George Rebane

Three European leaders recently concluded very publicly that unassimilated multiculturalism in their countries was not only a failure, but a dangerous failure (here).  In America that is not yet received wisdom as we are again reminded of the ongoing saga of Major Nidal Malik ‘Allahu Akbar!’ Hasan – the Ft Hood Islamic terrorist who killed 13 and wounded 32 more.

This massacre was perpetrated by an institutionalized political correctness in our Department of Defense that wears multicultural blinders causing it to ignore the most blatant and obvious evidence of hatred against western civilization in general and America in particular.  Now all branches of the military have analyzed and reported on the Ft Hood massacre.  And given what has happened in the interval here and all around the world, none of the reports mention radical Islam as a causative or contributive factor to Hasan’s atrocity.  (more here)

I take this to be the latest harbinger of our relentless slide as a nation.  As a child, student, and defender of western civilization, I feel very alone when I see my government invite continued assaults from all quarters on American culture, values, and mores.  We go on spewing the ‘all cultures are equal’ pabulum while no longer defending our birthrights.  And that for us in the end will be deadly.

[18feb2011 update]  Thinking it as an intellectual given, I almost didn’t expect pushback on the thesis of this post.  Nevertheless, there it was in the comment thread, and most of it stayed on topic.  Historically multiple cultures living under a single political government have kept the peace primarily through separation and the government’s brutal force of arms.  Countries and empires divided into ethnic provinces and into smaller regions into “quarters” that had no political and social contact with each other, and tolerated a commercial contact of necessities.  Not exactly what we view as the American ideal.

When assimilation occurred, it did so over generations and usually at the cost of one culture assimilating its weaker counterpart.  In short multiculturalism per se did not survive.

Throughout history forced multiculturalism has abruptly ended with the downfall of the enforcing government, after which the (usually violent) separation of cultures has been the immediate aftermath.  Modern examples abound with the British Raj leaving India, the implosion of the USSR, the fall of Yugoslavia, and most recently Sadam Hussein’s Iraq.

Such politically incorrect history has not been taught to our young by the left dominated public schools.  Instead the mental midgets who mentor our classrooms have pushed the worship of a particularly dysfunctional form of “diversity” and “inclusion” which is Marxist in its modern inception, and seeks to prepare its acolytes for global citizenship.

The question now posed is, ‘Given that multiculturalism is a deadly affectation in America, what do we do about it?’  The implication is that we want to ‘do’ something that will keep America whole within its modern boundaries.  Let me start by saying that such solutions may no longer exist.  Jefferson’s “A nation ignorant and free …” echoes across the centuries; we may have become too ignorant to save ourselves as the historical sovereign nation-state founded in 1776.

But were we to attempt to save the country, the natural starting place would be to robustly re-establish our national totems (flags, statuary, pledge of allegiance, music, …) in all public places and all public occasions.  Most certainly our children’s history books would have to be rewritten again – books that, say, would once again give more column inches to George Washington than to Cesar Chavez.  Civics classes that focused on American exceptionalism and political unity rather than inclusionary diversity (whatever the hell that is) would re-enter the curriculum.  And most of all we need to re-establish the three most important things that are common to a culture – language, language, language.  Speak what you will at home, but in public and the workplace be fully communicative in English.

[21feb2011 update]  The news on the disastrous failure of multiculturalism in Europe just keeps pouring in.  It's almost as if for years people were afraid to open their mouths, and now that national leaders have taken their fingers out of the dike, the flood of reality is washing over the continent with a splash or two getting noticed on this side of the Pond.  Russ Steele sent me this link 'Europe's Mulitculturalism Leading to Civil War?' on Islamic 'no-go zone' that have arisen in countries like France, Germany, and Great Britain.  "France has some 751 "No Go" zones. The French government has labeled these areas 'sensitive urban zones' that are dangerous for whites and non-Muslims to enter."