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Thread: Multiculturalism Reevaluated

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    LUSE Galant's Avatar
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    Multiculturalism Reevaluated

    I realise that this post is going to walk a fine line and could by some be perceived to be racist, xenophobic or some other such intolerant view. For what it's worth, I assure you that such is not my aim nor my viewpoint.

    An article came to my attention today. Having read it I also found another, a little more dated, from the BBC. They concern the practise of 'honour killings'. For those who have not come across that term before, 'honour killings' can be described as murders committed to preserve the 'honour' of a family or individual. That is, in a number of eastern nations there exists the concept that certain acts - illicit sex for example - can bring dishonour upon a family. If an individual does something deemed to bring dishonour to the family then the accepted method of 'cleansing' is for the family to kill the individual 'responsible'. I add inverted commas in that last sentence because if you take a look at a lot of the reported cases, the victims were young girls or women who were killed because they were raped - 'responsible' for bringing dishonour to the family. The practise is common in a number of Eastern, Middle-Eastern and Eastern European cutures and nations, and along with the many stories of individual murders there is also the fact that such practises are supported by law in some places. I shall not go into further detail of the outworkings and stories of this practise, suffice to say that it is an upsetting and highly immoral practise that reveals twisted societal values and an abased sense of honour.

    Now, many awful things happen in this world, and yes we all need to work against them, but that is not the point of my writing here. I am writing today because this practise found commonly in the east is now proving to be a growing, and in fact, an already large, problem in Europe. The first article, highlights the problem in Berlin - six possible killings in the past four months, and the older BBC article, takes a wider perspective, looking at stories throughout Europe.

    Thinking about how an Eastern-world problem came to exist and grow in Western Europe brought me to consider whether there is a problem with the glorified 'multiculturalism'. Specifically, that there is a big problem with the notion that all cultures are equal and that we must be more 'tolerating' and less 'judgemental'. Note that I find myself once again using inverted commas. I think I could do a post or two on semantics and the changing vocabulary of the West. Anyway, as I said at the start, some readers may have take great offence at the notion that I can, or should be able to, pass judgement on other cultures and brand some better than others. My question in return would be, "Why?" It seems to me whilst it is good to have diversity in all areas of life the ever-growing "live and let live"philosophy is going to result in a lot of dead people.

    The London Telegraph put it this way,

    Karl Mollenhauer, a Berlin police psychologist, blamed Islamic religious leaders for failing to address the problem. Last week, he also suggested that the German authorities were at fault for failing to intervene in case they were branded racist.

    "We have silently allowed a parallel society to develop because of fears that we would sow hatred by talking openly about its injustices. The women have paid the price for this," he said. Serap Cileli, a German-born Turkish woman who finds homes for women threatened by "honour murders", said: "If I criticise the Islamic community over these problems, I find that the Germans criticise me for being anti-foreigner. At the same time, many Turks say I am fouling my own nest."
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  2. #2
    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    I fail to see your point. Surely the fact that the police have formed a task force to combat these killings shows that we are not tolerating them?

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    Hexus.Jet TeePee's Avatar
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    His point is that society in general shouldn't be quick to embrace foreign cultures when these cultures are, in his opinion, inferior.

    I disagree.

    In my opinion, these 'honour killings' are as much a part of eastern culture as flying planes into buildings. Absolutely we should encorage the rich diversity of foreign cultures. They are there anyway, as soon as we welcome them, the sooner we can integrate them within our own legal system, and this is a clear cut example of why this is so. In a society which does not accept foreign cultures, these killings would be taking place within the isolated community of foreigners, impenetrable to the legal system. In a society where foreign cultures are welcomed, we can integrate our own laws and ideology, and set up police task forces to deal with this kind of event.

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    TiG
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    I too disagree. While i do not find it acceptable to my own personal beliefs to go and commit an honour killing, I can appreciate that in a community where this may be viewed as acceptable why it might happen. Failure to achieve this killing may result in someone believing that you need to be killed because of your failure to act responsibly.

    However i think you are ignoring the other side of the influence here Galant, yes we embrace other cultures, but they also get exposure to ours, and as such are much less likely to do those sort of killings here in the UK, for one, its completely against the law and secondly people here view it as morally wrong.

    Its one thing that makes me embarassed about the western world, we try and impose views on people, which is the wrong way of doing things and does cause many more problems than it solves.

    TiG
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    LUSE Galant's Avatar
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    As I said, I too think diversity is a good thing. I love diversity, I love cultures. However there is clearly an issue here. We're talking about a culture that devalues women - treats them as property and finds murder acceptable in those circumstances. What part of that are we supposed to appreciate?

    I think it is fine to impose your views on someone when A) that person comes to live in your society and B) that person's opposing view directly contradicts a fought for and accepted standard, one of the building blocks, of one's own standard.

    In my opinion, these 'honour killings' are as much a part of eastern culture as flying planes into buildings.
    But they're not, not by a long shot. They don't even compare. In honour killings we are tlaking about an accepted cultural practise, in some places government sanctioned. Hijacking planes is the occasional practise of select groups of terrorists.

    I think it may also be the case that what we are seeing now are groups of people coming into other countries not expecting to change anything about the way they live or think, some even seeking to proactively promote a change in that society to more closely match the one they left. Some don't want to change.
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    Senior Member ajbrun's Avatar
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    IMO, we cannot merge these two laws together. How can honour killings be merged with the western belief that killing is wrong? It can't. It's either right, or it's wrong. If you go to live in a foreign country, I think you should be expected to follow their laws - that in my opinion is a must. After that, it should be up to you.

    I think of it like this. The following may or may not be actual laws, I don't know - these are just examples.
    * If you were a woman, and went to live in the middle east, would you hide your face because most people there think it to be wrong? I wouldn't say you'd have to.

    * If a law was to not eat beef (i don't think there is, but it's an example), then I'd respect that law, and go without beef.

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