Limits of Multiculturalism

nasah#18:

"as I have said before I will say it again -- do in Rome as Romans do"

Always a good advice. But in the last part of the last century, the "Romans" themselves said that newcomers to Rome do not need to change; they could go to Jamuna and remain Ganga Ram. And the newcomers did! The problem was that the newcomers were never told that they need to leave their excess baggage behind when they came to their new homes. So, they brought their prejudices, their hatreds and their concepts of "honour" and "aurat ki auqaat" with them. And this is where the problem started.

kaal#15:

"Multiculturalism is a dead and useless doctrine."

Multiculturalism is the inevitable outcome of the shrinking world and massive movements of people across the globe not only as immigrants and refugees but also as travellers. It is a beautiful bouquet, but the need is to ensure that it does not become a clutter of weeds. For that, what is needed are strict Lakshman Rekhas.

#41 i agree with you on this desi-scotch connection. At U of Mich business school, when asked to bring examples of what we thought was effective advertizing, the three Indian students all brought along one of those faux-sophisticated whiskey ads in magazines. Everyone else agreed they skipped over such ads without a second glance. :-)

Re: # 40

masadi is an exhibitionist cum voyeur ....... the railroad tracks were made for both ....... long live the british !

Re: # 36

vrv,

.... what is up with desis and scotch ? .... we should be drinking our own tharra and dying like those people in karachi ..... after all, scotch is not part of our culture - we should be smoking charas and drinking bhang and country hooch at the mazars of our great sufis .........

p.s. i am not much of a scotch person even though i will have a glass of unblended stuff as an after dinner drink ......

hamidm: i think the word you meant for masadi was "exhibitionist", not "voyeur". Now I have to start teaching english to you fob immigrants as well!!

hamidm #38 Yes indeed. Crapper (inventor of the indoor flush) Zindabad!!

tahmed,

.... oh yea, i have heard about the jullunder philharmonic orchestra and seen pictures of the opera house ! ......... get real !

..... i still remember the first time i went to my ancestral village i had to squat in the fields to relieve myself ...... the wheat, or what passes for wheat in the potohar, had just been harvested and the darn stalks were sticking six inches above the ground so that i had to stick my ass up in the air ......what a sight i must have made !...... to this day i cannot eat bread without choking .........

...... i will take the white man's indoor plumbing any day - there is no honor in exposing your butt to the elements (unless you are a voyeur like masadi)

vrv #36 it appears my protest against the defaming of julluder as having mud huts in #34 has fallen on deaf ears. :-(

Hamid,

... if you want to live like primitive savages go back to your mud hut in jullunder or gujranwala or whatever godforsaken place on the dark continent you came from .....

Btw, what happened to ur Blue Label whiskey, buddy?

U know I read ur posts for humour though u are inconsistent, self-contradcitory though a potent msg giver (no Muhammed, though).

.... and guys, with winter coming up, please buy your moms some real shoes - it is sad to see elderely women with rings on their toes walking around in the snow wearing big-toe-in-strap chappals ....... heck with your culture - the poor woman will get frostbite !

hamidm #33: may the blessings of the season be on you. Aaameen.

I protest your claim that Jullunder has mud huts. Our ancestral home not far from Jullunder stood strong and proud for 40 years after my people had to...er...depart with some haste. And even today a part of the original wall still stands.

Re: # 32

i am sorry ... i meant women who refuse to show their ugly mugs and wear the niqab should be waterboarded ..... i am so mad, i can't think straight !....... dinesh d'souza, help me !

......... i have work to do, but i will be back to beat some sense into these primitive savages ........ damn natives !

.... and as for women who refuse to insist on wearing a niqab, i recommend waterboarding..... because sooner or later they will do something nasty like blowing up a plane or ruining their man's biryani ....... there is no point in taking chances - they are guilty until proven innocent !

.... all this multiculturalism stuff is bullshit and, if i may say so, smells like it too ...... now, why the heck should a seventh grader be allowed to take a dagger to school? .....so that he can stab his teacher? ..... and why should the poor kid be forced to wear a silly rag in his head and then be subjected to cruel remarks from his class mates ? .... and let's not even talk abou the lice epidemic ...

........it is asinine and smells like an asse's behind ! .. pretty soon, the zulus will be running around eaton center in leopard skins and the incorrigible muslims will be slaughtering animals at the cn tower! .... and what about public beheadings and ritual stonings every friday at rogers center - who needs the blue jays !

.... c'mon people ... if you want to live like primitive savages go back to your mud hut in jullunder or gujranwala or whatever godforsaken place on the dark continent you came from ..... if you love your 'culture' so goddamn much then drop your pants and run off into the bush to be chased by a lion or, like masadi, just squat on the railroad tracks so that you can be run over by the train left behind by a more civilized people .......... ingrates !

thinkingstorm#16:

"The melting pot, the salad bowl, the mosaic, I wonder if anyone can help me understand how the differences between these concepts translated in real terms to the actual people"

There is less difference than is made out to be. The American melting pot doesn't melt everyone, the blacks being the most obvious examples, the Hispanics, on the other hand, are keen to retain their language, culture and separate identity. I came to Canada from the United States in the late sixties and, at that time, one found more diversity in the United States than in Canada. The basic difference in the two countries is because of the French fact here and the need to accommodate the differences in the two founding nations with respect to their language, culture, cuisine and legal codes.

The other big difference is that the diversity in the United States is more natural whereas, in Canada, it has been officially promoted and subsidised. The politicians, especially, make it a point to make a show of it, as echoboom has pointed out in his post.