a_majoor said:
Wes is quite right, the situation in the UK is also out of control, with Muslim enclaves and entire "Parallel Systems" of rule (I hesitate to call it government). Many other countries in Western Europe are also facing the same problem of unassimilated Muslims, who, quite in difiance of multiculturalism, display open contempt for their host societies, refuse to abide by social norms and act out by attacking the home society in similar ways to the ones described by Wes.
I havn't seen any indications that the situation has gone as far in Canada, but there could be any number of explanations (including a refusal by the press to report such outrages, as being bad for the prevailing multicultural ethos). Call me an assimilationist, but if you are living in a nation, then you are part of that nation, and no hyphens either. Canada's "Cultural mossaic" seems to be the logical place for fractures along the lines discussed here; lets hope common sense sets in before it is too late.
I hope I'm not derailing an interesting and informative discussion. I had to go back a few pages to find to hook upon which to hang this article. This issues, it seems to me, are related: I wonder if our desire to be
inclusive drives us to moral and intellectual pabulum.
See for yourself, for The Times at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1775068,00.html
Ditch Holocaust day, advisers urge Blair
Abul Taher
ADVISERS appointed by Tony Blair after the London bombings are proposing to scrap the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day because it is regarded as offensive to Muslims.
They want to replace it with a Genocide Day that would recognise the mass murder of Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia as well as people of other faiths.
The draft proposals have been prepared by committees appointed by Blair to tackle extremism. He has promised to respond to the plans, but the threat to the Holocaust Day has provoked a fierce backlash from the Jewish community.
Holocaust Day was established by Blair in 2001 after a sustained campaign by Jewish leaders to create a lasting memorial to the 6m victims of Hitler. It is marked each year on January 27.
The Queen is patron of the charity that organises the event and the Home Office pays £500,000 a year to fund it. The committees argue that the special status of Holocaust Memorial Day fuels extremists' sense of alienation because it "excludes" Muslims.
A member of one of the committees, made up of Muslims, said it gave the impression that "western lives have more value than non-western lives". That perception needed to be changed. "One way of doing that is if the government were to sponsor a national Genocide Memorial Day.
"The very name Holocaust Memorial Day sounds too exclusive to many young Muslims. It sends out the wrong signals: that the lives of one people are to be remembered more than others. It's a grievance that extremists are able to exploit."
The recommendation, drawn up by four committees including those dealing with imams and mosques, and Islamaphobia and policing, has the backing of Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
He said: "The message of the Holocaust was 'never again', and for that message to have practical effect on the world community it has to be inclusive. We can never have double standards in terms of human life. Muslims feel hurt and excluded that their lives are not equally valuable to those lives lost in the Holocaust time."
Ibrahim Hewitt, chairman of the charity Interpal, said: "There are 500 Palestinian towns and villages that have been wiped out over the years. That's pretty genocidal to me."
The committees are also set to clash with Blair on his proposal to ban Hizb ut-Tahrir, the radical Islamic group. Government sources say they will argue that a ban is unjustified because the group, which is proscribed in much of the Middle East, neither advocates nor perpetrates violence in the UK.
A Home Office spokesman said it would consider the proposals for a separate Genocide Day for all faiths but emphasised that it regarded the Holocaust as a "defining tragedy in European history".
Mike Whine, a director of the British Board of Deputies, said: "Of course we will oppose this move. The whole point is to remember the darkest day of modern history."
Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside and a Holocaust Memorial trustee, said: "These Muslim groups should stop trying to evade the enormity of the Holocaust."
The seven committees finalise their recommendations today at St George's House, Windsor, and will submit them to Blair and Charles Clarke, the home secretary, on September 22.
It is worth noting that
Holocaust Day is a recent invention, designed, as Mike Whine, a director of the British Board of Deputies* said, "... to remember the darkest day of modern history." Whose history? That's the issue.
An unnamed Home Office spokesman said the Holocaust needs memorializing because it was a "defining tragedy in European history." Since Britain is part of Europe I suppose it makes perfect sense to emphasize this particular "defining tragedy" because it does, indeed, need sufficient memorializing to guarantee
Never again!
How is this related to using Islamic arbitrators in Ontario?
Two issues, for me:
"¢ Is it, indeed, fair or even justifiable to exclude one religious group from
privileges enjoyed by others or another? Why not Islamic arbitrators? Rabbis have been doing it for years? Are Jews morally superior or Muslims? Why not Jewish schools? There are, in Ontario, Catholic schools - fully funded by Islamic, Jewish and Protestant taxpayers, alike. Why a Holocaust Memorial Day and not one for Armenians or to commemorate the Rape of Nanking? Why is Good Friday a statutory holiday?
"¢ How far can multiculturalism and
inclusivity be allowed to go? Do nations, even highly multicultural states like Canada, have some sort of core values - based upon the shared history of the majority? How far should Denmark submerge those things which make it Danish in an effort to accommodate immigrants? Does Ontario still have a dominant culture? What about Ontario outside of Greater Toronto? How multicultural are Almonte, Bancroft, Fergus, Orangeville, Peterborough, St Catherines and Welland? Is there anything
quintessentially 'Ontario' about Elora or Sarnia or does Toronto equal Ontario? Does it matter?
Now,
personally, I would prefer as truly secular society but I realize that cannot be achieved without diluting, to the point of nonsense, 2,000 years of history - some of it brutal and evil but most of it, throughout the West, consisting of small steps out of darkness and into a 'world' a
civilization (in Huntington's sense of the word) in which
liberty is a measurable, practical
reality for hundreds of millions, maybe even a billion people. I,
personally, think it is important that we preserve that historic base because I don't think history is over and I don't think our, Western, contributions to it are all in the past. It may sound odd but I do believe in a better world for my great-grandchildren's children and I believe that that we, in the West, people living right now, are most likely to provide an important
part of the base upon which that better world will be built. If our culture, our ideals, our values, our
civilization, and its history, are diluted or washed away then,
I believe the world those far off great-great-grandchildren inhabit will be a worse place.
I tend to the view that humanity and human history are both
accidental. I believe human life and thought is the result of a thousand trillion mostly random mutations, 995 trillion of which went nowhere or resulted in slimy, scaly, egg laying forms of life. I do not think there is anything
special - no 'special providence' as Victor Davis Hanson might say - about the West; nothing except more random chances related to climate and rivers and the like which meant that we, rather than, say, the Central Asians, gave the world modern, secular liberalism. Epictetus could, just as easily, have been a black slave.
I, personally, see a connection between aggressive, all inclusive multiculturalism and an apparent decline in values. It is as though we
race to the bottom to ensure that none are left behind. I believe this is am equally bad practice is army physical training and Western politics.
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* The Board of Deputies is a Jewish advocacy group, see:
http://www.bod.org.uk/bod/
