Multiculturalism ?

[Khandro]

Speaking largely about France but with his eye on the greater Europe, the French intellectual and writer Alain Finkielkraut in his recent book, claims that Western civilization is being ripped apart by multiculturalism.
Is he correct?

[Buenchico]

I can only assume that he doesn't enjoy a curry!

Multiculturalism adds depth to what would otherwise be a very shallow 'civilisation'.

[Jackdaw33]

Finkielkraut

Now there's a fine old-fashioned French name!

[woofgang]

he's saying ripped apart like its a bad thing?

[Arksided]

A German having a go at the French... he is so English.

[vetuste_ennemi]

"I can only assume that he doesn't enjoy a curry!
Multiculturalism adds depth to what would otherwise be a very shallow 'civilisation'.".
So your definition of multiculturalism is curries and Chinese takeaways, is it, Buenchico? I don't think that definition is what the OP or Finkielkraut intended.

[Svejk]

Chris is a big supporter of mass immigration. There's not many of them left.

[Sqad]

I think that he has a point, in that multiculturalism to me is distracting, unnerving and a threat to my understanding of routine and reassurance.

They look different, the do different things and they smell different.

[Khandro]

//he's saying ripped apart like its a bad thing?//
Very much so' he notes with dismay the rise of zealotry in French schools, with pupils in poor banlieues rejecting mixed swimming lessons and non-halal canteen food. Teachers find it increasingly difficult to mention certain authors (Rousseau is against my religion" one student is quoted as saying) or to discuss the Holocaust in class, and he goes on to say "The French education system is no longer the crucible of national identity: it has become a battleground fought over by strident communities."

[Arksided]

Aliens!

Just to make sure there's no misunderstanding I do take folk as they are, each to their own kinda thing... even the French, Cantona, Evra and Chris Lambert.

[Old_Geezer]

Bringing a flavour of your old culture adds depth. Rejecting the local culture and importing your old one wholesale causes problems.

[Arksided]

Keeping everything in moderation is key to the universe... however they are French.

[Khandro]

Arksided // Keeping everything in moderation...// Is something I wholeheartedly agree with, however do you not think there is perhaps a tendency for Westerners to repudiate their own heritage while encouraging foreigners to celebrate their own?

[askyourgran]

I recently had a similar conversation with an old soldier who bemoans the fact that Britains wartime endeavours and our heritage will be forgotton in a few years time, because of the multiculturism. Recently I read that some of our schoolchildren had no idea what WWII was all about, some thought that the Germans were on our side. We are fast losing our identity as British people who fought to be free, and built a country to be proud of. Now it is being taken from under our noses without a shot being fired. Yes I agree our Western civilization is being turned over, and I resent that. Will there be anyone left of the Eastern civilization to willing enough rebuild it?

[naomi24]

Yes, he is correct. askyourgran and birdie have pretty much said it all.

[Khandro]

I think the first time I heard the word was from Michael Foot, surrounded by woolly hats and members of other cultures, he said "We are now a multicultural society!" (loud cheers).
Finkielkraut, Arksided, may to you, have a German-sounding name but he is French not German (his father died in Auschwitz) to suggest he is, would be like saying Serena Williams is Welsh!
Though he is quite vehement about what he sees as the destruction of the cultural identities of nations by multiculturalism, he is also wary of jingoism and concedes that ' Europeans have good reasons for mistrusting patriotic pride, the notion of identity, which originated in the romantic counter-Enlightenment, was later picked up by blood and soil nationalists and discredited by the Nazis - the spectre of Auschwitz commands us not to be fixated on our roots.'
But he lambasts sophisticates 'who buy falafel and the latest world music, but are just as reluctant to live among immigrants as the poor whites they look down for fleeing multi-ethic neighbourhoods, "It is from the comfort of their own world that they cultivate exoticism".

[vetuste_ennemi]

None of AB's towering intellects who support multiculturalism have yet appeared to defend their false god. Unless, of course, you take Buenchico's curry remark as a defence.

[Khandro]

Yes, funny that! I think he might be saying things which many think, but are too pc to say. I don't believe it rests solely in the West either, just regard what the Chinese are doing to Tibetan culture. I find it odd, incidentally, that often the same people who sport "Free Tibet" stickers (quite rightly) are the same ones who espouse multiculturalism in their own country.

[Old_Geezer]

A difference surely ? Tibetans don't, to my understanding, welcome the Chinese in to enforce Chinese culture on them. Here folk are willingly saying it is ok for immigrants to recreate their culture as rival to the existing one.

[Khandro]

O.G. Yes I know there is a difference, but Europeans too are having immigrants forced upon them from their political leaders and masters in Brussels.