The Ayn Rand Institute has called multiculturalism "the new racism" that would turn a country into "country into a collection of separatist groups". They are joined by others believing multiculturalism positions one culture above another culture without stating which culture belongs at the top. This, they contend, will lead to the creation of "separatist groups competing with each other for power".
Yet if you read yesterday's definition of culture with an inquisitive mind, you may have already figured out that every individual on this planet is already individually multicultural. Each of us belongs to different multiple different cultures at the same time.
For example, we are members of a specific generational culture. The Baby Boomer generation experienced the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. However each member of the Baby Boomer generation is also a member of an ethnic culture. In the African-American culture, Martin Luther King's death had a much more profound impact than that of JFK. In European-American homes JFK's death was a more significant event.
If we were not multicultural as individuals, the events would have had exactly the same effect on every person. Due to the multicultural aspects of our character, events are perceived differently. Neither is better than the other, they are just different.
True multiculturalism is not about any single element of a persona. It is about the dozens of cultures each of us has within us. Search on Cultural Bridges to see a sampling of more than 20 cultural categories. You will see each one represents a portion of the way you think, act, and react.
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1111
Date Published :
Mar 1 2008