Why I’m not a multiculturalist, but I enjoy learning about other cultures!

Attack of the Multiculturalists! It could be the title of a new book! It would be a horror novel, or better yet a mystery! It’s a mystery to me what multiculturalists hope to accomplish with their strange and destructive agenda. Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me clarify what I mean when I’m talking about multiculturalism.

On the surface, the word multi-cultural sounds very good. Multiple cultures. The melting pot. That’s what America is all about. Many of us trace our roots back to the Germans, Italians, Irish, English, etc… And there’s nothing wrong with celebrating the good parts of your heritage and your culture! (No one with a right mind celebrates the ugly parts, for instance when German-Americans celebrate their heritage they don’t celebrate the Nazis.)

(Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the sad parts about our American heritage is the reprehensible practice of slavery which existed for years in our nation and around the world. This tragedy has prevented many African-Americans from being able to trace back their roots to various countries in Africa. As disgusting as slavery was, I hope we can take some pride in the fact that we as Americans are one of the first cultures to eliminate slavery and to promote equality of all races.)

Many of us celebrate parts of our heritage going back generations, and we all celebrate our heritage as Americans. It’s also neat to see newer immigrants in America celebrating their heritage! Be it Mexicans, Pakistanis, Nigerians, South Koreans, and so on and so forth. I have friends from countries all over the world. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity in the past to meet international students who come to America to learn English and learn about our culture, and in turn I get to learn about their culture, it’s an educational experience and it can be a lot of fun. This is not what multiculturalists are interested in though.

Multiculturalism is biased against Western culture, and more specifically American culture. The ardent multiculturalist also recognizes and praises all aspects of non-Western culture and puts it on a pedestal. To say it another way: the multiculturalist is anti-American and pro-everything else as a matter of principle. I have a huge problem with this and so do many Americans for a couple of reasons.

First, the celebration of all aspects of these cultures without question is dangerous. How does one celebrate cannibalism? How does one celebrate human sacrifices? How does one celebrate other cultural practices that go against universal human values and American values? Polygamy, incest, self-mutilation, are examples that come to mind. Unfortunately multiculturalists have no problem promoting these things. Instead of this celebration without question we should be learning about the good and bad of various cultures. The problem is that multiculturalists are also relativists. They don’t believe in good or bad, but believe anything and everything is basically good. Except for America that is, which brings me to my second point.

Along with the praise for all aspects of foreign cultures, there is a concerted effort to downplay the importance of the values that America was founded upon. Rather than praising the principles that have made us the greatest nation in all the land, a country of freedom and a shining city on a hill, the multiculturalist prefers to rag on America as an evil empire.

Now I’m not naive, we have a list of negatives from our past including racism, a lack of women’s rights, and our treatment of Native Americans. Despite this we have a lot to be proud of here in America when compared with the other cultures that have ever existed on this planet. Put another way: you can criticize some aspects of our nations history without trashing the principles we were founded on. You can denounce the behavior by some without ripping apart our constitution.

So the complete and utter trashing of America boggles my mind. How many history teachers in our schools are trashing America? I know I heard my share of anti-American rhetoric in college and a lot my classmates were really buying into it. There are other more subtle examples though. How many schools are dropping the celebration of traditional American holidays while adding holidays from foreign cultures. I’m not saying that learning about other holidays is inherently bad, it’s just very strange that at the same time they would eliminate American ones. Does this bother you as much as it does me? Suddenly Ramadan is popping up on the school Calendar, but Christmas Break has long since been replaced by “Winter Break”.

What worries me is this anti-American behavior is spreading. One of the great lines of defense that will be used by a multiculturalist is that “you can’t call me anti-American for questioning things”. This goes back to the fundamental belief in right or wrong. I believe the ideals America were founded upon are right. If you want to question that, go right ahead, but if you come to the conclusion that America is wrong for you, please do us all a favor and pack up your bags, purchase a plane ticket and don’t let the door hit you on the keister on the way out!

In the meantime, those of us who are proud of America and the ideals on which it was founded need to step up to the plate. Speak up at school board meetings, speak up at city council meetings, write letters to your legislators and congressmen. Speak with your actions such as the way you spend money, the people you vote for, the way you teach your children, and the way in which you interact with co-workers and friends.

America is a good country, may God bless the USA.