Ernst vom Rath, the first victim of what would become Kristallnacht.
Posted on 11/08/2005 8:47:46 PM PST by manny613
On November 9, 1938, the Nazi government launched a vicious pogrom in which thousand of Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, while bands of young Nazi thugs smashed the windows of Jewish homes and shops. Kristallnacht — the "Night of Broken Glass" — sent through the world a premonition of the dark and murderous future that lay ahead for Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Multiculturalism = tribalism.
Meaning?
Richard Wolin wrote an excellent book on the subject, but of course the academy would have nothing of it. To them, radical historicism and the fact-value distinction are somehow democratic. "Self-evident truths" based upon an understanding of nature are - somehow - in line with the radical anti-rationalist teachings of the fascist Martin Heidegger.
Is this the same Wolin who wrote a very good, but somewhat academic book on the great German critic-essayist Walter Benjamin?
Yes, it is.
Ernst vom Rath, the first victim of what would become Kristallnacht.
Appreciate your post and hope you don't mind of I hang on to it. I am from upstate eastern NY. I took 5 years of French because I thought I would be able to use it because I live in a tourism area formerly heavily used by Canadians. (Lake George) Unfortunately, it wasn't too long after my last year of French that the exchange rate changed and other things changed as well...about the time I, as a newlywed chose Quebec as our honeymoon spot. One night at Chateau de Frontenac and they kicked us out and we ended up at a wonderful spot in downtown Quebec.
It is sad. Pathetic, actually.
no. that's wrong. Look at the other non-European cultures: Hindus etc. in the UK, no problems from them, it's just the slammies that cause the problems.
I some times wonder if the "melting pot model" in the U.S. is a fiction. Yes, they learned English, at least years ago. But they still have the Polish Club, The Italian Club, the Irish Club, etc. etc. The old ladies still wear their babushkas as if they were still in Sicily and they favor the socialist politic. Did they assimilate? One wonders.
It seems to me
What is so often encountered with the modern American left is (1) the failure to see close kinship, intellectually, between the Nazis and the Bolsheviks, and (2) a belief in the myth that WWII was some grand alliance, intellectually, between western liberals and the communists, against Fascism.
On the second part, they ignore that (A)Hilter and Stalin first made a pact, which allowed Hitler to worry less about invading Poland and (B)Stalin may have staid out, or concentrated on Japan or allied with Germany if Hitler had behaved differently towards Russia, and (C)the west would have been allied with anyone in Russia against Hitler if anyone else had been in power there. The alliance with the Soviet Union was an alliance of convenience and not a "brotherhood" of common interests only an agreement on common concerns - Hitler.
Here in America, the hyphenated part becomes less prevalent as the generations pass.
That fact though, that it does become less prevalent, has started to cause a different problem, since the 1970s, 80s with some in ethnic groups that have had recent large increases in immigration - like Mexicans, some Japanese and lots of Chinese.
Most people see the growth of those groups in recent decades and assume "immigrant". Many families from those groups have been here since WWI (and many "Mexicans" since Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California became states). So, among their families that have been here a long time, they often resent the hyphenated label Chinese-American, etc., that many Americans assume is appropriate for their ethnic group.
Maintaining a few customs and hanging out with people with similar ancestry in no way counters the process of assimilation. All of these people came here and referred to their countries of origin as "the old country". They wanted to assimilate into American culture and the only real barrier was language.
The people you speak of were already greatly 'assimilated' to American culture, as they were all Christians, Europeans, caucasians, etc. But most importantly ---they all desired to learn English, WORK and PAY TAXES, serve in the military, and help build America.
Multiculturalism won't work as it's practiced today. People by nature want to feel like they belong in their communities, and they want to feel they can relate to others around them. There is also a feeling of safety in a community and culture that you are familiar with. Unbounded 'multiculturalism' creates a feeling of instability in most people, a sense that you are a foreignor in your own country. Too much 'diversity' creates an incohesive and divisive environment, because so many varying cultures, religions, backgrounds, ethics, ideals, morés, will inevitably clash with each other and cause fears and resentments.
The apparent answer for this dangerous volatility is to mandate by law that everyone be 'tolerant' of each others way of life, (even if it's perverted, militant or dangerous), and never, ever utter a disagreement about another's abhorrent lifestyle or hateful, militant religion. "All religions and cultures are equal", we are ordered to accept. Never allow the display of the dominant religion's symbols because it will hurt other people's feelings. It will also generate successful lawsuits.
So we are bound by the laws of multiculturalism, forced to 'embrace' each others beliefs and keep our own beliefs quiet, under threat of arrest, (as we see happening today with the advent of "thought (hate) crimes", "minority discrimination laws", government imposed reverse discrimination laws like 'Affirmative Action' programs; and finally, what they really wanted all along, the forced suppression of the dominant religion, Christianity).
"People by nature want to feel like they belong in their communities, and they want to feel they can relate to others around them. There is also a feeling of safety in a community and culture that you are familiar with. Unbounded 'multiculturalism' creates a feeling of instability in most people, a sense that you are a foreignor in your own country."
Excellent analysis, Crusader. Your whole post is the truth as I too see it. The core reason that this is happening in our country is because the reins of our most important institutions have been grabbed by liberals and/or even worse, radicals. They have taken over the key positions of authority and propaganda in our country. They own most of the MSM, and although conservatives can now fight back on certain fronts such as the Internet or talk radio; still the vast majority of media vehicles from which to spout their party line from, remain in the hands of liberals.
They have the pulpit from which to preach their party line in almost all of the big city print media (newspapers), on all of the alphabet stations on TV which are still the most watched channels, even though cable is creeping up on them rapidly. Although even on cable, with the exception of Fox, the news stations are primarily liberal (CNN/MSNBC).
The liberals hold sway in the legal field. Conservative lawyers are coming forth to fight the liberal ones and are gaining ground; however, most lawyers are still liberals, as are most judges, and hence carve our laws out of their most liberal interpretations.
Liberals also hold the reins of political power in almost all big cities from which comes much of the local influence in many states. These big city politicians are influential bigtime in their state's politics.
The liberals own most college campuses. This I know firsthand because I just retired a year ago from many years of working at a big public university in a large metropolitan area (UIC). In fact, on my particular campus, not only was it liberal, it was in many aspects radically liberal. And talk about multicultural. So, liberalism is pounded into our children's minds full of mush on a daily basis throughout their learning years, not only at the college level, but from K-12 on. So, too many of our children are being indoctrinated into the liberal belief system and thus become the cradle to grave liberals of tomorrow.
Conservatives hold more power in the area of business, but even this comes with a caveat, as small businesses tend to be conservative, but large corporations are often liberal entities (such as Enron). Churches in the U.S. are about 50-50 liberal and conservative. For every Southern Baptist or Catholic church, there is a Unitarian or Methodist or Episcopal one to offset it.
We conservatives, by nature I believe, are adverse to confrontational politics (except Freepers), and emphasize family, church, business, and individualism. That individualism though cuts both ways, as we do not organize as well nor play dirty politics as well as the liberals. The liberals have all their talking points down pat before they appear on TV talk shows; conservatives show up not knowing what the conservative party line is, and therefore appear less unified, often contradict each other, and thus lose tactical ground. Conservatives are too darn polite, can't believe what they hear out of the mouths of nasty liberals, and seldom fight back as fiercly.
The bottom line is that liberals control many organs of power in our society, and the Pubs had better learn how to do battle better, how to start to become teachers, journalists, lawyers, judges, and city politicians in order to get our point of view out, as the liberal monopoly in these fields could be the death of us. As many liberals are on the welfare dole, they are easily mobilized to go out and demonstrate and make their numbers known, while conservatives are busy working their derrieres off to support their families. However, unless we too learn to be more activist and take the time to do it, we will not be able to compete against inherently easy political mobilizations such as union workers (who along with the teachers unions, knocked the propositions in CA down tonite by getting out the vote, holding mass demonstrations, and blasting the propositions by using the friendly and conspiratorial MSM in California).
Now you may think I have gone far afield from what your post was; however, I see what I am saying here as the root cause as to why multiculturalism, forced toleration of the intolerable through our legal system, lack of assimilation, forced affirmative action, removal of anything and everything that might smell of Christianity, etc. all have their basis in liberals controlling so many parts of our government, judicial system, educational system so that they can force change in so many negative and irrational ways in our country. If too many conservatives maintain a passive stance, then we will be doomed. Hope I didn't bore you with this tome, but I was on a roll.
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