You missed this part:
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What ever it takes.
And that’s our point. The only way you win is by believing and spreading lies and misinformation.
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Very much to the contrary and I apologize for any misunderstanding which clearly is my fault. No, I think a very wide variety of cultures is great. It’s just that I do not view admixture of many cultures as contributing to human happiness. It results instead in nothing but friction and stress. It is contrary to human nature.
I think it could, and that has happened already in America to some extent. But there is more downside than upside. It can take an immense amount of time for cultural melding, that length of time increasing even more as initial cultural aspects and features become more divergent.
Still working on that one. It is not easy. 
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scripta, that was not nice
How so? Patty agreed that deceit is included in “whatever it takes” [presumably to win], so deceit is an acceptable way to win. We’ve been saying that the right-wing propaganda machine is full of deceit.
If it wasn’t, not so many people would be duped, and the chance of winning would be much lower.
A week ago President Trump sat for a one hour interview with Chris Wallace. For anyone unfamiliar, Wallace is a Democrat and the interview with Trump was tough. I know. I watched it start to finish. Chris Wallace is the son of Mike Wallace.
In fairness to the other side, Chris Wallace offered the same opportunity to Vice President Biden. Mr. Biden has declined to be interviewed by Mr. Wallace. If Biden has agreed to sit for extended interviews with other media members, I am unaware. But I do not believe he has.
Biden so far is running a stealth candidacy. I hope that changes after he reveals his VP choice. American voters deserve to see and hear Biden, as he is today, unscripted. To be honest, I seriously believe Biden will seek a way to avoid the debates . . . which also are unscripted.
Biden oftentimes has trouble on the prompter. Off the prompter he is a loose cannon.
And that’s my point. You can’t do this post factum in the USA (or Canada, or other multi-cultural countries). Japan has made it very difficult for foreigners to stay in Japan without work. Even foreigners who marry a Japanese and their mixed children are treated poorly by the Japanese society.
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Agreed. I’m doing the best I can
I think doing the best would necessarily start with reexamining your position. I’m not convinced that multiculturalism has more downside than upside, or that admixture of many cultures is not contributing to human happiness. There are plenty of studies and examples (here’s one with references) that demonstrate that mixing is the best way to learn about other cultures, to dispel lies and stereotypes, and to live in peace. I would further argue that being unhappy about it may be a sign of bigotry (by definition of the word), and bigotry is not viewed as something positive by our society, even though it may be the norm in Japan.
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I detect an underlying assumption here with which I emphatically disagree. I have scant interest in learning about other cultures. And I’m even less interested when such education comes at the price of surrendering even a small portion my own.
Those who disagree with me on this have every right to their opposing views. But they do not have any right to force me to adopt or bend to those views. My personal American culture goes back just a tad bit shy of four hundred years. I’m perfectly content to rest on that foundation.
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Ask Sweden how that’s going.
The US had a fairly successful multicultural experiment going on, but it was largely based on immigrants assuming an American culture. Lately there’s been a lot more press and politics encouraging divisiveness rather than commonalities and that’s already one downside.
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Doesnt this just reinforce that all the “us verse them” crap is dumb? There’s a few bad apples in every group, that are making the whole group look bad. On all sides.
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Good post, xerty. Wish I had thought of that . . . but I did not. Still yours is a superb example of what I was positing earlier.
Your post also suggests pointing to a key factor behind Brexit. It was, in part, a solution to Britain’s having lost control of its own border.
The situation in France is somewhat different, in that the French people are not entirely blameless. Anyone remember the French Foreign Legion? “Back in the day” a source of French national pride was their domination of portions of northern Africa. They were so caught up in the insanity that they cheerfully granted French citizenship to millions of North Africans, all Muslims. Today many French people view with alarm the trap into which that multicultural exercise has led them. But it is too late to save their country.
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As long as your behavior is not a threat to people of other cultures, then who cares. The problem arises when our behavior (including words) results in unequal / unfair treatment of other people based solely on their culture (or, more likely, our perception of their culture).
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Of course. All cultures deserve our respect when they are pursued in their original locations. We have no right to force them to change (my opinion, obviously).
Also we should try to get along with persons who are different from ourselves. I believe in “live and let live”. We should trade with them, visit them and allow their visitation here, and so forth.
Me too!! Four hundred years, interesting…
The article doesn’t tell me how Swedish society actually feels about other cultures. And the example is tangential to the larger topic, I think.
380 years, actually. Sad I won’t be around for the big “four-O-O” celebratory blowout!
First, I think those two sentences are contradictory. You seem to actually believe in “live and let live, just not in my backyard”.
Second, what do you propose to do with all the Americans who don’t have 400 years of “American” tradition? What about those who happen to live here and also have ~1500 years of Muslim tradition or ~7000 years of Jewish tradition? Or (… checks the internet…) 15 years of FSM tradition?
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