My previous post could be labeled as a taunt, but it's not meant to be. I've addressed these issues else where again and again, I guess I'm just getting tired.
But since I have not spoken to the issue here, I will flesh out my opinion once again. Multiculturalism, aka: �Diversity�, is racism in a politically-correct guise. It holds that an individual�s identity and personal worth are determined by ethnic/racial membership and that all cultures and behaviors are of equal worth, regardless of their moral views or how they treat people. Multiculturalism holds that ethnic identity should be a central factor in educational and social policy decisions. Multiculturalism seeks to turn this country into a collection of separatist groups competing with each other for power. Multiculturalism is a threat to education: instead of encouraging reason and independent judgment, multiculturalism demands obedience to authority: the authority of the ethnic group. The diversity crowd claims that its goal is to extinguish racism and build tolerance of differences. This is a complete sham. One cannot teach students that their identity is determined by skin color and expect them to become colorblind. One cannot espouse multiculturalism and expect students to see each other as individual human beings. One cannot preach the need for self-esteem while destroying the faculty which makes it possible: reason. One cannot teach collective identity and expect students to have self-esteem. Advocates of �diversity� are true racists in the basic meaning of that term: they see the world through colored lenses, colored by race and gender. To a multiculturalist, race is what counts � for values, for thinking, for human identity in general. If racism is increasing, it should not be a surprise: colorblindness is now considered evil, if not impossible. No wonder people don�t treat each other as individuals: according to the multiculturalist, they aren�t. Advocates of �diversity� claim it will teach students to tolerate and celebrate their differences. But the �differences� they have in mind are racial differences, which means we�re being urged to glorify race, which means we�re being asked to institutionalize separatism. �Racial identity� erects a gulf between people, as though they were different species, with nothing fundamental in common. If that were true � if �racial identity� determined one�s values and thinking methods � there would be no possibility for understanding or cooperation among people of different races. One's cultural background does indeed have an impact on who one is, and becomes. But that is not the underlying premise behind what we see in the schools today. Indeed, as we have seen right here, once the idea that one�s racial differences define the individual finds acceptance, it�s a very small step to use the agreed upon premise to expand the idea to the area of �alternative behaviors�. Speaking of Plato, I am reminded of his methods in his "Republic": Start your argument with statements that will be easily agreed with, restrict your rhetoric to what is already accepted as fact and use these agreements to build your arguement and at the same time chip away what is inherently disagreeable. So now we see the addition of deviant sexual proclivities emerging from under the Diversity tent and heading into the hallways and classrooms of ever younger children. Wonderful. TJSWIFT Saint Paul __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions! http://auctions.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
