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Jan. 31, 2009 I am hearing a lot about multiculturalism lately. Seems that Italy is now no longer a mono culture as it is now multicultural; at least according to NPR on this Tuesday the 13th. Seems that they were doing a piece on Italian resistance to immigration and outside influences where they finished up with the above statement. A culture is a set of beliefs and values on which a society bases its institutions.Lets look at therm one at a time in order to see if Italy qualifies as a multicultural state. Does the Italian government reflect any of the practices coming from Africa? Nope, seems that the parliamentary system is still in vogue, tribalism still a pre Roman relic. What about the economic field ,has the Italian business community adopted the practices of any of its immigrant groups? Nope, nothing there either, unless you count the abandonment of the Roman system of figures which was replaced by the Arabic numbering system during the eighth century, the 0 giving a fresh impetus to financial calculations. What about religion, has the state abandoned Roman Catholicism for any of the African tribal religions? I could go on and list the various other fields such those in the realm of the social, the artistic, the technological but I wont as they will all come up a blank. Very few western countries are truly multicultural.Sure there is a lot of non western music played over the airwaves, but as far as being an integral part of western life it does not seem to have penetrated very deeply. Would say a Canadian really consent to the Muslim legal system being imposed?How about the present day Chinese business practice of executing high executives accused of unethical conduct?. Or what about the technology of Mesopotamia where the water wheel is still in use in some areas, or that of Afghanistan where girls as young as eight are made to pull a plow like a draft animal?
The adoption of non western culture hasn't really taken a hold in the west.Even those coming from these cultures have no real desire to have their home country reinvented in their present domicile. Sure they might talk a lot but hardly ever really lobby for it. I would go so far as to say that most, but for an odd bunch of lunatics, have a deep seated fear of the old culture in any form other than as an interesting curiosity.
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