Monday, November 24, 2014

"Diversity" Disser in NatPo Seems to Offer Clarity, Then Proceeds to Muddy the Waters

An anti-"diversity" rant by someone named Farid Rouhani appears in the now Jon Kay-less Comment section of the National Post. Farid, "a board member at the Laurier Institution," is not a fan of multiculti cant. In this portion of his complaint, he all but comes out and says that it is responsible for allowing certain problematic Islamic practices--ones which are incompatible with Western values of pluralism, freedom and democracy--to flourish here in Canada:
Canadian society acknowledges ethnicity as part of our Canadian identity. This uniquely Canadian idea has now become distorted for many newcomers. What was intended as a way to celebrate our differences as part of being Canadian has been muddied by permitting others, including religious orders in distant lands, to dictate how one must act, dress, eat and vote. 
Celebration of our diversity has turned into a policy allowing for divisions. Forced and arranged marriages, honour killings and teaching of hate towards other religions or toward homosexuals, or death warrants against apostates are the result of the lack of discussion and understanding of the intent of a pluralistic society.
"Honour killings"? Preaching hate re non-believers and homosexuals? The death sentence for "apostasy"? So far, so Islamist, no?

Lest you draw that obvious conclusion, however, Rouhani immediately backtracks--and goes completely awry:
Violence by any group misusing the policies designed to bring closer together Canadians of different ethnicities is unacceptable. While now there seems to be a lot of focus on Muslims, they are not the only group producing violent extremists and they do not have a monopoly on terrorism. Blame should, therefore, not be placed exclusively on extremists in any single ethnic or religious group...
You don't say. In that case, "Damn those Buddhists/Wiccans/Seventh Day Adventists! Them and their violent, supremacist jihad!," should make a lot more sense than it does.

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