Letters to the Editor
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The left and multiculturalism
I try to search the blogosphere regularly to see what others are saying about multiculturalism. What stands out it that if you do a search for “multiculturalism,” you are presented with an almost entirely right wing list of blogs. The right wing blogs generally consist of attacks on the multicultural policies of whatever country from which the blog originates, and examples of various perceived slights and attacks in the name of cultural diversity on the traditional culture of that country. I almost never come across a defense of multiculturalism on a liberal blog. You do see the occasional liberal blog praising the multicultural diversity of their city, but these are invariably fluff pieces that avoid the difficult questions involving sexism, homophobia, and various abhorrent cultural practices. I wonder then why the left is so uncomfortable discussing and defending multiculturalism. I think the answer is that the left is pulled in two directions. First, there is the legacy of the civil rights movement in liberal politics. Most liberals see themselves as heirs of the civil rights movement and the stated goal of the civil rights movement was integration, not multiculturalism. And so I sense a nervousness over whether taking a pro-multicultural position is in fact, as it surely is, an abandonment of the hard won gains of integration. But on the other hand, the left are the traditional champions of minority groups, and minority groups have embraced multiculturalism instead of integration. And so multiculturalism forces an awkward choice between integration and minority rights that liberals would rather not have to make. If a liberal blog decided to defend multiculturalism they would soon need to make a choice between multiculturalism and their traditional attacks on sexism or homophobia. They would then ultimately be left with the position that “diversity is fine as long as everyone behaves like western, urban, upper middle class, liberals.” This split is clear in feminism as some feminists have been roundly criticized for failing to condemn the sexism of many cultures in favor of "cultural sensitivity," while others have decided to attack these practices wherever they occur.
The choice can not be put off forever by the left, and right now it is unclear to me on which side the choice will fall. I see that this post criticizes Mr. Howard for being in favor of integration. The right, ironically, has now become the champions of integration.
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@Empedocles123
You say that the right has become the champion of integration. I'd say this isn't exactly true, as Mr. Howard, and others like him, use the language of integration to justify closing the doors to immigration entirely. Not the same thing.
You also have a very US-centric point of view, while commenting on an article that discusses the situation in another country. I'm not an expert on Australia, buit in some countries, multiculturalism has long been part of the left's mantra, not necessarily full integration. Not that the two are polar opposites.
You do raise some good issues about the difficult balance between individual rights and multiculturalism. I'll have to think on those.