Multiculturalism, the Handwriting Is on the Wall

Multiculturalism asserts that all value systems are equally valid and that we should treat them as if they were equally worthy of adoption.

Multiculturalism has its roots in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.  From the valid concept that one human being is not inherently better than another grew the significantly different idea that one culture is just as good as any other.  That, in effect, is multiculturalism. 

But let's be clear about an important distinction:  Accepting all humans as "human" and worthy of being treated fairly is not the same as accepting that all social customs and traditions are equally good for people.

For example, according to The New York Times,¹ hundreds of women are murdered by their own relatives in Pakistan and other Middle Eastern countries each year to defend their family honor.  These so-called "honor killings" are shocking when they occur across the ocean, as in August 2008 when five women were buried alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands.  Other women have been raped, killed, and mutilated in a variety of gruesome ways by their families for such "crimes" as wearing Western-style clothing or meeting someone on Facebook.

But it couldn't happen here, could it?  Well, it already has.  According to the Boston Globe,²the following honor killings occurred in 2008:

In Jonesboro, Georgia, Chaudhry Rashid, a Pakistani immigrant, allegedly strangled his 25-year-old daughter with a bungee cord because she wanted to end her arranged marriage. Rashid explained to police that "he is Muslim and that extramarital affairs and divorce are against his religion [and] that's why he killed her."

In New York state, an Afghani immigrant named Waheed Allah Mohammad tried to kill his sister by stabbing her several times.  Mohammad was reportedly "infuriated because his younger sister was going to clubs, wearing immodest clothing, and planning to leave her family for a new life in New York City" and because she was a "bad Muslim girl." 

In Irving, Texas, police issued an arrest warrant for Egyptian immigrant Yaser Abdel Said after his teen-aged daughters were found shot to death.  Said had reportedly threatened to kill them because they had boyfriends, and he had often been seen waving a gun, shouting that "Western culture was corrupting the chastity of his daughters."

To a moral relativist, honor killings should be tolerated in the U.S. because they are accepted in m... To read the full article, you must be a Trends Magazine Subscriber. To learn more, click here