Heritage
Why do liberal leftists continue to emphasise differences, when those differences simply serve to drive wedges between the different communities
Some time ago I came to the conclusion that multiculturalism is the worst, most damaging experiment ever inflicted on society. Rather than bringing people of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds together, it has served only to divide, create ghettos. For example Blackburn, which is now two cities, one half of which is a typical post-industrial English town, the other half a suburb of Islamabad. Never the twain shall meet.
I have been reading a book The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religionby Jonathan Haidt. Towards the end of his study he states;
Emphasizing differences makes many people more racist, not less.
When I read it, I was floored. Here for the first time, my thoughts on the subject encapsulated in one simple sentence, and written by a self confessed liberal!
Society functions because all members of it by and large agree to act in accordance with certain norms. In Britain, we queue, we drive on the left, we pay our taxes, we abide by laws and customs handed down from one generation to the next. It is by no means perfect, but it is the glue that holds society together.
So why do liberal leftists continue to emphasise differences, when those differences simply serve to drive wedges between the different communities, breeding resentment as a consequence. Wouldn't it be better to emphasise those aspects that unite us, that draw us together. By all means celebrate your own cultural background, but recognise that we are all citizens of one nation and to that extent we share a common heritage, a heritage that could be the rallying point that brings all parts of society together.
14th September 2018