Le Sabot Post-Moderne: Multiculturalism -- the blended Scotch of the Intellectual World

mars 28, 2004

Multiculturalism -- the blended Scotch of the Intellectual World

Chris from Progressive Protestant and I talked a bit about the Western Canon the other day. He mentioned that he favors the inclusion of some non-Western works. To an extent, I agree. Our future intellectuals should interact with other cultures. It's a wonderul preventative against stagnation.

However, that's the least of our concerns these days. While the multicultists want our students to learn the cultures of everyone from Singapore to Somalia, most come out of Uni with only the barest grasp of their own culture, let alone Mogadishu's.

Want to know the amazing irony? Conservatives are the true defenders of diversity. If their ideas held sway, a student would emerge from our universities steeped in the riches of the Western tradition. In other words, a unique voice would be added to the world's Great Conversation -- one distinct from, say, a Japanese or Arabic student. That's genuine diversity.

The self-proclaimed "diversity" advocates of the Left have a much grayer ideal -- graduates with a veneer of acculturation in multiple traditions.

That isn't diversity, it's the intellectual equivalent of blended Scotch. This is made by taking unique, flavorful single-malts, and then dumping them in a vat with neutral grain alcohol and mixing vigorously. You end up with an inoffensive blend that lacks the spirit of the original malts. In most cases, a mediocre uniformity -- a fair depiction of our approach to the Humanities these days.

Posted by Discoshaman at mars 28, 2004 09:57 PM | TrackBack

Yes, you are so right. I have studied in both liberal and conservative environments as well as a liberal secular context. This, plus having read widely on both sides leads me to the unmistakeable conclusion that, in general, liberals are much, much more parochial than conservatives. Conservative scholarship typically shows a broad familiarity with liberal thought, drawing on what is best in it and critically deconstructing it where it errs. On the other hand, liberals routinely ignore conservative scholarship, showing contempt and disdain in what can only be described as an arrogance that is only outweighed by its self-imposed ignorance. Those who only study with liberals are much more likely to come out with a limited and jaded view of reality, due to lack of exposure to different ways of thinking, whereas students in a conservative atmosphere will have generally read the important liberal works as well as the conservative. I have seen this over and over again.

There are notable exceptions among liberal scholars, but even these tend to not expose their students to conservative thinking. When I have seen liberals interact with conservative thought it is usually to caricature and ridicule it, seldom to interact seriously with it.

Posted by: Alan at mars 28, 2004 10:49 PM

More and more I'm seeing the dividing line between the left and right coming down to this:

Conservative disagreeing with liberal - "You shouldn't have that opinion."

Liberal disagreeing with conservative - "You shouldn't be able to have that opinion."

Posted by: LittleA at mars 29, 2004 08:32 PM