Dr. Thomas Sowell was at a forum, not sure when, I was just watching the video. He made a comment about ‘multiculturalism’ that was typically insightful. What ‘multiculturalism’ boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except western culture and you cannot blame any culture in the world for anything except western culture.
Every culture has at some time in its history engaged in slavery. If you listen to the left wing, it’s only white Eurocentric men that owned slaves. Recorded history not only tells us that every culture has owned slaves but that every culture has been enslaved. Funny how the left only talks about one culture being enslaved. Isn’t it funny how some cultures still enslave others today, but we never hear about it?
We are constantly told that white Eurocentric men in America and other Western countries discriminate against women, paying them only pennies on the dollar as compared to men. A review of the data tells us that is not exactly true and that SOMETIMES when it is true, there is a valid reason for that happening. For example, several studies showed that women in mid- or upper-level management positions often took less time to achieve that level, thus were paid at the lower end of the scale, but that their percentage of raise was comparable to men in the same position. The left also wants to ignore cultures where women are still treated as not only second-class citizens but as property with no right to vote, hold a job, get an education, etc.
The left will blame Christianity for problems throughout history and around the world but ignore the role of Muslims. Never mind that Muslims were much more aggressive in conquering territory and forcing others to convert to their religion. Never mind that Muslims started conflicts in the Middle East at least as often Christians or Jews.
Liberals will tell us that Native Americans lived a peaceful, idyllic life until they were corrupted by white Eurocentric men. This ignores the wars between various tribes that resulted in the enslaving of women or that they also treated women as property that was often not as valuable to a man as his horse.
Why do they ignore history, including the strides that white Eurocentric cultures have helped foment? Simple. It comes back to control and power. Liberals have built their entire political agenda upon identifying different groups as victims and promising to help stop whichever particular group victimized them and caused them harm.
If the left wing were to be honest they would have to admit a couple of things that could destroy their quest for power. First that the majority of today’s economic and societal ills are not the result of some past wrong, especially if it took place decades ago. Secondly, they’d also have to admit that the predecessors in their party were the ones committing some of those atrocities. Finally, they’d also have to admit that their ‘solutions’ have not resolved anything. In fact, their ‘solutions’ have made the problems worse.
Quite simply, blaming western culture is an easy way to do a little sidestep, feed into the basic emotions of humans, and keep political power. The masses may be starting to wake up to the truth, but that’s another column for another day.