Enlightenment Secularism IS a Culture
Trevor Phillips wants people who immigrate to Britain to drop their "cultural baggage": in the name of diversity, of course!
Now, someone is at least being coherent should they insist that, say, "British culture is superior: anyone who comes here should drop their own culture and adopt ours."
Or, they might be coherent while making a more modest claim: "British culture, whether superior or not, is, in any case, our culture, and if you come to our island, we expect you to adopt it."
These claims are coherent, but quite obviously have nothing to do with "diversity," at least when it comes to diversity within the British Isles.
But Phillips is able to claim he wants everyone to "wear" their "cultural baggage" lightly in his "diverse" Britain because his culture, Enlightenment Secularism, is a culture that denies it is one. Indeed, a central cultural belief of the Enlightenment Secularists (Esses) is that their beliefs do not form a culture at all, but are the pinnacle achievement of universal human reason. "Culture" is baggage that should be tossed away, or at least "worn lightly" -- it is OK to continue to cook curries, wear kente cloth, or play the tin whistle, but not to actual continue to honor any of the values from your original culture! -- as one ascends into the empyrean of Enlightenment Secularism. In other words, the diversity and tolerance of the Esses amounts to this: since all cultures other than Enlightenment Secularism (which isn't a culture, mind you!) are silly, atavistic relics of human childhood, we can tolerate a very diverse range of cultural practices, so long as none of them are taken seriously or get in the way of the hegemony of Enlightenment Secularism.
So, you can keep a commercialized form of your traditional music, or eat a few odd ingredients in your cuisine, sure: the Esses can tolerate that. But if you decide that people with penises should not be in the bathroom with women, well, you are an evil hater, and should be crushed into submission. Unfortunately, bombing North Carolina is probably out of the question, but the people of the state can at least be crushed economically. But overseas, the Esses are happy to bomb the noncompliant into submission -- recall how "women's rights" were invoked to justify wrecking the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan -- but all in the name of "diversity" and "tolerance," of course!
Now, someone is at least being coherent should they insist that, say, "British culture is superior: anyone who comes here should drop their own culture and adopt ours."
Or, they might be coherent while making a more modest claim: "British culture, whether superior or not, is, in any case, our culture, and if you come to our island, we expect you to adopt it."
These claims are coherent, but quite obviously have nothing to do with "diversity," at least when it comes to diversity within the British Isles.
But Phillips is able to claim he wants everyone to "wear" their "cultural baggage" lightly in his "diverse" Britain because his culture, Enlightenment Secularism, is a culture that denies it is one. Indeed, a central cultural belief of the Enlightenment Secularists (Esses) is that their beliefs do not form a culture at all, but are the pinnacle achievement of universal human reason. "Culture" is baggage that should be tossed away, or at least "worn lightly" -- it is OK to continue to cook curries, wear kente cloth, or play the tin whistle, but not to actual continue to honor any of the values from your original culture! -- as one ascends into the empyrean of Enlightenment Secularism. In other words, the diversity and tolerance of the Esses amounts to this: since all cultures other than Enlightenment Secularism (which isn't a culture, mind you!) are silly, atavistic relics of human childhood, we can tolerate a very diverse range of cultural practices, so long as none of them are taken seriously or get in the way of the hegemony of Enlightenment Secularism.
So, you can keep a commercialized form of your traditional music, or eat a few odd ingredients in your cuisine, sure: the Esses can tolerate that. But if you decide that people with penises should not be in the bathroom with women, well, you are an evil hater, and should be crushed into submission. Unfortunately, bombing North Carolina is probably out of the question, but the people of the state can at least be crushed economically. But overseas, the Esses are happy to bomb the noncompliant into submission -- recall how "women's rights" were invoked to justify wrecking the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan -- but all in the name of "diversity" and "tolerance," of course!
Marxism is not an ideology.
ReplyDeleteLibertarianism is not a political stance.
Enlightenment is not a culture.
Forced secularism is not a religion.
I know what you mean. Even if the above statements are not exactly untrue either, I realized they are a bit of a bait and switch.