It has been nearly two weeks since my last 'Barnett is an idiot' post so I figure there is no time like the present. A friend recently asked why I don't ignore the rantings of this goofball given that he is little more than a conservative mouthpiece of a 1000 watt blip of a radio station. First, it amuses me and second, I feel it is my duty to root out conservative idiocy and hypocrisy even in the nooks and crannies of a little St. Cloud radio station.
In his latest rant, Barnett takes on the multiculturalists. Unfortunately, Andy doesn't even know what he stands for so he proceeds to attribute to the multiculturalist a belief that actually runs counter to what they espouse and one that he should be heralding given his set of beliefs. Isn't amusing when someone attacks something they don't understand?
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Why I'm not a multiculturalist, but I enjoy learning about other cultures!
Attack of the Multiculturalists! It could be the title of a new book! It would be a horror novel, or better yet a mystery! It's a mystery to me what multiculturalists hope to accomplish with their strange and destructive agenda. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me clarify what I mean when I'm talking about multiculturalism.
On the surface, the word multi-cultural sounds very good. Multiple cultures. The melting pot. That's what America is all about. Many of us trace our roots back to the Germans, Italians, Irish, English, etc... And there's nothing wrong with celebrating the good parts of your heritage and your culture! (No one with a right mind celebrates the ugly parts, for instance when German-Americans celebrate their heritage they don't celebrate the Nazis.)
Andy, you do more to discredit yourself than I possibly could! The melting pot? The melting pot is a concept that you, as an "avowed traditionalist" believe in and promote ABOVE the concept of multiculturalism. Multiculturalists believe in what could be termed the 'salad bowl theory' or 'cultural mosaic' theory. These contend that we can live in a society with varying cultural beliefs and practices without "melting" into one homogeneous group. You, as an "avowed traditionalist" are supposed to support the melting pot as the epitome of American society. For you to put these two contradictory terms into the same category shows how little authority you have on this topic.
(Now I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that one of the sad parts about our American heritage is the reprehensible practice of slavery which existed for years in our nation and around the world. This tragedy has prevented many African-Americans from being able to trace back their roots to various countries in Africa. As disgusting as slavery was, I hope we can take some pride in the fact that we as Americans are one of the first cultures to eliminate slavery and to promote equality of all races.)
WHAT? First, it wasn't until the last 50 years that the United States has "promoted" equality of all races. If you are to deny the nearly 100 years of segregation and legalized discrimination of African Americans after the Civil War then you are more blinded than even I could imagine. Second, how do you define us as "one of the first cultures"?
Abolishing Slavery
- Spain & its colonies (1811)
- Chile (1823)
- Central America (1824)
- Mexico (1829)
- Bolivia (1831)
- Britain & its colonies (1833)
- Uruguay (1842)
- Argentina (1843)
- France (1848)
- German serfs freed (1852)
Now, given the fact that Britain controlled much of the world during this time, there is NO way you can claim we were one of the first to end slavery. In fact, it was with considerable kicking and screaming that this country went from slavery to emancipation!
Many of us celebrate parts of our heritage going back generations, and we all celebrate our heritage as Americans. It's also neat to see newer immigrants in America celebrating their heritage! Be it Mexicans, Pakistanis, Nigerians, South Koreans, and so on and so forth. I have friends from countries all over the world. I've been blessed with the opportunity in the past to meet international students who come to America to learn English and learn about our culture, and in turn I get to learn about their culture, it's an educational experience and it can be a lot of fun. This is not what multiculturalists are interested in though.
Multiculturalism is biased against Western culture, and more specifically American culture. The ardent multiculturalist also recognizes and praises all aspects of non-Western culture and puts it on a pedestal. To say it another way: the multiculturalist is anti-American and pro-everything else as a matter of principle. I have a huge problem with this and so do many Americans for a couple of reasons.
Biased against Western culture? Really? First, what is "American" culture? Before you go claiming that multiculturalists are anti-American it would be really helpful if you could define for us what American culture is and is not. What does an "American" look like? What does an "American" believe? In order to define what the multiculturalist is against it behooves you to create these definitions. Given that this country is an amalgamation of nearly every culture in the world, how can you possibly define what is and what is not American? If you cannot or will not, then your entire argument is subjective and opinion based with little merit in reality.
Second, could you please provide examples of multiculturalists protesting against the numerous "Western" cultural celebrations across the country. German festivals, Irish festivals, and any number of other festivals are celebrated across this country without a word being uttered by "multiculturalists". Your claims are unfounded and lacking of any merit!
First, the celebration of all aspects of these cultures without question is dangerous. How does one celebrate cannibalism? How does one celebrate human sacrifices? How does one celebrate other cultural practices that go against universal human values and American values? Polygamy, incest, self-mutilation, are examples that come to mind. Unfortunately multiculturalists have no problem promoting these things. Instead of this celebration without question we should be learning about the good and bad of various cultures. The problem is that multiculturalists are also relativists. They don't believe in good or bad, but believe anything and everything is basically good. Except for America that is, which brings me to my second point.
This is one of your most ludicrous accusations to date. I challenge you to provide me examples of multiculturalists celebrating the cannibalism, polygamy, incest, self mutilation, or other negative aspects of cultures around the world. Is this really the best argument you can muster?
Along with the praise for all aspects of foreign cultures, there is a concerted effort to downplay the importance of the values that America was founded upon. Rather than praising the principles that have made us the greatest nation in all the land, a country of freedom and a shining city on a hill, the multiculturalist prefers to rag on America as an evil empire.
Now I'm not naive, we have a list of negatives from our past including racism, a lack of women's rights, and our treatment of Native Americans. Despite this we have a lot to be proud of here in America when compared with the other cultures that have ever existed on this planet. Put another way: you can criticize some aspects of our nations history without trashing the principles we were founded on. You can denounce the behavior by some without ripping apart our constitution.
What values was America founded upon? We do have a lot to be proud of here in America, Andy, but to deny or diminish the importance of our struggles through negative aspects of our history is extremely disrespectful to those generations of Americans that took on those struggles and overcame them without entirely ripping this country apart. You are asking to gloss over the challenges and negativities that give this country character in order to tell a story of little struggle and little challenge on the road to greatness. We should be highlighting the negatives to show that this country is not perfect but our desire to reach perfection has driven us to solve each negative aspect of our society. I would posit that it is you who is disrespectful to our history by keeping our negatives under wraps.
So the complete and utter trashing of America boggles my mind. How many history teachers in our schools are trashing America? I know I heard my share of anti-American rhetoric in college and a lot my classmates were really buying into it. There are other more subtle examples though. How many schools are dropping the celebration of traditional American holidays while adding holidays from foreign cultures. I'm not saying that learning about other holidays is inherently bad, it's just very strange that at the same time they would eliminate American ones. Does this bother you as much as it does me? Suddenly Ramadan is popping up on the school Calendar, but Christmas Break has long since been replaced by "Winter Break".
I am a history teacher, what exactly does "trashing America" mean?
No, it doesn't bother me given the fact that the school is keeping Christmas despite your claim that it is "Winter Break". If you had read the article you would see that they are not eliminating anything. They are simply adding a holiday representative of 30% of their population. Call it whatever you want, the school calendar has long catered to the Christian over all other religions and adding one non-Christian holiday to the mix does nothing to eliminate the others or attack "Western" culture. The schools are uniquely tailored to the Christian with holiday observances, meal choices around lent, and policies against activities on Wednesday Confirmation days. You seem to be mostly offended at the very thought that a school would add anything other than Christian holidays to the calendar. What is a non-Christian to do? Are you asking for them to assimilate to Christianity or shut up?
What worries me is this anti-American behavior is spreading. One of the great lines of defense that will be used by a multiculturalist is that "you can't call me anti-American for questioning things". This goes back to the fundamental belief in right or wrong. I believe the ideals America were founded upon are right. If you want to question that, go right ahead, but if you come to the conclusion that America is wrong for you, please do us all a favor and pack up your bags, purchase a plane ticket and don't let the door hit you on the keister on the way out!
In the meantime, those of us who are proud of America and the ideals on which it was founded need to step up to the plate. Speak up at school board meetings, speak up at city council meetings, write letters to your legislators and congressmen. Speak with your actions such as the way you spend money, the people you vote for, the way you teach your children, and the way in which you interact with co-workers and friends.
America is a good country, may God bless the USA.
You make a key mistake here, because the multiculturalist does not believe that America is wrong for THEM but rather that America is from time to time in the wrong. Simply claiming that America is wrong on some issue or in some respect does not negate their love for this country. It shows a deep love and effort to change those actions and make this country right once again. If the multiculturalist did not care about America they would not speak out at all. For you to tell people with whom you disagree or who choose to point out inconsistencies in this country to get out runs entirely counter to our First Amendment and the very foundations of this country. Your problem is that you believe love of country equates to a belief that that country is infallible. True love of country is one of constant questioning of authority and healthy dissent!
