In a message dated 9/8/2007 8:26:57 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
pbarrett@COX.NET writes:
David, the attack of 9/11 led to the attack on Afghanistan, not on Iraq. And
how did multiculturalists get involved in this? What do we multiculturalists
have to do with 9/11 or American retaliation against Al Qaeda bases in
Afghanistan? What did we have to do with the invasion of Iraq?
Just who is a multiculturalist, anyway? I certainly consider myself one and
do not berate the U.S. for “every real or imaginary cultural insensitivity”
nor do I give “the Muslim world” a pass on anything. I do call you on
referring to the entire Muslim world as “frighteningly intolerant and
racist.” Some are, some arenÃt. We only have to look at Jena, LA to see some
intolerance and racism among people who surely aren’t Muslim and most likely
are Baptists and Catholics. No one I know refers to all Baptists as
intolerant and racist b/c of what’s happening in La.
Response:
Saddam Hussein publicly praised the 9/11 massacre (most other Arab leaders
were more discreet), and it was clear which side he was on. Had Iraq’s oil
resources been put at Al Qaeda’s disposal it would have been a very different
ball game now.
Multiculturalists, in their zeal for cultural understanding and tolerance, a
passion that is often not accompanied by knowledge, believe that America’s
faults must be highlighted and the virtues of other peoples, especially
third-worlders must be maximized. This is accompanied by an underlying ideology
that condemns the West as fundamentally racist and imperialistic, and therefore
responsible for any ills that may be present in the Third World. And I
disagree with Godfrey. What goes on in the schools does matter. A country whose
children are indoctrinated by multiculturalist teachers with national self-hatred
is ill-prepared to withstand an onslaught from religious fanatics convinced
of their divine right to kill.
The case of Jena, LA is shocking, and should be dealt with as firmly as
possible. But religion is not an issue here, nor is national security at stake
because of the belligerence of a foreign power. In other words, the white kids
who are terrorizing black kids are not on a Baptist or Catholic crusade
against blacks and they know full well that their religious establishments would
never justify their actions. Also, most Americans would be horrified at the
continuing segregation in LA. There is a lesson in that for what the US faces
now. Since 9/11 the world has seen numerous brutal terrorist attacks
perpetrated by Muslim fanatics in the name of Islam. The Muslim religious establishment
has been strangely silent about 9/11, Madrid, Bali, Philippines, not to
mention the carnage in Israel, which, if you adjust for population has suffered
the equivalent of about twelve 9/11’s.
David
(David M. Stillman,
Philadelphia)
David, keeping the focus here, I would like to direct readers to your characterization of multiculturalists. You have not provided us with even the name of a multiculturalist. I have offered myself as a multiculturalist but you may say that you are referring to certain ideologues. Well, who are they?
A lot of this has to due with balance and perspective. One day we were looking at the textbook in an American history class and I was simply repeating what was in the textbook about American occupations of various Latin-American countries. A student said to me: “You make Americans look like bullies.”
We went over the textbook again after I had made it clear that I wasn’t saying these things, the textbook was. Moreover, the textbook did not evaluate or characterize the actions (I still have the textbook if you want to go over just what it says) of the U.S. but stated the simple facts. It was this girl’s interpretation of our actions. She thought the actions were bullying and sought to deny them.
I think, at this point, that it is important for me to emphasize that I have spoken with you personally and we have exchanged e-mails and I know you to be a person of some balance and knowledge. But there are those who believe, as this girl did, that any mention of any questionable action by the U.S. is inadmissable. I am very familiar with the viewpoint that the U.S. is essentially evil and the “system” is fatally flawed and doomed to oppress people. I have never heard of someone being taught that in a public school or of such views getting into nationally accepted textbooks.
So we are dealing on two levels here: does this label ’multiculturalism’ truly bear the onus of distortion and imbalance that you lay on it and, secondly, even if it does, who is teaching it to students? And I’ll be honest here, I get really angry and disgusted with people on flteach who let me hang out here along with one or two others to question your characterizations of our school system as a hotbed of crazy America-hating radicals. Our kids are not being fed anti-American propaganda and these other teachers know it but they won’t speak up.
The picture you paint of our schools, teachers, textbooks and students seems based on some bad experiences with some bizarre radicals that you have had and now you paint all public schools as prey to these crazies. People need to look around them, look at their textbooks and see if you are right. I don’t see it.