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The Public Policy
Intellectuals and Race: Part IV
Saving the worst for last: multiculturalism.
Among the many irrational ideas about racial and ethnic groups that have polarized societies over the centuries and around the world, few have been more irrational and counterproductive than the current dogmas of multiculturalism.
Intellectuals who imagine that they are helping racial or ethnic groups that lag behind by redefining their lags out of existence with multicultural rhetoric are in fact leading them into a blind alley.
Multiculturalism is a tempting quick fix for groups that lag by simply pronouncing their cultures to be equal, or “equally valid,” in some vague and lofty sense. Cultural features are just different, not better or worse, according to this dogma.
Yet the borrowing of particular features from other cultures — such as Arabic numerals that replaced Roman numerals, even in Western cultures that derived from Rome — implies that some features are not simply different but better, including numbers. Some of the most advanced cultures in history have borrowed from other cultures, because no given collection of human beings has created the best answers to all the questions of life.
Nevertheless, since multiculturalists see all cultures as equal or “equally valid,” they see no justification for schools to insist that black children learn standard English, for example. Instead, each group is encouraged to cling to its own culture and to take pride in its own past glories, real or imaginary.
In other words, members of minority groups that lag educationally, economically, or otherwise are to continue to behave in the future as they have in the past — and, if they do not get the same outcomes as others, it is society’s fault. That is the bottom line message of multiculturalism.
George Orwell once said that some ideas are so foolish that only an intellectual could believe them. Multiculturalism is one of those ideas. The intelligentsia burst into indignation or outrage at “gaps” or “disparities” in educational, economic, or other outcomes — and denounce any cultural explanation of these group differences as “blaming the victim.”
There is no question that some races or whole nations have been victimized by others, any more than there is any question that cancers can cause death. But that is very different from saying that deaths can automatically be blamed on cancer. You might think that intellectuals could make that distinction. But many do not.
Yet intellectuals see themselves as friends, allies, and defenders of racial minorities, even as they paint them into a corner of cultural stagnation. This allows the intelligentsia to flatter themselves that they are on the side of the angels against the forces of evil that are conspiring to keep minorities down.
When they cannot come up with hard evidence in any particular case to support this theory today, that just proves to the intelligentsia how fiendishly clever and covert these pervasive efforts to hold down minorities are.
Why people with high levels of mental skills and rhetorical talents would tie themselves into knots with such reasoning is a mystery. Perhaps it is just that they cannot give up a social vision that is so flattering to themselves, despite how detrimental it may be to the people they claim to be helping.
Multiculturalism, like the caste system, paints people into the corner where they happened to have been born. But at least the caste system does not claim to benefit those at the bottom.
Multiculturalism not only serves the ego interests of intellectuals, it serves the political interests of elected officials, who have every incentive to promote a sense of victimhood, and even paranoia, among groups whose votes they want, in exchange for both material and psychic support.
The multicultural vision of the world also serves the interests of those in the media, who thrive on moral melodramas. So do whole departments of ethnic “studies” in academia and a whole industry of “diversity” consultants, community organizers, and miscellaneous other race hustlers.
The biggest losers in all this are those members of racial minorities who allow themselves to be led into the blind alley of resentment and rage, even when there are broad avenues of opportunity available. And we all lose when society is polarized.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CREATORS.COM
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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Joellen| 3.15.13 @ 8:07AM
Dr. Sowell, your comment, "the biggest loser in all this are those members of racial minorities who allow themselves to be led into the blind alley of resentment and rage, even when there are broad avenues of opportunity";
This is the perfecct marxist/dictators plan.
It's all about total control, dont you know. and you cant control what you dont own (through goverment, education, media, etc.).
When the people comprehend there is FREEDOM to be cheerished, and dignity outside the government tentacles, only then will they embrace the mantra "One Nation Under GOD", and not the duping of multicultralism.
Von Mises Jr| 3.15.13 @ 8:33AM
These were my thoughts exactly, Joellen. You cannot have class and race warfare in America unless you have people divided up into groups.
What disturbs me more than just about anything is the depravity of both government and much of the U.S. population where a President runs a Campaign telling liberals/socialist to "vote for revenge," tells Hispanics to "Punish your enemies" and his entire Platform is to target the "Top 1%" to benefit the 47% that pay no Federal Income Tax and are all in for raising other's taxes for more goodies.
Our Founders and Tocqueville understood that once the electorate realizes that they can vote them goodies from the public Treasury, America will fall.
It saddens me to see so many in our Government play to such base and evil motives. The Leaders fall prey to the Deadly Sins of” Pride” and “Gluttony” while they play to the “Greed,” “Sloth,” “Wrath” and “Envy” of the populace. Throw in free birth control to address “Lust” and all Seven Deadly Sins are the Platform of our tortured nation.
This is the same kind of recipe that led to the "Wrath of God" throughout the Bible.
Arnie| 3.15.13 @ 11:26AM
Von, who do you think the 47% is composed of? Heck, half of them are poor Republicans on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or some sort of welfare.
Maybe if the top .1% simply decided in their board rooms to pay higher salaries and not oppose unions, then so many people wouldn't need financial assistance.
And these people still pay all types of other taxes anyway.
But I think it's funny, that the Romney video showed the disdain that the Republican elite has for so many Americans, even within their own party.
Von Mises Jr| 3.15.13 @ 11:54AM
I think the 47% are slothful, envious scum bags such as you, Perp. You can change your name, but you cannot hide.
How do you find time to post all day for MoveOn if you are a top 1% business owner? Are you working nights with the gay caballeros in the bordello?
JD| 3.15.13 @ 11:57AM
A concise summary of Leftism - the belief that all of life's hardships are caused by successful people being greedy and selfish.
Leftism at its root is hate. While Leftists lead off any conversation with talk of who they're "helping", the fact is that the "help" is only ever the attacking of other people in the name of "helping" their "victims", and that attacking is only ever justified with hate.
And since you so hate truth and honesty, you never actually look into the "other types of taxes" you cite. You just vaguely state their existence and hope we won't scrutinize them, so that we'll believe the lies you tell yourself about their making our tax code fair. But we're not rolling over for you!
See the data, from government sources:
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org.....?Docid=456
You can't hide behind vagueness. The fact is that for a growing percentage of the population, taxes go to zero or negative even after payroll taxes are included. And that bottom 20% "total" number in the chart? It went negative in 2010!
And this doesn't even include the social welfare that exists outside the tax code. The sum of cash transfers between our government and people is far more "progressive" than you will ever admit. So much so that it's a clear deterrent to economic progress:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/.....-tax-rates
Von Mises Jr| 3.15.13 @ 12:59PM
JD my friend. You may as well be talking to my dead dog. Arsie is a type of hole that my dead dog did not dig in the yard.
Butch| 3.15.13 @ 3:24PM
"Leftism at its root is hate." The hate is there, all right, but one always hates those he envies. I think the root is envy. There is a reason that word is never, ever heard in the media.
JD| 3.15.13 @ 5:29PM
I see them hate people who I don't think they envy. Rank-and-file Christians, southerners, hunters, etc.
The hate's purpose is often to seize resources for distribution to others, but there are other purposes. Repression through regulation or "bans", for example. These don't require envy.
What is required is to have a problem, then to rationalize blaming someone for your problem, and thus to rationalize "solving" the problem by attacking the person you blame. Since much of what is being rationalized does not stand up to scrutiny, inflaming emotions, specifically hate, as part of the rationalization helps make the sale. There's a reason people refer to both hate and emotion in general as "blinding".
Curtis Rasmussen| 3.15.13 @ 7:13PM
Leftist patronizing is a form of smug arrogance. The leftist thinker truly believes that he is morally and intellectually superior to those he is purporting to help, and will seek to elevate himself in his own mind if some minority does not fit his narrative. My prime personal example? A younger black man can only do a superior job to his leftist whack job counterpart due to all the hard work the leftist put into the civil rights movement that 'grants' the black man the position he's in today. Instead of owning up to his own stupidity to you, you'll get this kind of crap.
Smug patronizing from the delusional liberal elite and their fellow traveler common men. Hate, envy, and perpetual poverty for the fools that fall for their deluded meme.
Butch| 3.15.13 @ 8:06PM
JD: good points. I'll put those to disk. You, too, Curtis.
SUBVET| 3.15.13 @ 8:55AM
Is this a HISTORY question ?
I think we have the answer...........
Jim Adcox| 3.15.13 @ 9:20AM
When asked to identify my "race," I respond "Native American," since I was born here. Various 18th and 19th, even early 20th century writers discussed the "race called Americans" (St. Jean de Crevecoeur). Leave it to multi-cultists to ruin a good idea.
Hollywood Hick| 3.15.13 @ 9:57AM
So the challenge is, how do you educate the educated? Who among us today can carry the banner of truth that might lead to self-reflection and ultimately, change? This is the conundrum of the left. To be so deeply wrong on such an important issue, and to be so desperately defensive of their misbeliefs. I fear they are so deeply indoctrination in liberal fiction that your excellent premise may be read only with veiled eyes that cannot see. Thank you Mr. Sowell for this excellent series of articles.
Jacob McCandles| 3.15.13 @ 11:06AM
This word "diversity" is the one that gets me. Diversity of what exactly? Apparently to libs it means diversity of skin pigmentation. There is an assumed difference, therefore it's good to mix it up. A company needs some blacks and hispanics, mixed in with a pinch of oriental, even a few whites. They all bring something different to the table, because they are all different. Nice.
JD| 3.15.13 @ 12:15PM
Diversity is not a merit. As Leftists apply it, it's actually a demerit.
The suggestion that diversity is a merit is the suggestion that one black guy and one white guy make a better team than two black guys or two white guys. This can only be the suggestion that being black automatically confers attributes that white people don't have, and vice versa, such that only "diversity" grants both sets of merits, while racially homogeneous teams lack something.
This suggestion that particular merits come only with particular races is a racist suggestion. It is the claim that some races are automatically inferior in some areas. Only by claiming this can one claim that diversity is a merit!
The suggestion that diversity is a merit is racist. It's that simple.
The only true "merit" of diversity is that it serves as evidence of nondiscrimination. But lack of diversity is not evidence of discrimination!
The true merit is freedom. Freedom allows diverse ideas to be tried by diverse people, resulting in the discovery of better methods that Leftists falsely attribute to diversity. Racial diversity is not required for diversity of ideas. In fact, proponents of racial diversity are often intolerant of diversity of ideas!
But while freedom allows different ideas to be explored, it does not suggest that different ideas are equally valid. The whole purpose of exploring them is to find the best ones, and discard the others! Retaining bad ideas in the name of "diversity" is just foolish.
Jacob McCandles| 3.15.13 @ 2:21PM
You've summarized my thoughts on the matter much better than I was able to. Thanks
DRed| 3.15.13 @ 11:30AM
"Nevertheless, since multiculturalists see all cultures as equal or “equally valid,” they see no justification for schools to insist that black children learn standard English, for example."
This is a completely false statement. The multiculturalist approach would be to get teachers or materials in AAVE and use them to teach black students SAE. Whether or not it's pedagogically sound, the intent would be to teach SAE.
Von Mises Jr| 3.15.13 @ 11:59AM
You misspelled "pedophile."
JD| 3.15.13 @ 5:48PM
There are movements to do what you say. There are other movements that say that speaking ebonics is perfectly fine and wonderful.
But I do love the creation of the term "AAVE", complete with defined grammatical rules for it. It's amazing how far people will go to legitimize some bad behaviors while viciously condemning others!
JD| 3.15.13 @ 5:50PM
And lest we forget - have you ever thought about how Africans speak English? Very precise diction and grammar. Better than most of ours! Same with a lot of Indians. Been doing it for hundreds of years!
But inner-city Americans? No way, too hard! I mean, come on, they're so poor!
Not like those rich Africans who have it so easy...
DRed| 3.15.13 @ 6:02PM
It's not at all odd that Africans don't speak an American vernacular. And its also not odd that AAVE has grammatical rules. All languages do.
There's nothing wrong with speaking any vernacular form of English. Its telling that you find someone speaking a different form of English than you to be illegitimate.
Petronius| 3.15.13 @ 12:17PM
This will never stop short of open rebellion because what matters to the "minority" is acceptance on Their terms. It's not skin pigmentation, sexuality, or anything else. The goal of these ambulatory turds is, "You will Like ME. Or else!"
alice921| 3.17.13 @ 4:07PM
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alice921| 3.19.13 @ 2:50PM
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