Bao wrote:GrahamB wrote:Yeah because if I personally don’t know any Muslims who were put in concentration camps in China then it can’t be happening, right?
When it comes to anti-Chinese propaganda it’s often more a questions about proportions, how and the extent of something. What the newspaper claim is that there is a war against Islam and Islamic minorities which is absolutely not true. But I would not be surprised if there was some kind of prison like camp in Xinjiang. If you do a search about this you’ll find that there are many different ideas and opinions it looks like and how many there are in there. So I wouldn’t bet on that all of what a newspaper says is true.
there will always be one “culture” that want to be the dominant and this you can see anywhere in the world on any continent.
Steve James wrote:there will always be one “culture” that want to be the dominant and this you can see anywhere in the world on any continent.
That is true. There is always one "culture" that wants to be dominant. But, the argument against multiculturalism has nothing at all to do with that. Nowhere in the world where there is any freedom is there a "mono-culture." There might be those who wish their "culture" to be dominant, but there have always been more than one "culture" everywhere.
People who are against multi-culturalism aren't really against it. They just have a particular (self-serving) view of what culture is. For example, are tacos, pizza, and chow mein parts of American culture? Don't bother arguing that food is not part of culture.
What about religion? The US (they'll say) is a Christian country --meaning that most people attend Christian churches. Does that mean that Jews or atheists are part of American culture? Do non-Christians need to convert or be destroyed --as in the Inquisitions?
Ok, it's really about language: i.e. English. Of course, anyone who knows anything at all about the history of England and English know that most of their kings spoke French. In fact, most of the "culture" of England is multi-cultural, so much so that many English speakers can barely understand each other. Fair enough: the descendants of the Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Picts, Gaels, Celts, Frisians, etc., and Roman leftovers, are now considered English when they live in England. But, they didn't have the same cultures in terms of language. It is certainly true that the English have dominated the Scots and Irish. Please don't claim that they have the same culture because they speak the same language. In fact, many Irish (and Welsh) are attempting to practice their ancestral languages. Otoh, they are part of a United Kingdom that allows them to be British, while being culturally Australian or Canadian. And, should I mention that tikka masala is the most popular food dish in England. My point is simply that many cultures have, can, and do exist within in a single nation. It's true in England and in Jamaica.
Ah, but oral culture, material/food culture, and customs aren't what the anti-multiculturalists mean by culture. It started when people suggested that the history of the United States was not only the history of the English who settled in Virginia and Massachusetts. True, they came to dominate the legal and political systems. But, they entered a continent filled with ancestral cultures that, in fact, the English colonists depended on. Thanksgiving is a celebration of American food --none of it English or European. So, should we (USAmericans aopt Mexicamericans) learn the history of the _______ people who supposedly helped the Pilgrims survive?
Oh, and what about the Europeans who were here before the English? The ones who gave the names to most of our west coast states? Or the peoples from whom we got the names of states from the Dakotas to Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, etc? Right, we don't need to know about them because they aren't considered very important compared to other people. I.e., the people who get to write the history books. Additions oar amendments to that history are considered liberal, leftist, politically correct attempts at diversity, feminism, or multiculturalism.
If it were about culture, Protestants wouldn't have been murdering Catholics, and there wouldn't have been two world wars. It is about the desire to dominate and feel dominant. USAmericans in the South do not have the same "culture" as those in the North or West. Those differences cross racial, ethic, and linguistic categories. There is no homogeneity anywhere in the US, not even in all-single race towns. It certainly wasn't true where I grew up. Well, it's actually gotten less "diverse" in some ways. Ironically, that is what people seem to be afraid of. Well, that's because it used to be a place where poor people came. But, I'm still happy to live in a multi-cultural city that celebrates that fact. Tonight, I'll have some Thai.
Ian C. Kuzushi wrote:
Excellent post, Steve.
grzegorz wrote:Not sure if it's the same story but I read about this recent report elsewhere.
The sad part is that when Xin Jiang leave Xin Jiang to work in the major cities to achieve the dream of becoming part of the Chinese middle class the Chinese don't trust them and treat them with horribly.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests