Paris mayor: "Multiculturalism is intolerable to fanatics." Well said.

[pampango]

Just heard her statement on CNN.

That certainly applies to American fanatics, and the far-right in general here. They long for the monoculturalism (their culture, of course) they see in their rear view mirror.

[pipoman]

1. Must we really liken this to those we merely disagree with?

FFS

[pampango]

3. Agreed. The mayor makes a valid point about the attitude of fanatics towards multiculturalism. n/t

[pipoman]

5. There is but 1 group doing this shit on the planet

1 concerted effort to terrorize the planet and it isn't right wingers or Christians or Buddhists...

[rainy]

8. Whether you kill in the name of religion or in the name of patriotism the reasoning is the same:

One side says you are repressing, occupying and killing my people and they use religion to rally the masses or gain support. The other side says you are killing for religion and use patriotism to rally support for occupation and murder.

[atreides1]

11. With all due respect, I have to disagree with you!

http://seekernetwork.com/seekerdaily/the-burmese-buddhist-terrorizing-muslims


http://www.alternet.org/story/146438/the_return_of_christian_terrorism

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/18/guess-why-this-christian-terrorist-plot-against-muslims-isn-t-getting-any-press.html

Just because the body count is lower, doesn't mean it isn't a form of terrorism!


And most right wingers in America are Christian...just saying!

[Gore1FL]

15. Is the KKK a big enough exception?

What about the groups that Timothy McVeigh was involved with?

One could argue that telling children they are going to hell because they aren't Christian is pretty terrorizing too, but I guess that is better classified as child abuse.

[monicaangela]

17. Spot on Gore1FL

[LiberalArkie]

19. Or in days past: Catholics Vs Protestants in Ireland

[Gore1FL]

14. The Christians in the U.S. sure like to terrorize the middle east.

Our tax dollars have gone to terrorize the region for decades. Christians have been making death threats in the KKK for over a century.

Religion sucks. So does extremism. Combined they lead to terror.

[FlatBaroque]

18. Is George Bush Christian?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. From the folks I've been talking to offline, it doesn't seem to apply to the Paris attacks, though.

Everyone around here has basically prefaced their comments about French folks with 'But of course the French are nasty to immigrants, xenophobic, there are racial slurs thrown around, they want to ban headcarves, etc, etc, etc.' Suggesting the answer to 'Why France?' is not necessarily 'Because they're multicultural', but more 'Because they're anti-Muslim'.

[pampango]

4. There is little doubt that ISIS is opposed to multiculturalism which is the mayor's point.

I agree with you that there has certainly been a rise in anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment in France. The right wing National Front has been increasing in popularity and will probably benefit from theses attacks. I don't think most French are anti-Muslim according to polls and elections. And there are many countries that are more anti-Muslim than France, if that was the reason for the attack, which I doubt.

[pipoman]

7. The chicken or the egg

The French are justified in their disgust with the terrorists of Islam and the complacency of most of the rest of Islam.

[Quantess]

6. Western culture is intolerable to muslim extremists. (no text)

[smirkymonkey]

9. I'll second that.

[BlueMTexpat]

16. Any culture but their own definition of it

is intolerable to ALL religious fanatics. Period.

[The2ndWheel]

10. Multiculturalism works as long as everyone agrees to leave each other's cultures alone

Which is difficult to do, and why you don't really see many, if any, truly multicultural cultures. Even multiculturalism is one type of culture, and if you don't agree with it, you're out.

[HereSince1628]

13. Yes, the challenge of multiculturalism is to maintain cultures without between group conflict

Culture refers to the various things that are passed between generations, and some of these things become important self-identifiers of groups

Interactions of people from different cultures expose people to different bits and pieces of each others' culture. This results in blending of cultures. That is especially threatening to persons who desire for one reason or another to maintain a cultural distinctiveness. Religious identity can add the motivation moral imperative to maintaining culture, and that emerges as orthodoxy and fundamentalism. So can economic and political identity.

The very existence, or absence, of religious practices of non-conforming others introduces contaminating decadence as by the extreme fundamentalists. This is a threat to identity, and the moral imperative requires resistance to it. That's especially true if the cultural imperatives of one group demand evangelizing and converting members of other groups.

In the absence of tolerance, the desire for cultural distinctiveness and evangelical expansion of beliefs sows the seeds of between group conflict in multicultural society.

But how does one tolerate the corruption of their immortal soul? How do non-believers ask for tolerance from those following moral imperatives to preserve essential group culture and not look like agents of corrupting decadence?

I think those are very tough problems. Our technology, be it communications or transportation, bring the entire world into interactions that are potential threats to fundamentalist believers/zealots/patriots/xenophobes.

[NYCButterfinger]

20. Multiculturalism has its pros and cons.