Denmark Turns To The Right

[CougarKing]

And more often than not these immigrants often do something positive for their adoptive culture, as in the case of this Chinese immigrant who became an MLA in Northern Ireland; I am curious as to what your comments are on this headline from last year, IIRC:

Cougardaddy .... get out a map of the world,  that's Northern Ireland still part of the UK . Ireland is ERIE the Republic. By the way ...I love the Chinese,  hardest working people around they have made Canada the great Nation that it once was.

Over.

Regards, Ken

:  Ken, no need to insult someone's intelligence with the "get out the map" routine. Did you even read the article in the link?  Northern Ireland may still be part of the UK, but my only point to you was to emphasize that that even someone from a culture you'd least expect to do well in society like Northern Ireland is making her mark by becoming an MLA there.

And BTW, if I can recall correctly, EIRE the Republic is what you are talking about, not ERIE (as in to signify the word "erie" or weird/scary  ).  If you're gonna stick it to someone, you might as well get your spelling right.

http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/Eire/eire.html

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Alright, everyone back on track and quit feeding someone's personal agenda.

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[Delicron]

Good idea Recceguy.

My final thought on the matter is thus:

We all have to live together, cultures and religions, but if you are not here to make life better for EVERYONE, then why are you here at all?  This applies to anyone who lives in Canada, regardless of religion or creed.

 

[KPR]

OK you got me on the typographical error . I'm really sorry,  I thought I had Army .ca not Girlguides.ca

I'm finished now girls.

Ken

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Yes you are.

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[GAP]

Another teenybopper troll..... :

 

[TCBF]

...irrationally holding onto some notion of cultural supremacy.  We all have to live here, we better get along.  I do not believe ANYONE is exempt from this, christian, jew, muslim, white, asian, arab:  It doesn't matter. ...

- Cultural supremacy is NOT racial supremacy.  Our culture has evolved into one which promotes the democratic unity of all races.  Those cultures which promote the destruction of others are inferior to our culture.

Note: their CULTURE may be inferior. Their RACE is NOT inferior.  Cultural imperialism is NOT racism.

 

[Delicron]

Note: their CULTURE may be inferior. Their RACE is NOT inferior.  Cultural imperialism is NOT racism.

Absolutely right.  My years of Post Colonial study has somewhat muddled this for me.  I absolutely believe if Canadian culture does not stop feeling sorry for itself and for the supposed plight of others, then we risk either being assimilated by American culture completely (best case scenario), or overwhelmed by our own disparate immigrant culture (worst case scenario). 

In the most convoluted way possible, this is essentially what I was trying to say... :-\

 

[Greymatters]

Who is this Michael Savage he is refering to?  Is the guy Canadian or American?  A search reveals a few prominent characters by that name, but none seem to match the racist comments he is said to be making...

 

[Delicron]

I believe it is this man:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage_(commentator)

 

[Greymatters]

I believe it is this man:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Savage_(commentator)

Looking at his profile he doesnt read like your sterotypical racist, or even a conservative.  He reads more like a variation of Howard Stern, doing and saying extremist things as part of publicity and popularity.  His views on subjects seem to see-saw back and forth pretty often.

I can however see why he changed his last name ( formerly 'Weiner' )...

 

[a_majoor]

Two books to study WRT the role of culture:

Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power by Victor Hanson, and,

Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity by Samuel P. Huntington

 

[Delicron]

I don't think it requires much of a slip of the tongue to say what he has said.  The profile mentions that he comments on illegal immigration and homosexuality.

" Savage criticizes "big government", homosexuality, and liberalism, accuses the media of "liberal bias,"

Seems like this behaviour is completely within his realm.

And Thucydides, I will definitely look those up.

 

[muskrat89]

He's a syndicated "conservative" radio host. I listen to him now and then - more for entertainment - its hard to take him seriously most of the time.

www.michaelsavage.com

 

[muskrat89]

Regarding illegal immigration - his views aren't too far "out there". Come live on the southern border for awhile. It is NOT a race issue, except for those who make it one.

 

[TCBF]

Agreed. But by 'their' who do you mean?

Islamic culture? Or Islamic culture perverted by a few wackjobs? Because I'm going to say that ISLAM isn't the problem per se, but rather people's interpretation of it.

Let's keep in mind that in our superior western culture, we still condone an organised ideology, lets call it Christianity, that contains sub-sects and members who openly hate indentifiable groups of people, lets call them homosexuals, and refuses to recognise modern advancements, lets call them condoms or blood transfusions for example, as well as refusing to support modern understandings of personal rights, lets call these euthanasia and abortion, despite all evidence that they are the right thing to do/allow and as such we have diseases, lets call this disease AIDS, running rampant through areas where this ideology still holds unshakeable sway over the people, for example. (I know, long run on sentance)

Not so different from certain sub-sects of Islam...

Just saying, let's keep in mind we aren't so great either.

(I'm an atheist, so I have a strong personal bias here, just FYI)

- Where to start?
1. "...openly hate homosexuals..."  I know of NO organized Chistian sect which promotes hatred of homosexuals.  Disagreement is NOT hatred.
2.  "... modern advancements..." in a democracy are often called options.
3.  "...euthanasia.." is a slipery slope. Health care professionals in the Netherlands are applying this solution as a convenience.  Be careful what you wish for.
4. ".. abortion..." some call it murder.  
5. "AIDS.." which was spread by people who openly hate homosexuals right?  Say, what was the name of the Air Canada steward who people blamed for bringing the first case of AIDS into North America anyway (he didn't*), and did he hate homosexuals?  because he sure killed a lot of them, didn't he?  Then the people who ran our medical blood supply started using it to kill off the rest of us... because we can't offend people by screening their donated blood for aids, can we?

*http://www.knbc.com/health/14532988/detail.html

 

[a_majoor]

Piper, you might want to check out how Islamic radicals and Wahabbi fundamentalists deal with the issues you raised. (hint, most of their solution involve rather messy capital punishments).

Of course, they raise the bar by applying their solutions to other issues like reading or publishing dissenting opinions, violating the dress code or free association.

At least in our culture, these and other issues can be raised and debated for now.

 

[armyvern]

Another teenybopper troll..... :

No tennybopper; and, his artwork is actually very nice (remind me not to support him by casting any hard earned dollars his way though ...) it's just too damn bad his attitude absolutely sucks in a big hard way.

 

[Edward Campbell]

...
Let's keep in mind that in our superior western culture, we still condone an organised ideology, lets call it Christianity ...

That's right we condone or tolerate Christianity along with sundry forms of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Sikhism and so on and so forth. We even give traditional preference to Christianity (where it is the religious affiliation of the majority) in things like public holidays. But: we (most of us) do not establish one church or faith or another and we do not aim to impose one faith on others. We do not, in law, make the public worship of ”false gods” a crime.

There is an ideology with deep Judeo-Christian roots: secular democracy. But, it does not depend on a Judeo-Christian culture to flourish; it requires only a degree of advanced civilization which rests of a firm base of respect for the rule of law and for the equality of all, governors and governed alike, under the law. Secular democracy works quite well in non-Judeo-Christian cultures but it will not work, cannot work in those societies holding cultural values that reject equality and the rule of law.

Secular democracy (and especially the rule of law) appears to be the sine qua non for long term peace and prosperity. (I know, China is, currently, booming and it pays scant heed to either democracy or law but let’s see if China can sustain the boom. If it does I will wager that it turns itself into some sort of law abiding, government with the consent of the governed sort of political construct – not, perhaps, anything like a Western liberal-democracy but, all the same: law abiding and (somehow) democratic.) Established democracies tend to be prosperous well educated; prosperous, educated nations find ways to negotiate their ways around difficulties. Poor and poorly educated nations find war an attractive option – having nothing much to lose, I suppose.

 

[Kirkhill]

Established democracies tend to be prosperous well educated; prosperous, educated nations find ways to negotiate their ways around difficulties. Poor and poorly educated nations find war an attractive option – having nothing much to lose, I suppose.

I think you have hit on a key phrase there Edward: ".....find ways to negotiate their ways around difficulties".  I believe that the key to the survival of democracies is personal choice.  The fact that everyone gets to find their own solutions to any and all problems guarantees that at least one maniac/fool/wiseman will be right and survive.  By contrast, in an authoritarian, monolithic society if one person is wrong, everybody is wrong and everybody dies.  The society fails.

Of course just as there is no ideal democracy in Utopia there is equally no ideal tyranny.

There is always the inability of any government to completely convert its subjects into a coherent mass.  Even when the government of day wishes to round up everyone and head them all of in the same direction they can't.  People fight back.  They ignore the government.  They head for the hills.  They depart the country.  They take their ideas with them. 

If the government's solution to the problem of the day is successful society survives.  If it fails then the folks that left come back to reoccupy the vacuum and society still survives.

I am still strongly of the opinion that there is an inherent link between between the cultures that we define as democracies and those that authoritarians have defined as pirates, brigands and smugglers.