Multicultural hell

Note that I did not say multiethnic hell. For the some these two words are synonyms.

On Sunday afternoon, I wandered over (yeah right) to Costco Sunnyvale again after Mass. What do I see see and hear? Immigrants and their families from all over speaking tongues other than English. A polyglot paradise for the libs, who like vibrant diversity when it is convenient and nice, but it is a symbol of what is wrong with multiculturalism. There were quite a few Muslim wives in their head coverings. Who are the traitors executives at the American corporations who decided that their husbands should be considered for hiring?

It's as if after God's punishment at the tower of Babel the people decided to accept the new situation and keep to themselves. They should be bewildered or frightened at the loss of linguistic unity and it is understandable that they would wish to separate in order to restore coherence and intelligibility to social living. Instead, the people I saw are content; sure they can fall back on English to communicate with others if they have to. It is as if they are associating only so they can conduct commerce with one another. That's about it. The liberal idea of the purpose of society.

Jeff Culbreath writes:

Traditionalists often make the mistake of assuming that most everyone lacks community these days. That's true in certain respects, especially when compared to earlier generations, but I think most Americans still live among others who share their values and interests and cultural assumptions. They aren't really lonely. The average person has no shortage of relatives, friends, and neighbors with whom they share a fundamental worldview.

I think to say this is community is to use the word equivocally, as Mr. Culbreath seems to admit by the use of the word "among" rather than "with." They may share the same beliefs, but they don't really live together -- they live in proximity to one another.Maybe it's different in smaller population centers, but in suburbia and the megapoleis this seems to be the case.

Even in a modern megapolis inhabited by a ethnically homogeneous population there may be very little reaction among those who are walking past one another to do their shopping or some other activity. For example, how many people don't take the trouble to introduce themselves or learn names, because they believe that they may not have to see the other person ever again? But with a mixture of peoples, according to what standards are their daily interactions governed? What rules of etiquette do they follow? Is there a strong probability that etiquette is reduced to what works with as little effort or training as possible? Unless they are "highly cultivated" in American manners, they may adopt a lack of formality that shades into disrespect. There seems to be far too much blunt, "practical" communication between strangers of different ethnic groups (although they may observe the customs proper to a culture when communicating with members of their own group). Then again, they may just be adopting or emulating contemporary Uhmerican mores.


But the afternoon was not completely devoid of wondrous spectacle: in the distance to the south, the clouds above the foothills were majestic and beautiful. It had been raining earlier in the day, and the clouds were remnants of the storm? Later I spotted two figher planes flying towards the clouds - F15s? They had two tails, and I don't think F14s are in use. AF or Air NG? Where were they going?