Hi all.
I've decided to conduct a few online lessons of the ways the government, media and church groups attempt to 'trick' you into thinking that multiculturalism's 'great' and that monoculturalism (Ie. Australian/European culture) is bad.
The first lesson is entitled:
Multiculturalism propaganda news articles: 'How they fool you.'All pro-multiculturalism articles usually follow these rules:
1) Using 'food' as the central theme of article.
2) Avoding all other benefits that Multiculturalism supposedly gives.
3) Sweeping all the negatives multiculturalism brings under the rug.
4) Make multiculturalism doubters feel 'stupid' or 'guilty.'
5) DO NOT obtain opposing sources (Someone who is against it).
1) Using 'food' as the central theme of article.
Usually the central theme of multiculturalism propaganda articles are quite clearly the 'food.' It's probably the only benefit people can think of when thinking about multiculturalism. -This accounts for both anti-multiculturalists and pro-multiculturalists.
However, it becomes quite clear to both parties, that, after assessing multiculturalism, and having a deeper think about it, there aren't many benefits for it after all.
But, being bigoted pro-multiculturalist journalists, they try to cover it up by placing the entire article on 'food' as a benefit of multiculturalism... and milking it for all its worth.
Let's take this Canadian article as an example...
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ef44de20-9b81-4630-bb37-9...Here's the opening two paragraphs of the article:
Quote:Surely we can now see that multiculturalism is a colossal mistake.
This is the conclusion many Canadians seem to have reached, judging by what's in the air and my e-mail in-box. I think they're wrong. And the proof is in the curry.
So right from the word go, this article relates to food as a benefit of multiculturalism, as so-called 'proof' that it's working.
The article continues:
Quote:Amartya Sen, the economist, Nobel laureate and social philosopher, has some wonderful things to say about curry in his wise book, Identity and Violence.
Again, another unnecessary mention of the word curry.
But the word (And the articles focus on 'food' as a defense) continues to be used throughout the article:
Quote:Half a century later, no British landlady thinks brown skin will leave a ring around the tub. Britain is a bustling, diverse country, deeply infused with the culture of Sen's homeland and many others. The most obvious evidence is curry, which has been enshrined alongside boiled peas as an iconic national food. Sen doesn't mention it, unfortunately, but there's even a soccer song dedicated to it: "We all like vindaloo, we're England, we're gonna score one more than you!" The sight of pasty-white, drunken Englishmen bellowing their love of Indian cuisine is really something to see.
Again, they're relating to food as a benefit. Clearly wasting two or three paragraphs rambling. And unfairly stereotyping all Englishmans love of curry.
Quote:This is multiculturalism as people -- supporters and critics alike -- too often think of it. Immigrants arrive. They bring their culture. The natives adopt some of the newcomers' ways. The newcomers continue to live as they did in the old country, dressing in "ethnic" costume, eating "ethnic" foods, and otherwise remaining quite detached and exotic. Those who like multiculturalism are delighted, those who fear the erasure of all they have known scowl.
You see this sentence here? The journalist has actually disguised the sentence to actually make it seem like he's making a 'looooong' list of benefits, when in fact... he only mentions one... yep... the food.
Quote: As Sen notes, the foods we take to be "Indian" are themselves the product of many places and peoples. "India had no chili until the Portuguese brought it to India from America," he writes. Tandoori cooking originally came from West Asia. And curry powder "is a distinctively English invention, unknown in India before Lord Clive, and evolved, I imagine, in the British army mess." When English soccer fans roar for chicken vindaloo, they are cheering something their ancestors -- and many others -- helped create.
This is the multiculturalism that Sen loves. People meet. They talk. They share food. They fall in love. And not only are elements of culture exchanged, whole new ways of living are created. This is the multiculturalism of dynamism, change and invention. This is the multiculturalism of riotous ferment.
-More emphasis on food. What is this? A cooking article?
Quote:The conflicts are real enough, but remember that only the conflicts make the news. Curry multiculturalism will never lead off the evening news but it's real, it's all around us and it's working.
At last... the author rounds up with this 'wonderful' piece of journalism. Concluding that
since people like curry... multiculturalism must be working.