February 11th, 2011

Dear Sofia,

I don't think I could say it any better: "Multiculturalism a failure says... Europe."

Here is the story from HotAir.com:

"Yesterday French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the following about multiculturalism during a television interview:

'My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure,' he said in a television interview when asked about the policy which advocates that host societies welcome and foster distinct cultural and religious immigrant groups. 'Of course we must all respect differences, but we do not want… a society where communities coexist side by side.

If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France,' the right-wing president said. ' The French national community cannot accept a change in its lifestyle, equality between men and women… freedom for little girls to go to school,' he said.

'We have been too concerned about the identity of the person who was arriving and not enough about the identity of the country that was receiving him,' Sarkozy said in the TFI channel show.

You might be thinking this was a gaffe, but it turns out it’s actually part of a trend. It began last October when German Chancellor Angela Merkel made much the same point:

'This approach has failed, totally,' she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany’s culture and values. 'We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don’t accept them don’t have a place here,' said the chancellor.

This was bolstered by British Prime Minister David Cameron who just a few days ago said: 'Under the doctrine of state multiculturalism, we have encouraged different cultures to live separate lives, apart from each other and apart from the mainstream. We’ve failed to provide a vision of society to which they feel they want to belong. We’ve even tolerated these segregated communities behaving in ways that run completely counter to our values.'

Some on the right have suggested that Cameron’s statements were weak. I disagree. Can you imagine any major political figure in the United States saying this?
'...when a white person holds objectionable views, racist views for instance, we rightly condemn them. But when equally unacceptable views or practices come from someone who isn’t white, we’ve been too cautious frankly – frankly, even fearful – to stand up to them. '

With the leaders of Europe publicly and forcefully abandoning multiculturalism, isn’t it time for America to make the same move?

_________

Baby girl, we love us some multiculturalism. Love the food, love the music, love the accents. But, this country is one which has a national identity that everyone should adopt when they emigrate here. It's the beauty of our nation that, no matter who you were in another place, you can come here and integrate yourself seamlessly. That is, if you are willing to learn our language (English), our system (capitalism) and the religion of our heritage (Christianity).

Is that a controversial statement? It shouldn't be! Why is it wrong to assert that those moving into a country adopt the customs of the land? They are expected to adopt the law, and are punished if they don't. A long time ago there was a teenager from the U.S. who suffered a punishment of caning when he violated laws in (I think) Singapore. And, if you are arrested in many foreign countries you can be held for an indeterminate amount of time if they feel you've violated a law.

If the tables were turned - if we were talking about Americans moving into foreign countries - the most lefty leftist would be highly offended by someone suggesting they should feel free to continue speaking English, demand that others learn English in order to service them, use the influence of fear to change laws in their favor and live in segregated communities away from native speakers.

But that's exactly what Muslim immigrants to France, Germany, the U.K. and the United States have demanded. It's even getting to the point where public schools are forcing Muslim curriculum into elementary education! Imagine if Americans made these demands in other countries, and how angry liberals would be!

It might be wrong to force someone to adopt your culture in a country other than your native one. But when you are a citizen, by birth or by adoption/legal immigration, of a nation you have every right to defend threats against your collective culture. Every other nation does this; why is it only wrong when the U.S. does?

Sofia, honey, you can bet you'll be raised to appreciate other cultures. But we'll do our best to instill in you a national pride, too!


original article can be found by clicking here