Multiculturalism Starts Losing Its Luster

Not With a Bang But a Whimper - The Politics and Culture of Decline ^ | Theodore Dalrymple

[T.L.Sink]

[This article from City journal appears essentially the same in Dalrymple's new book] Multiculturalism rests on the supposition - or rather the dubious premise - that all cultures are equal and that no fundamental conflict can arise between the customs, mores, and philosophical outlooks of two different cultures. Reality though, has a way of revenging itself upon the frivolous, and September 11 has concentrated minds a little. Some signs indicate that in Britain the pieties of multiculturalism, for years an official orthodoxy, are being challenged. The sillines, for example, of the government language practices that multiculturalism has spawned. One can take the driver's license in a startling variety of languages. For the written part one need not even know the latin alphabet (that would be discriminatory). Never mind that the traffic signs are all in English. Such practices send the message that newcomers to Britain have no obligation to learn English - indeed, that the obligation is the other way around. Confidence in Britain's historical and cultural record, as embodying anything worthwhile, has all but vanished. Those things which the nation once glorified, it now only derides and satirizes. Thanks to multicultural intellectuals, for instance, the teaching of history has become an ideological minefield, with grievance groups demanding that their ancestors' suffering enjoy special status in the narrative.

[T.L.Sink]

It's a disservice to Dalrymple to attempt to summarize this terrific essay. It must be read. The situation in Britain with its absurd and destructive multicultural mania is something with which we Americans are becoming familiar. Dalrymple is a kindrid spirit to American conservatives. In fact, in his book's preface he says this to us: "The United States is not immune from the collapse of confidence that underlies the deep British malaise. What has happened in Britain is a warning; and a warning is a beacon of sorts."

[clintonh8r]

“Diversity” is ‘way over-rated.

[screaminsunshine]

Try telling that to a 30 year old who has been indoctrinated since 1st grade.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Spengler believed that the revival of the West would start in England.

I offer an opinion of possible English reaction to the multi's " “...For that the Saxon British will ever submit to sink along with them(aliens) to such a state, we assume as impossible. There is in these (Saxon British), thank God, an ingenuity which is not false; a methodic spirit, of insight, of perseverant well-doing ; a rationality and veracity which Nature with her truth does not disown;- withal there is a “Berserkir rage” in the heart of them, which will prefer all things, including destruction and self destruction to that. Let no man awaken it, this same Berserkir rage! Deep-hidden it lies, far down in the center, like genial central-fire, with stratum after stratum of arrangement, traditionary method, composed productiveness, all built above it, vivified and rendered fertile by it; justice, clearness, silence, perseverance, unhasting unresting diligence, hatred of disorder, hatred of injustice, which is the worst disorder, characterize this people; their inward fire we say, as all such fire should be, is hidden at the center. Deep-hidden; but awakenable, but immeasurable;-Let no man awaken it ! Thomas Carlyle 1839

[ought-six]

Good article. But I am afraid Britain is too far gone down the multicultural slippery slope to save itself, short of some real horrific violence.

[gaijin]

What an incredibly excellent article!

I love the Manhattan Institute...

[Aglooka]

Try telling that to a 30 year old who has been indoctrinated since 1st grade.

I am 30. A few of us made out of public reeducation camp alright.

"Diversity" is just code talk for the deconstruction of liberty and our standards of living.

[The Duke]

The deleterious effects of socialism (or even communism) are NOTHING compared to those wrought by multiculturalism.

[T.L.Sink]

Interesting thoughts and I’d like to think they contain much truth. But Spengler was writing nearly a century ago and Britain today is no more “Anglo-Saxon” than Algeria. In fact, even some of Spengler’s legitimate thoughts have been discredited because his philosophy was embraced by the Nazis. Sadly, Britain is viewed by the Islamofascists as the next most natural piece of property (in the West) to fall into the caliphate because of its own decadence and the collapse of institutional Christianity. We can only hope for a genuine national revival and that Dalrymple is right - that the people are really tiring of the multicultural B.S. And let’s hope it happens before it’s too late, if it isn’t already.

[Vigilanteman]

The weedy garden of multiculturalism has taken years to grow to the point it has reached in England and finally, not only the native gardeners, but those who have fled the weed patches of the third world have finally noticed that serious weeding needs to be done. The same will happen in America. The master gardener will send his Son to assist us at some point. The question is how much we will allow our garden to go to weeds before enough of us make the effort to start pulling weeds and stop treating them as the equals to our carefully cultivated plants.

[T.L.Sink]

I’m inclined to agree with you but I still HOPE. Maybe if enough people begin to sense the reality Dalrymple describes and realize where they’re headed, they’ll wake up and try to save their nation and culture.

[Windflier]

There is in these (Saxon British)...a “Berserkir rage”...

I lived in England in the late 80's for about a year, and came to know the deep-seated rage, or "inner Berserker" of the British people, intimately.

There's no question, that not too far below the surface, the British people have an untamed warrior spirit that is frighteningly violent.

I believe it was out of necessity of civilization that the British learned to push that violent spirit deep below a wholly fabricated and overblown persona of mannerliness and civility, for which they've become famous. That facade is not their true selves.

What's puzzled me over the last several years, is how this beast has been tamed by the multi-cultis. Having viewed the monster up close, it's really hard for me to believe that it's been completely eradicated from the psyche of the English.

My thought is that there is a limit to how much you can prod and poke the British inner neanderthal, and at some point, the social veneer will crack. When that happens, we will witness one of the bloodiest periods of British history.

I sometimes feel the same thing about our inner Minuteman.

[T.L.Sink]

Right - it’s interesting that the MSM sees diversity only in terms of race and ethnicity, not thought or ideas. Thus, the “diverse” people are ALL liberals. Conservatives of any color or ethnicity - NOT welcome. I owe this thought to Thomas Sowell.

[Canedawg]

“Thus, the “diverse” people are ALL liberals. Conservatives of any color or ethnicity - NOT welcome.”
***

That’s right, and it’s here, or havent you heard?

Being black is “in”. White male construction workers need not apply.

[T.L.Sink]

I know. It’s almost impossible overcome that. But sometimes the experience of life and the innate sense of justice and fair play overcome that indoctrination. It’s just my personal opinion, but that’s why I think it’s so important to inculcate young people with basic values, support them as they mature - and hope for the best!

[flowerplough]

Affirmative Action pisses us off, according to John F. Kerry @ Yale University on March 30, 1992, as reported the following day by the Boston Globe. Hard to believe he actually said this, and the Globe then printed it:

...today the civil rights arena is controlled by lawyers and the winners and losers determined by . . . rules most Americans neither understand nor are sympathetic with," Kerry said. "This shift in the civil rights agenda has directed most of our attention and much of our hope into one inherently limited and divisive program: affirmative action."
But, he said, "We must be willing to acknowledge publicly what we know to be true: that just as the benefits to America of affirmative action cannot be denied, neither can the costs.

Too many politicians, particularly in my own party, have not acknowledged those costs for fear of undermining the very goals of affirmative action," said Kerry. "By that failure, we send a message to many of those who feel alienated or abandoned by their government that we simply don't care about them, and that we don't realize that it is they, far more than we, particularly when the we is the government, who have borne the burden of compliance with the law. The truth is that affirmative action has kept America thinking in racial terms."

[T.L.Sink]

TRUE! It wasn’t very long ago that a liberal like Robert Reich would have been too ashamed to utter such a racist and stupid remark! By the way, it wasn’t more than a week ago that I heard on the MSM several times that Reich was a “close advisor” to Obama. Now, suddenly, he’s got “no connection” with Obama. HA! HA!

[Richard Kimball]

Multiculturalism is a result of the Postmodernist mind. It started in Europe, which was in a constant state of war from around 1900 to 1945. The premise of Postmodernism is that with effort, all cultures can peacefully coexist. The atomic bomb increased the pressure to find a method of avoiding wars and developing a culture that could accept all variances.

Give the Islamists credit. They recognize this for what it is and exploit it to the fullest.

[T.L.Sink]

Incedible! I wonder why the MSM never dug that quote up. Actually, I DON’T wonder. As with all the liberals the MSM supports, they only quote and emphasize those things that are useful in getting their candidates elected. I still find it amazing that such an unconstitutional and blatantly un-American notion as “affirmative action” can even be defended by politicians with a straight face. This outrageous discrimination against non-minorities not only clearly violates the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment but it insults our common sense and sense of decency as well.

[Always A Marine]

Brilliant essay by Dalrymple — and a must read for all Americans! Thanks, Sink...

[T.L.Sink]

I think you’ve expressed in a sentence, about as well as can be, that aspect of “postmodernism.” However, I think the endless wars in Europe left the continent exhausted and degenerate. By degenerate, I mean: lacking in vitality, a religious faith, any belief in transcendant values, a real belief (secular or religious) in what the Western values of that civiliztion which they helped create are. It’s really a form of nihilism (an inherent part of Nazism) and NO ultimate faith in anything beyond the here and now. This is partly seen in the rapid rise of atheistic existentialism after the Second World War. Jean-Paul Sartre, who fought in the French resistance, said, “In the end, it doesn’t matter whether one is a great statesman or gets drunk alone.” That statement, blunt as it is, summarizes the mentality of most of postmodern Europe. They’re tired, they’re without transcendant faith or belief, they have the sense that they’ve seen it all and “done that” over the centuries. And now they just want to enjoy their zero-growth population rate, sip their wine at the cafe, and hope that the Islmamist immigrants who clean up their cities and maintain the infrastructure can wait on them until the EU socialist pension fund collapses.

[T.L.Sink]

My pleasure. I appreciate your thoughts.

[thecodont]

There's no question, that not too far below the surface, the British people have an untamed warrior spirit that is frighteningly violent.

For an illustration of this, see the Mike Leigh film "Happy-Go-Lucky," and look at Scott, the driving instructor character.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1045670/

[screaminsunshine]

Yay! I am 60 When I was in high school we had to take a course called “Americanism vs. Communism” and Civics. They taught the Constitution. In History we learned about the Founders. Doubt if you had those advantages. If we flunked we got an F.

[screaminsunshine]

MSM=Enemy Domestic

[Windflier]

Thanks for the link. I may watch it later.

My feeling is that for now, the average Brit will continue to suffer the injustices and idiocies of Political Correctness and multi-culturalism, but at some point, they’re going to feel that they have nothing left to lose, and a wave of violent backlash will explode there.

There’s a heathen, Celtic warrior in the DNA of the Brits that will lay waste to the invaders if it’s ever unleashed.