culture is the new race, continued.

The fellow from republic of m just left me a comment in support of the malcontent, introducing himself as a conservative, but not republican, gay blogger. I scanned through his site, and for the most part it seems more well-thought than the mal and with less of an attempt to seem bitchy, but it led me on to the
gay patriot's comments on michael barone's article on the death of multiculturalism. mr. patriot quotes barone approvingly:

"Multiculturalism is based on the lie that all cultures are morally equal. In practice, that soon degenerates to: All cultures are morally equal, except ours, which is worse. But all cultures are not equal in respecting representative government, guaranteed liberties, and the rule of law. And those things arose not simultaneously and in all cultures but in certain specific times and places–mostly in Britain and America but also in other parts of Europe."

Forget the wah-wah-wah-my-pussy-hurts aspect of the "All cultures are morally equal, except ours, which is worse" simplification and let's move on to the suggestion that "representative government, guaranteed liberties, and the rule of law" are indicators of certain 'cultures' (read ' ethnic/ geographic groups of people') and notably absent in others. This is a racist suggestion and not a very thinly veiled one. It attaches the accoplishments of the Enlightenment to a geographic and ethnic elite (read 'white people') and divorces progress from its historical context. Democracy isn't just some innate thing that Europeans and their American descendants had delivered to them from heaven or naturally developed through their genetic superiority, it arose and spread in a global context and its development has a long history and spans over numerous cultural groups and a great expanse of time.

It is racism, point blank. Us vs. Them, baby. THEY are just different.

In his comments section, one reader illuminates the bigotry:

"Certain things are just wrong, period, and we shouldn�t be afraid to say so. Enslaving other people is wrong, period. Murdering other people because we don�t like what they�ve done to our �honor� is wrong, period. Mass murder of civilians by so-called �suicide bombers� is wrong, period. Dictatorship is wrong, period. No discussion on these points."

When bad things are done by Muslim people, it is indicative of all Muslim people. When bad things are done by black people, it is indicative of all black people. It is their 'culture'. Suicide bombing is considered a part of Middle Eastern 'culture', rather than a tactic in a conflict. Since a good chunk of my bloodline and cultural heritage can be traced back to Ireland, does that mean car bombing is part of my 'culture'?

'Multiculturalism' has never been about whitewashing crimes or limiting accountability for actions. The idea is that we have to be understanding of different people and our different backgrounds. What the article describes isn't the death of multiculturalism, it is the new public face of bigotry.

With other homos out there promoting this shit, who needs the bashers? It is retarded rhetoric like this by much of the big gay leadership in this country that keeps the black community wary of supporting our issues and seeing ours as a common struggle against bigotry. Instead of promoting bigotry, try fighting it.