The Platypus Syndrome. Multiculturalism, Identity and European Politics

 

I have a problem understanding certain things.

I can’t understand why you have to constantly fight to maintain your culture.

I can’t understand why people constantly advocate for freedom of speech and then fail to see that which constitutes other people’s right of opinion with regards to their sense of identity, their sense of  belonging, if it doesn’t follow from their worldview. It feels like a form of bullying. Pushing and pulling and picking fights, prodding your patience, testing your  flexibility until you snap and then pointing out your perceived lacks: of coherence, of effort, of strength, of validity, of logic.

I recently had a discussion about the Eurovision Song Contest. Apparently, Spain will be taking a song with a chorus in English and  I asked why it was necessary or advantageous to do so. An enthusiastic follower pointed out to me that English was the best language for pop music just like French was good for diplomacy. To my question as to why if it was the Eurovision Song Contest, the songs were not there to represent their country (which is the purpose, as the country appears on screen over the name of the singer or the song). Again I was informed that the title of the contest was in English, which apparently indicates that English would be the correct or preferred language. So out of over twenty languages spoken by the countries participating, English is chosen by more than half because it is more adequate for singing modern songs.

The Eurovision Song Contest was originally intended to showcase and enhance the different cultures of the European continent, bringing them together in respect and understanding for each other, not deleting some in favour of others or blending them in such a way that we lose the original ones. It comes close to what I (and perhaps others) did as a child. For example, you love peanut butter sandwiches, peas, sausages and vanilla ice cream, so you decide to blend them together because how can you favourite foods be bad together if they’re so good taken individually? The result is not exactly what an enthusiastic child would expect.

I am afraid that many multiculturalists don’t see that in their  effort to be welcoming, tolerant and foster understanding, they have forgotten that  what everyone wants is a place to belong.  We all want to identify with a land, a language, a culture. It’s not a trivial matter and it’s not, as I have been told, racist or xenophobic to feel proud of your culture if you’re a white European. What’s wrong is to believe that one culture, whichever it is, is inherently better than another.

Instead of valuing cultures as equally important and worthy, some multiculturalists emphasize the value of any culture over their own.  They believe that the best society, in any case, is multicultural because it is enriching. If you say that you respect all cultures but prefer your own, you are at very least suspicious of racism and intolerance. This is, to say the least, strange. Why do you have to forgo your own traditions to appreciate others? I admire Eastern cultures but if forced to choose , I will choose my own northern Spanish, Celtic culture. Not to impose it on anyone or denigrate any other culture, but for myself because it is a part of who I am.

My brand of multiculturalism is one that sees immigration as an enrichment to all cultures and a menace to none if allowed to evolve properly.  Mass migration is not conductive to multiculturalism but to alienation and trouble for all parties involved.

The European Union is trying to do away with individual national cultures silently and relentlessly by luring innocent people from poor countries with fake promises of wealth and prosperity.

The Masters of the World need more consumers. Therefore, they want to replace European cultures (which have low birthrates due , among other things, to bad economic planning and people having problems finding and keeping jobs) with a multicultural society composed of different nationalities forced together in under a decade, (not as it happened in America, over decades, indeed a century) each losing their differentiating qualities and finally forgetting any characteristic that makes them stand out culturally.

The culture that is being infused in the younger generations is a non-culture. It is the culture of branding. You are no longer the language you speak, the place you live or the history of your nation. You are the things you consume. The brands you buy define your tribe. You can use Snapchat, eat at KFC and wear Van’s  regardless of where you live or whether you speak Hindi, Polish or English. There is no hideout from these changes brought about by globalisation.

In Europe we are being bombarded with messages of tolerance towards every culture except our own. Our own national and regional cultures, we should not be proud of but make apologies for  as backwards remains of an embarrassing time when Europeans actually felt Spanish, French, German, British…and even furthermore,  felt Asturianos, Galegos, Welsh, Brittons, Scottish… It was the norm, and a good one. People felt deeply about and supported the land they lived in, which was their homeland and the place where their ancestors had lived before them. They took it as something personal and worthy of defending. That didn’t mean that people only valued their culture, but that their culture was theirs, a part of them.

If you feel like you don’t have a particular culture to call your own, you will adopt one, however far removed  from who you are or artificial, just to belong. That’s why we have  chavs (in the UK), and chonis (in Spain). These people are usually working class, white Europeans who adopt the mannerisms, dressing style, lifestyle and even language of other cultures, seen as marginal but closely knit and supportive such as the Romani people or as they are commonly known, gypsies. Of course, they mix it together and customise it, and what results is a modern version of kitsch. It also works the other way around and some younger gypsies copy their white neighbour’s attire or way of speaking. The difference between them is that a gypsy will never let it colonise them. Their own culture is far too important to let it disappear.

If you want to subjugate a people, shame the elders, call them ignorant and racist, and uproot the young by giving them an exaggerated sense of the value of individuality, and you will effectively have left them at the mercy of whatever cultural wind blows hardest. A culture with dry roots and no new leaves will wither and die, as the living being that it is.

Multiculturalism in the way that it is being promoted is like a platypus in Alaska: incongruous . You cannot uproot people from their cultures and expect them to readjust easily in a short time and with little effort when there’s nothing in place to help them or to motivate them. You cannot make a people amnesic without a great deal of brainwashing from every possible source.

We are, I fear, under attack. We are being farmed for profit, herded to where the powerful see fit to increase their already obscene wealth.

The enemy is not another nation or another race. The enemy is among us. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. And as a gift, I hope I am wrong.

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