culture: the system of shared and common beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.
just an introduction to those of you who ask about or criticize me for my "multiculturalism is a euphemism for national division" line: at it's most basic interpretation consider that we, in the u.s.a., are ruled by a constitution which states "that all men are created equal." forgoing the politically correct, women's movements, and other special-interest groups arguments which would mandate a replacement term such as "humans" for "mankind", we--in our "celebrate diversity" movement--are creating division.
demands are always made to treat "all" with equality and respect (which i strongly believe in and incorporate into my personal and professional life): yet, the very same parties who expect equality always draw a line of demarcation in the sand, as it were. they immediately differentiate themselves from others and expect special treatment or understanding. it is not exactly equality they seek. this is true of different ethnic, racial, sexual (m/f, hetero-/homo-sexual,...), geographical, ad nauseam groups who seek to be treated "differently" because of who or "what" they are. they seek special treatment under the law and special penalties imposed upon those who have harmed them. (if you disagree with them, you're a bigot; if you agree with them you're progressive and sensitive. there seems to be no middle ground or possibility of rationally discussing issues with "them.") instead of truly aspiring toward equality, they run the danger of promoting division, by creating an antagonistic environment.
for thought on political correctness run amok, there are many excellent articles. here in the cleveland area we are blessed with dick feagler, and here are two articles i particularly enjoyed.
being of hungarian descent (my father fled hungary at 18 in 1956 and my mother was born in hungary, but grew up in sao paolo, brazil), i was born and raised in cleveland, ohio. you could call the neighborhood "little hungary", since at that time it supposedly had the largest concentration/population of hungarians outside of budapest. my first language was hungarian: i didn't get exposed to english until i went to kindergarten. (i also attended hungarian school once per week through my freshman year of high school.) our parents didn't demand that the schools accommodate bilingualism, although the majority of students were hungarian speaking. i am now passing on my hungarian heritage to my two sons by reading and speaking only in hungarian with them!
i've been involved in hungarian scouts and organizations--even was a member of two hungarian folk dance groups. i am extremely proud of my heritage, but i do not expect that others be forced into learning about it nor incorporating it into their professional/public lives. i will gladly share my experiences on a personal level. my pride in my heritage notwithstanding, i am an american. non-hyphenated!
the danger of "multiculturalism" in my opinion, is that our society will become dysfunctional through division. look, we cannot pass english as the official language of our nation (see dick feagler's column below) without having those, who support such a measure, labelled as bigots or racists. this is dangerous and ridiculous! we need a modicum of conformity, and language is that which binds a collection of peoples together as a "nation." i am primarily concerned with the opposition to having an officially monolingual society.
as an aside: one of my iranian friends, who came here in the '70s after having graduated from college said about "multiculturalism"
<paraphrase> "in my culture women are completely robed, second-class citizens who are expected to walk behind their husbands at all times. they are subservient and can never be a male's equal. is this the kind of multiculturalism they want or would stand up for?"
dick feagler says it quite well in this following article:
A Forum of Opinion & Ideas The Plain Dealer * FRIDAY, AUGUST 27,1999, page 11-B
A little perfidy, deep in the heart of ‘Tejas’ By Dick Feagler
North of the border, down Mexico way, there is a town called El Cenizo. It's an American town, in the state of Texas. But, if you go there, you'd better stop at Berlitz on the way, to, brush up on your Spanish.
According-to the Associated Press, the city commissioners of El, Cenizo took a vote the other day. They voted that, from now on, all city meetings and functions would be held in Spanish. Then, since they were on a diversity roll, the city padres of El Cenizo voted in another law, one of the wackiest ever passed in an American city. They approved an ordinance forbidding any city employee from turning in an illegal immigrant. In other Words; putting it in Anglo language, it is now illegal in El Cenizo to obey the law.
This astonishing story was tucked deep, inside my favorite newspaper on page 21-A. A year or so ago, there was a brisk, debate on more prominent pages in the news columns about a movement to declare English the "Official language" of the United States. I was firmly in support of such a measure. Naturally, my views got me branded a bigot, a racist (or ethnicist) and a numb-brained old man. The attackers of the "official English" movement charged those of us who were for it of being anti-diversity. And, in the brainless, idiotic newspeak of' America, being "anti-diversity" is one of the worst things a person can be.
"Diversity" has become one of the few values everybody feels safe in saluting. Companies hold mandatory diversity training sessions (I've been ordered to two of them.) At such sessions a lecturer points out that America is a mixture of many cultures and each one merits respect. I always thought that reasoning a little flawed. But since I wanted to get my diversity training over with, I never raised my hand. I didn't want to start an argument that would prolong the empty, boring, prosaic session. I wanted to say that no particular ethnic culture "merits" respect.
Respect is something that is earned. It ain't conveyed. And in America, diversity is a fact, not an ideal.
My forefathers came here from Germany. They couldn't speak the language, but they were eager to learn it. They thought it would make them real Americans. Painfully, fingers moving across the type, they learned the language from newspapers like, the one you are holding. And when they could speak English, they were proud.
I was a teenager in this town when the Hungarian revolution drove thousands of refugees to the streets around Buckeye Rd. Those immigrants demanded nothing but a chance. They brought their rich culture with them and kept it alive, and it is alive still. But they never asked for the street signs in their neighborhood to be written in Hungarian. Or for their city councilman to be granted the legal right to conduct business in the Magyar tongue. My God! Diversity training! What a joke! The history of our country-a tough, vibrant, moving history-is a textbook of diversity. Of diverse people flocking here to become Americans. With the deplorable exception of African slaves, people came here for salvation. They came seeking something better than they left behind. They still do. America is what's better. Being an American is what's better. This great nation has absorbed them all. "Out of many, one" is the motto on our money. The only dues we've ever required of a newcomer is that he behave like an adopted son. And embrace the rich, strange, rough-bearded father figure of Uncle Sam. And that he learn the language, meaning English. And that he obey the law. For 200 years, everybody has more or less done that. Now El Cenizo, Texas, wants to break the string. There is a fine line between "diversity" and division. El Cenizo has crossed that line. Somebody should teach its residents the epic, melting-pot story of America. And teach it in English.
E-mail: dfeagler@plaind.com Phone (216) 999-5757
Feeling funny about Lakewood Sunday, December 03, 2000
I lived in Lakewood for 14 years and loved it. But now I'm a little jittery about going back, even for a visit. If I run into somebody who hates me, I haven't got enough hate insurance.
Lakewood has always been a neighborly town. Sometime back, it decided to pass some so-called "hate crime" laws.
I don't happen to be a big fan of hate crime laws. To me, a crime is a crime, a thug is a thug and a victim is a victim. I don't believe in affirmative-action crime victims. I think that all crime victims should be treated equally. But mine is an old-fashioned view. Today, some victims outrank other victims.
Suppose somebody punches you in the snoot. That's a crime. But, if you belong to a special racial group or are of a particular skin color or religion or grew up in a far-away country, you get extra points for the punch in the snoot. Under Ohio law, you become a super-victim, and a misdemeanor can be changed to a felony.
Lakewood, a city of brotherly love, decided to take this concept further. And then further and further. Until the notion of first-class victimization now threatens to run amok with a proposal to expand the hate-crimes law.
Mayor Madeline Cain decided to add the words "sexual orientation" to the preferred victim list. That way, if somebody punched a gay person in the snoot, it would be a more serious offense than punching a straight person in the snoot.
Lakewood City Council thought this over and decided that the idea didn't go far enough. So it added three more categories to the preferred victim list. Age, gender, and disability.
The word "gender" is misleading. Everybody's got a gender, and a couple of people I've met in my travels have more than one. My guess is that, in the victimization business, "gender" really means female. Females staked their claim to victimhood a couple of decades ago. Males know that and have lived with it.
So let's review. If you go to Lakewood and somebody punches you in the snoot, the offense will be taken more seriously if you are a minority, a Zen Buddhist, an exchange student from Sri Lanka, brown-skinned, gay or lesbian, handicapped, a woman or an old person.
By process of elimination, who does that leave?
I'm afraid it may leave me -- a white male heterosexual born at 93rd and Union who is a lapsed Baptist, very out of shape but not yet ready for crutches, with a blotchy pink complexion.
Somebody punches me in the snoot in Lakewood and I'm a second-class victim. Which is why I'm jittery about visiting Lakewood. When I go to the cop shop, I want the same treatment everybody else gets.
And I'm going to miss Lakewood. You can get one of the best shoe shines in town at the Belle Barber Shop. And breakfast at "The Place to Be" restaurant near Warren and Detroit is a cholesterol addict's delight.
Maybe, just maybe, I can qualify for the "old" category on the A-list of victimization. I have a Golden Buckeye card in my wallet. But I'm not up for Social Security yet, so I might not make the cut as one of the crime victims Lakewood really cares about.
But I am old enough to remember when a crime against a black man wasn't considered as important as a crime against a white man. When gays were fair game for bullies. And when women suffered abuse in silence with little recourse.
The right way to change this was to make all victims equal under the law. In Lakewood, they are taking that noble idea and warping it in a nincompoop manner.
There is something called equal protection under the law. That's what we ought to strive for. Never mind hate crimes. Would you like your mugger any better if he hugged you? E-mail: dfeagler@plaind.com
2018 The page above is as it has stood for more than a decade. I have been using the taglines "multiculturalism is a euphemism for national division" and "non-hyphenated american" since the late '80s. It seems that "multiculturalism" has morphed into "identity politics". Just how many "lines in the sand" can a nation handle before it implodes?
questions, comments, concerns? e-mail me.
This site developed and maintained by greg kimnach.