In today's Wall Street Journal, columnist Bret Stephens summed up the conundrum that liberals face over multiculturalism.

He sub-titles his column

Quote:In the spirit of Christian charity, Merkel has imported Muslim misogyny.

Hr goes on to note that the sexual assaults in Germany were not a one off but have been seen within other countries in Europe (in another thread, I posted links to news reports of similar attacks in Finland and Sweden), as well as throughout the middle east. Also of note was the cover up of the massive sexual abuse ring in Scotland.

He notes that the Global Gender Gap Report (Link) lists Muslim countries as the greatest deniers of women's rights. He then presents the conundrum as follows:

Quote:Multiculturalism is a liberal fetish that is also the antithesis of liberalism, classical or modern—a simultaneous belief in individual autonomy and cultural equality, irrespective of whether different cultures believe in individual rights or not.

Well said.

Very well said..

I think many people - maybe young people - interpret the word multiculturalism to mean tame, "fun" things... Such as enjoying different music, going to sushi restaurants, celebrating Cinco de Mayo and hitting a pinata, visiting SF's chinatown, etc.

That stuff's fun and all. But what's not so fun is when too many bring along vastly different social norms (misogyny, resistance to basic freedoms, etc.) and - here's the crux of it all - refuse to assimilate with the norms of their adopted country.

I'm no fan of illegal immigrants from Mexico snubbing their noses at our national laws. But I'm much less concerned about them than doing something like Germany did in opening the doors to 1,000,000 Mideast refugees in one year. Latin Americans share a common western heritage and value system and therefore meld into US society rather easily.

Bring in Syrian families, orphan toddlers and elderly women, sure. But the single, young men traveling solo... better vet the bejeesus out of them, and if there's even one red flag, shut the door.

Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

I'm a cyclist that drives a Subaru and shops at Trader Joes. I have a gay friend named Jaxson and a girlfriend that wants to buy a Tesla. Next month, I'll be moving to the part of town with all the hipsters and coffee shops.

How do I fix?

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

I would've thought those are Yuppies ---

(01-12-2016 02:28 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

I'm a cyclist that drives a Subaru and shops at Trader Joes. I have a gay friend named Jaxson and a girlfriend that wants to buy a Tesla. Next month, I'll be moving to the part of town with all the hipsters and coffee shops.

How do I fix?

(Issues Confirmed Liberal ID card to dmac)

It's good for 8% off the food truck of your choosing!

(01-12-2016 02:41 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:28 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

I'm a cyclist that drives a Subaru and shops at Trader Joes. I have a gay friend named Jaxson and a girlfriend that wants to buy a Tesla. Next month, I'll be moving to the part of town with all the hipsters and coffee shops.

How do I fix?

(Issues Confirmed Liberal ID card to dmac)

It's good for 8% off the food truck of your choosing!

Sweet! There's a Mac 'n' Cheese food truck down by my favorite marijuana dispensary.

On a more serious note, Subaru's are great in the winter and cheap to maintain. I heard that Spokane has the highest number of Subaru's per capita in the nation.

I hate Subaru commercials

(01-12-2016 02:48 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:41 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:28 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

I'm a cyclist that drives a Subaru and shops at Trader Joes. I have a gay friend named Jaxson and a girlfriend that wants to buy a Tesla. Next month, I'll be moving to the part of town with all the hipsters and coffee shops.

How do I fix?

(Issues Confirmed Liberal ID card to dmac)

It's good for 8% off the food truck of your choosing!

Sweet! There's a Mac 'n' Cheese food truck down by my favorite marijuana dispensary.

On a more serious note, Subaru's are great in the winter and cheap to maintain. I heard that Spokane has the highest number of Subaru's per capita in the nation.

Hard to believe they've got more than Alaska. Certainly not a stereotypical liberal car up here.

(01-12-2016 03:38 PM)wmubroncopilot Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:48 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:41 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:28 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 02:17 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Multiculturalism to liberals involves two educated (liberal arts) upper middle class ($100,000+ in household income) white adults (gay or straight, whatevs) drinking coffee (shade grown) in a safe part of town (not in a flyover state) discussing how they read all the tweets from Black Lives Matter (or gay marriage advocates), being so very, very smug and self-righteous about their sense of tolerance (hey, they worked with that black guy down Engineering on project in 2014, he did a good job!) before driving their Subaru (or Tesla, or VW bus) to their remodeled Craftsman (Tudor is acceptable as well) before biking (fat tire mountain bikes, even if you are just on the paved trail) to the organic co-op (Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will do a in a pinch) in a safe part of town (mostly white professionals, a few artists over by the warehouses) before picking up Madison and Jaxson (or Brooklynn {two N's} and Kai {means ocean in Hawaii dontcha know?}) from ukelele and lacrosse practice, respectively.

Some or all of this may be based on personal experience here in Minneapolis.

I'm a cyclist that drives a Subaru and shops at Trader Joes. I have a gay friend named Jaxson and a girlfriend that wants to buy a Tesla. Next month, I'll be moving to the part of town with all the hipsters and coffee shops.

How do I fix?

(Issues Confirmed Liberal ID card to dmac)

It's good for 8% off the food truck of your choosing!

Sweet! There's a Mac 'n' Cheese food truck down by my favorite marijuana dispensary.

On a more serious note, Subaru's are great in the winter and cheap to maintain. I heard that Spokane has the highest number of Subaru's per capita in the nation.

Hard to believe they've got more than Alaska. Certainly not a stereotypical liberal car up here.

Quote:A few days ago, the Seattle Times' Gene Balk crunched some data and showed that Spokane is the Subaru-est city in the country. That is, one out of every ten car owners in town owns a Subaru. Our fleet of Subes beat those in Seattle; Hartford, Connecticut; Denver; and Portland. We are the REI-iest of them all! We should have a new name: Spobaru? Subakane?

http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/transport...o-1-twice/

Must be all the giant pickup trucks scattered in ditches brnging the numbers down here

(01-12-2016 03:57 PM)wmubroncopilot Wrote:  Must be all the giant pickup trucks scattered in ditches brnging the numbers down here

Isn't any different in Spokane. You either drive a subie or a truck with a lift kit, grill guard, light bar, and loud exhaust. Truck drivers seem to feel invincible in the snow and drive off the freeway at 75mph.

(01-12-2016 04:13 PM)dmacfour Wrote:  

(01-12-2016 03:57 PM)wmubroncopilot Wrote:  Must be all the giant pickup trucks scattered in ditches brnging the numbers down here

Isn't any different in Spokane. You either drive a subie or a truck with a lift kit, grill guard, light bar, and loud exhaust. Truck drivers seem to feel invincible in the snow and drive off the freeway at 75mph.

I wish we had snow like that here then. Unfortunately Mississippi jacked-up-truck guy is able to keep his truck on the road here despite constantly driving like a total as$hole. I bet jacked-up-truck guy was probably a normal driver before financing some overpriced truck then paying to have it look ridiculous.