Monday, June 27, 2016

The self-absorbed left goes off the edge

So I read this piece from The Guardian by a gentleman named Aditya Chakrabortty called It’s become okay to be a racist in Britain.  While some of the examples he used seemed alarming (such as calls to burn down mosques), some of the others seem much more relevant and typical to the actual debate going on across our own country, and quite obviously across the globe.

In particular he refers to a discussion from a “leaver” who complained that her daughter moved to London, only to be exposed to things like sexual groping on the trains, and living in an Apartment building where open fires were being used to cook food. The implication was that such complaints were based on racism and the author openly suggested that this woman stating that "she wanted her country back” was offensive. Apparently not wanting to be groped by strange men, and expecting people to follow fire code laws shows a lack of tolerance for other cultures. Moreover this was a tolerance that Chakrabortty felt had been the norm throughout the 90s and 00s, but was now being overwhelmed and replaced with fear based intolerance and right wing bigotry.

I guess I ask myself to what degree does someone have to “tolerate” behavior that the existing culture deems inappropriate or downright illegal, just because such behavior is the norm in the areas of the world where some of these refugees and immigrants come from? Why “should” an American or Briton have to put up with sexual assault or worry about their building being burned down, just because it would seem “intolerant” by the liberal elite to expect any sort of assimilation?

The reality is such tolerance was probably only a thinly veiled mirage, held together by a small minority of liberal elite who shamed the majority into being quiet, as to not be called a bigot or racist.  The reality is that for most reasonable people, the idea of tolerance ends when behavior shifts from simply unusual or different… to harmful, disrespectful, or downright illegal.  For most people, this is simple common sense, not bigotry or racism.

Twenty first century western culture is at a cross roads, ladies and gentlemen. Right now the direction seems to be heading “away” from a blind acceptance of diversity regardless of the actions, and moving back towards the common sense approach that certain actions “require” intolerance, if indeed those actions are harmful to the culture and the citizenship as a whole.  Unfortunately our lack of global leadership has turned this into an impossible situation. When efforts to demand assimilation to cultural norms and laws are declared to be bigotry and racism, then what other options remain?

I guess the recent U.K. vote to leave the E.U. provides us with one example of a resounding answer to that question.

1 comment:

Commonsense said...

One doesn't appreciate the contempt the liberal elites hold for the people in until a vote doesn't go their way.

It's a wonder to behold.