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ORIGINAL: cyberdude611


This kind of absurdity is what happens when the highly contestable doctrine of multiculturalism becomes a career opportunity for the semi-educated and otherwise unemployable products of a grossly and unnecessarily swollen university system.

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ORIGINAL: Estring

The European continent once again bows down to Fascism.

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ORIGINAL: cyberdude611

Forcing a group of people to change their way of life in order to make another group more comfortable is going to be met with severe resistance every time. This is human nature. There will be no changing it.

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And this kind of thing will invoke racism. When people feel as though their group (the in-group) is threatened, they tend to direct anger towards the out-group that is causing that threat. Forcing a group of people to change their way of life in order to make another group more comfortable is going to be met with severe resistance every time. This is human nature. There will be no changing it.

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ORIGINAL: philosophy

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ORIGINAL: cyberdude611

Forcing a group of people to change their way of life in order to make another group more comfortable is going to be met with severe resistance every time. This is human nature. There will be no changing it.

....so slave owners in the American South had their way of life changed by outsiders (ok, simplistic view, but so is the argument that the Scottish way of life is exemplified by eating lunch at desks). If we allow the argument i've quoted you on above then the ex-slave owners can never, ever accept that change. Is this true? Or can human nature accept outsider ideas if they turn out to be better?

It seems to me that your view of society is ossified. Society is a dynamic process not a fixed one. Change happens regulary. There are often frictions during times of change but this is usual and transitory. Understanding and making allowances for other peoples cultural beliefs is not a sign of weakness but a sign of maturity and confidence. Being distrustful of making such allowances strikes me as merely insecure. 

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In Canada there was talk for awhile of changing their legal system in order to allow for Sharia law in cases involving muslims.

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ORIGINAL: cyberdude611


And if my history is correct there was a civil war which lead to 600,000 deaths on the issue of slavery. To me that fits my definition of "severe resistance." Would you not agree?

Yes, i would agree.

Let me dive a little deeper in philosophy and psychology to explain my point a bit more clearer....

The in-group and out-group don't have to be divided by race (although many times it is). It can be gender, religion, economic class, political affiliation, etc... practically any difference between one group of people and another group of people. Now the bigger the difference, the stronger the resistance of course and the more chance of their being a resistance.

Also agreed.
 
 

Psychologists refer to this as the "Social Identity Theory." We all assign ourselves and everyone else into groups. We do this automatically whether we know it or not for some unknown reason. And we base our feelings, beliefs, morals, ideas, and even our laws based on these groups.
 
More than just groups.....a veritable hierarchy of groups. Family first, state second maybe, country third even.......

It is the very fabric of society. When you look at the deep south compared to New York... there are vast differences between the groups of people. The culture is different, the laws are morals are different, and people even talk differently. Right now there is no conflict between these two groups. They co-exist peacefully. But 140 years ago, these groups were in major conflict.

Yup......and that conflict is now more or less over.

Do groups change? Sure. But they don't flip on a dime. It literally takes generations to create that change and the change has to be slow and usually only successful when the change occurs from within. The south changed because the group came to a realization that slavery is wrong. But it didn't flip overnight. If you go to areas of the south, there are still people with confederate flags and racism all over the place. The change is still in progress.

Well, i'm sure there are still some bigots around but for all intents and purposes it is over.


Different groups can co-exist. But when one group feels threatened by another group, you create conflict. And that's how terorrism begins. That is how wars begin. That is how fights on the school playground begin.

Perhaps it's one reason for conflicts. However, most wars are fought over resources.

And this is probably why true equality will never be achieved in this world. We all like to believe the group we are a member of is better than the other groups. And we give bias in favor of our group.

Back to your earlier point regarding Social Identity Theory. You see, the American Civil war had two sides, two social identities if you will. North v South. While those identities still exist, strongly for some, the identity called American over-rides both of them. Social Identity, just like society in general, is a fluid thing not a fixed one.
Earlier i wrote of social identities in tiers: family, state, country. Social Identity for some people begins with human and goes on from there. Where you and i differ, i suspect, is in our differing perceptions of our own primary social identity. From what you have written it seems clear that part of your primary identity is something analogous to 'western christianity'. For myself i try to identify as human first. All other considerations seem to me, secondary.