MetaFilter posts tagged with multiculturalism

A spectre is haunting Western academia

Abiezer — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:05:02 -0800

Slavoj Žižek recently gave five talks under the title Masterclass - Notes Towards a Definition of Communist Culture. It sez 'ere, "The master class analyses phenomena of modern thought and culture with the intention to discern elements of possible Communist culture. It moves at two levels: first, it interprets some cultural phenomena (from today’s architecture to classic literary works like Rousseau’s La Nouvelle Heloise) as failures to imagine or enact a Communist culture; second, it explores attempts at imagining how a Communist culture could look, from Wagner’s Ring to Kafka’s and Beckett’s short stories and contemporary science fiction novels." Audio of Zizek's talks and subsequent discussion is now online: Part I Utopias; Part II Architecture as Ideology; Part III Wagner’s Ring as a Communist narrative; Part IV Populism and Democracy; Part V Environment, Identity and Multiculturalism. Those who like to watch the beard in motion will find links to video of some of the talks posted here.

Test your national pride

goo — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:28:10 -0800

Kick A Migrant!

Inshallah

Firas — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:51:07 -0800

"Hundreds of thousands of Americans have endured tours of duty in Iraq. They are returning home with a new word on their lips. It will have an impact on the American Experiment, inshallah."

The downside of diversity

srboisvert — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 06:11:21 -0800

The downside of diversity. A Harvard political scientist finds that diversity hurts civic life. What happens when a liberal scholar unearths an inconvenient truth?

Slavoj Zizek

semmi — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:45:44 -0800

Slavoj Zizek in Spiked, and Op-Ed in NYT.

tgrundke — Fri, 11 Oct 2002 15:46:57 -0800

I'll take "Western Superiority Complexes" for $500, Alex... Let the wars begin: The ever controversial Ayn Rand Institute suggests that on the eve of Columbus Day we reject revisionist Politically Correct history that Columbus was a butcher. By what justification could we state that Western Civilization is superior to others? Is multiculturalism a bad idea? Does this suggest we have a 'right' to wipe out peoples inferior to us? Darwinism at its potential worst--or a scary reality to admit?

ewkpates — Wed, 21 Aug 2002 05:43:58 -0800

Multiculturalism v/s Democracy On this day in 1858, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky-born lawyer and one-time U.S. Representative from Illinois, began a series of famous public debates on the issue of slavery, during the course of which Lincoln said:

"They [Founding Fathers] meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all: constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, every where."

I argue that when a culture values slavery, when a culture is built upon a system of basic inequality, regardless of the reasons, that culture is incompatible with Democracy and the ideals of American society, and can not and should not be embraced by Americans. Is it possible that part of the anger at the US stems from the "spreading and deepening" influence of American principles, and not just at our economic and military mistakes?

314/ — Tue, 20 Aug 2002 11:06:29 -0800

Are "multiculturalists" the real racists?

crasspastor — Sat, 15 Sep 2001 22:58:25 -0800

Can we at least agree to disagree that Multiculturism has gotten us somewhere? Many Arab Americans are safer because of it. Is it possible that age-old liberal propaganda has insured at least partially, a much more measured response from the US government, as even conservative leaders seek to include Muslim voice in their sermons of American togetherness? Are we growing up as a society as a result of this cataclysm? (Warning: Link to antithesis of my point--which is exactly the point as it were)