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RE: Making Good Better By Understanding Hate
The Westboro Baptist Church has nothing to do with multiculturalism and race. Their motivations are religious, not racial and have to do with quotes in the Bible regarding homosexual activity.
I don't know why you're bringing up race in an article about an ex-member of a loud mouth traditionalist Christian Church.
As far as multiculturalism goes, I think it's another stupid trendy term that people like to throw around to sound hip and cool. Kind of like how everybody goes to Starbucks and talks about the big football game last night. It's just conformity.
Sometimes I think people use the word in a way that misses the main point, which is a much, much older concept than multiculturalism, which is, “People in different groups do different things, but beneath all groups’ cultural exteriors are the same, individual people, who, as individuals, are looking for the same things as any person: Dignity, Meaning, Connections with other Individuals, and Recognition.
Multiculturalism seems to be away of reaching towards that by promoting the importance of understanding different groups of people.
Sometimes, though, the people promoting it forget to explain that it’s only important to understand different groups of people because it helps you to get THROUGH the cultural barriers that, while valuable to those who practice them, can be roadblocks in the way towards truly seeing individuals of a different group who, because of their different culture, may SEEM to be very different and unrelatable, but who, really are the same people as anyone and wanting and needing the same things (dignity, meaning, etc...).
I think all of that can help in reducing clashes and conflicts between people, which reduction is never a bad thing (it’s only the political class and their hyper-wealthy cronies who seem to ever benefit from the massive death and destruction of war).
So yeah, I think you’re right. Lots of people use multiculturalism just as a measure of conformity and don’t really stop and think about it’s implications, which seem, to me at least, to be really important and beneficial to every person as an individual.
If what I’m conceptualizing as multiculturalism is valid (which it very well may not be), then isn’t that a different type of thing than people flippantly mumbling “multiculturalism” while drinking overpriced sludge passing as coffee?
I didn't say it did; I was alluding to the fact that because people took time to understand each other's differences, an agreeable situation was arrived upon.
So I was drawing a parallel between our racial differences and saying that perhaps in that regard we can learn from the people who reached out to Megan, even though they hated what she stood for.
Perhaps some people feel cool using the term multiculturalism, I personally feel neither cool, nor square when saying the word. My point there was that nature is constantly seeking to diversify itself, and that multiculturalism is the human manifestation of that.
Cg
Reaching out is always a good thing. The Westboro Baptist Church, if you watch their demonstrations, isn't very much open for dialogue as much as they just want to spread around their propaganda. So getting through to one of them is an impressive feat.
I would argue that multiculturalism is a manifestation of a certain political ideology more than human nature.
Have you seen the movie The Big sick? It's quite good. It's by the son of Pakistani immigrants who marries an American woman and his parents disowned him. But he loves her and stays with her anyway.
I would argue that the main characters Pakistani parents are an expression of multiculturalism and its insistence on diversity at all costs, whereas the son marrying outside his group for love is an expression of the Melting Pot even if it reduces diversity by diluting everybody's racial distinctiveness.
That's the problem with racial diversity advocacy, is that in order to maintain racial diversity you would have to stop interracial relationships because the result is an averaged out mixed race that is not racially diverse. This is The Melting Pot and it creates a lot of unity. I think the Melting Pot is more what you're looking for then this Multiculturalism.
Very good point, and as I made my earlier point about 'one race' I did think this, because by striving for diversity you end up with the opposite . . .
I guess what I'm saying more than genetics, or culture, is that if we try a bit we can just get along despite our differences.
I guess I'm feeling a bit fluffy today :-)
Cg
Thou art fluffy indeed!
Have you heard of Dave Rubin? He's a Youtube talk show host who does a lot of trying to get people from different walks of life and perspectives to communicate.
I have now! I'll check him out, thanks for the tip off! :-)
Cg