Western Pride vs. Multiculturalism
by Marty Lewinter
Multiculturalism sounds like a great idea, right? Let's learn from all cultures. After all, all cultures have some good attributes. American Indians made beautiful blankets—and didn't waste any part of the buffalo, as the cliché goes. African tribes lived together in harmony. Ancient Chinese built the Great Wall and gave us tea and silk. The Mayans had a good calendar, and so forth. So let's not be ethnocentric—a term reserved almost exclusively for Westerners who think their culture of reason, liberty, the free market, and science is superior to, say, New Guinea head hunters, Taliban zealots, Indian tribes with witch doctors, and totalitarian governments of the twentieth century.
My answer: Multiculturalism respects every culture but Western culture. It criticizes European culture, ignoring its glorious and unparalleled achievements in art, theater, music, mathematics, science, industry, and politics, while extolling cultures which still have not gone past the pre-scientific mentality of a mystic approach to the universe—a naïve belief that events are magical and cannot be understood or predicted. Without us, these non-Western cultures would not have simple television sets—to say nothing of modern medicine, or the agricultural know-how needed to efficiently feed their populations. Multiculturalism holds our great culture to be the cause of the problems these other "great and noble" cultures are having. The term "ethnocentric" is flung in the face of the Westerner who faces the facts (no matter how inconvenient for someone's political agenda):
* The greatest mathematics in the world was done in the seventeenth century in Europe. It blew away anything done prior to that century by any culture anywhere on Earth. Only in Europe did the mathematical curve break through the limits of possibility and achieve miracles which enabled science and engineering to perform miracles in the next century. Consequently, the major industrial enterprises of the nineteenth century, armed with inventions and the assembly line, set the West on a long slow climb to the unheard of material comforts of the twentieth century.
* Only in Europe were musical harmony and counterpoint developed, leading ultimately to the majestic symphony orchestra. A steady progression of improvement in composing led by stages to the Romantic music of Rachmaninoff and Chopin, culminating in the classical movie scores that have enriched Hollywood productions such as Star Wars.
* Only the West insisted on separation of church and state, guarantees of freedom, an end to slavery (sure, it took a while) and the eradication of imperialism. Western religion made peace with the modern world (as few other faiths did—consider Islam) and achieved the Thomas Aquinas's compromise between faith and reason.
I am a proud American who loves math and science, technology, prosperity, freedom, Western medicine, skyscrapers, and jets, while acknowledging that most cultures emphasize none of these things. So much for multiculturalism. I will be ethnocentric until the other world cultures abandon ignorance, superstition, tribalism, collectivism, totalitarianism, massive corruption, and ethnic cleansing.
Multiculturalism is a trap with which anti-American, leftist professors can downplay Western achievements. They count on the lack of knowledge and pride many students have about our American way of life. I urge you to look at the world through Western eyes and see the vast difference. Long live the great legacies of Western thought: Shakespeare, Newton, Locke, Aristotle, Einstein, Madam Curie, Euclid, Rand, and all those yet to come. One hopes that we will continue to move forward armed with the righteousness of our cause—the promotion of the civilized way of life—"through hardship to the stars."
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