Heellloooo again!
So, I've heard this notion quite a few times in politics in this era of anti-immigration populism. So I'd like to delve into exactly what it means. What is meant by multiculturalism anyway? The basic definition of multiculturalism is rather simple. Google defines it as: "the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society." Dictionary. com defines it as: "the view that the various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest". The federal social services department of Australia defines it as "cultural and ethnic diversity". So other than some minor elements of encouragement policies it's mostly just literally have different ethnic groups and their cultures. Taken very literally and without charity, opposing multiculturalism would essentially imply genocide. I don't suppose that's exactly what we're talking about here. So what exactly is the often rather vague notion referring to?
It seems to be used to refer to three things. The first is permissive immigration. Since it is most commonly occurring as a phrase in relation to Muslim immigration and the fear of terrorism, it's only natural that one of the primary things this phrase is used to mean is that right-wing supposed flaws of such policies are causing significant damages. So in this sense "multiculturalism has failed" means "Muslim immigrants are causing significant damages". Which as we can see by comparison isn't particularly good use of the definition. This is a specific and very policy-related notion that refers to specifics religious groups among an also select group.
The second meaning that seems to be inferred is to do with diversity encouraging policies like quotas. Now again, this isn't really the failing of multiculturalism. It's the failing of specific policies. While some definitions do include a meaning that is specific to encouragement policies; it's not always clear that people are actually against all of what would be "multiculturalism" instead of merely elements of a specific multiculturalism. Indeed in some cases it's readily apparent they aren't really opposing all.
And thirdly is the notion identified that people shouldn't have "distinct separated cultures" within the same country. This seems like a thin line of thinking. Either you are saying something blindingly obvious and portraying it as something more left-leaning people don't understand; that obvious being that people should accept some of the basic rights and principles of a liberal democracy when they exist in it. Or, you're saying what is at best too close to white nationalism; if you take it to mean broader and less pivotal cultural ideas as well. In either case, there is no way you can even get close to screening for such ideas in people's heads as refugees or enforcing people's thoughts once they're here. And I thought trying to control people's thinking was what right-wing people hated about leftwing social justice supposedly. Neither is it sensible to talk about more action-based crackdowns on those issues; because such activities already happen. At worst; you're talking about somewhat lacking solutions. Nobody does not accept the notion of rejecting known terrorists or stopping their terrorist actions. There's no general philosophical notion of "multiculturalism" where people oppose such obvious enforcement of moral and legal standards we already posses. At worse you've got a hodgepodge of idiotic left-wing extremists who are permissive but when they do gain undue influence over leftwing governments the symptom if we want to complain about Europe is incompetence. Sweden's main problem with refugees is that the government has done a comparatively terrible job managing and integrating the refugees but all of the most ideological stuff has nothing to do with an ideological goal of" multiculturalism" it's about fear of being called racists and perception of racism in others. No left-wingers believes Muslims should be allowed to rape women. They are simply afraid that people saying there's a Muslim rape epidemic are racist, and some people clearly are. Simply naming multiculturalism when discussing these issues does a great disservice to their complexity and does a great disservice to a much more general word.
In conclusion, why exactly is this phrase so popular when it connects with such a general and very basic concept? Why would Angela Merkel, who has notably positioned themselves as moderates in comparison with the nationalist populist movement, use a term in a way that makes her sound like white nationalist? When did a word that in my upbringing in Australia has always been a symbol of our modern identity and not being racist become a hated buzzword? And why is it being used in ways that make it sound like a much more extreme concept than it is?
We got anyone here who can provide some insight? Some sort of argument from that position?
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