural values.
"We already have a culture..."
Yes, and our culture is being supressed and vilified. Public schools used to educate children about the TRUE history of our country which developed our sense of patriotism. In this world of political correctness, the schools seem to focus more on the negative aspects of our history: slavery, abuse of native Americans, etc. The Truth is getting lost. Remember when Christopher Columbus was a hero?? Now he is evil. How long before George Washington and Thomas Jefferson will become villians?? It is happening. Our future generations will believe that OUR American will not be worth saving. They will then accept anything else that comes along. God help us all......
Vote for EFFINGKERRY and his ILK and see MC & PC permeate our society at an ever increasing rate until the USA will become a subsidiary of the UN........... it is ONLY a matter of time. If GW loses (I don't think he will) it will be a watershed event in our history, one that only the commies amongst us will revel in.
" Our future generations will believe that OUR American will not be worth saving. "
I worry about what could happen in the future too. I now live in California and this is the future. In our local school an criminal out-sider came into the school and stole some things from the teachers' lounge. The teacher described the suspect as "African-American" in class and for this she was disiplined and the incident made the front page of the newspaper. The incident was not the crime itself but that some students that objected to the teacher's racist attitude and discription of the criminal.
"It is idiocy to think that non-conformists will blend in harmony..."
In the past, immigrants HAD to blend in, in order to succeed. I imagine that some actually went back home because they could not blend in. NOW, there are no expectations put upon immigrants. In fact, they are encouraged not to assimilate nor to even speak English. I believe that most come here for the benefits, but have no desire to become "American". Entrance into our country should come with a price. A high price. All are welcome who are willing to work hard, learn about our history and about those who shed blood for this great nation, and then be willing to shed ones own blood so that we may continue to be free. Is that too much to ask?
"We had a very successful immigration policy "
My father was born in 1903 in Chicago. In those days each neighborhood had its own gang and protected the "turf" and it was dangerous to leave an Irish area and go to an Italian area if you were an Irish teenager. His description of the time leads me to believe that immigrant tensions existed and most major cities were just like Chicago. (Irish/Polish/German/Bohemian were seen as job stealers by others.) But WW II came along and all went to fight the "Japs and Krauts" now we have our current war and it will be interesting to see the outcome.
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