Confusing multiculturalism with core principles & values is a grave mistake

There’s an old saying: “when you live in Rome, act like Romans ”

A mix of cultures: cuisine, sports etc. is great. Where there are conflicting cultures, local norms should apply

The world got it horribly wrong and this is where right-wingers blame liberals. But pointing fingers now, isn’t going to resolve anything. The horse has bolted out of the stable…

Travel is awesome; you experience different cultures etc. Would that be possible, if those cultures had been suppressed?

What we should have had in the mid-1900s is each country clearly defining their norms, laws, religion, societal values etc., and made those sacrosanct for anyone looking to live in each country, you come in and live by those rules and if not to your liking, you select the best suited country to go and live in.

There would be no problems with immigration or accepting refugees as everyone would come in, behave the same way and integrate. But it would require laws and norms to be set in a manner that do not target newcomers or target some races as was done in America where they deliberately crafted legislation designed to keep their black population in chains (from slavery to jails) or countries where sentencing for crimes committed is a lot harsher for some. It would be naive to assume this could all have been a very straightforward arrangement. It isn’t. You have complications in the form of religious freedom and other complex aspects, but it is clear that if each country had defined those rules, all must comply to live there and can practice their religions provided they do not attempt to impose forcefully on others or seek to subvert. There will always be a suitable country matching each and every preference and people can migrate across to locations that cater for what they believe in, how they want to live and the values they want to hold dear.

It is a failure to do this, that has fatally pitched conservatives against liberals. Reality has been set aside and replaced with hate, intolerance, open racism, hurtful slogans with meaningless promises such as “America First” – of course it is America First, but the people you’re saying it to, are also Americans. So, kind of pointless really. Each country should put itself first , in the situation we are in right now, where nobody wants to put humanity first. There is nothing wrong with America First (without the hateful rhetorics and overt racism – almost all Americans are migrants and descendants of migrants). Unfortunately, it is probably impossible to implement this now as it would mean suppressing the views of some. But as we are in a DEMOCRACY, I do not see why we don’t just put it to a vote? We did with BREXIT in the UK, even though it wasn’t a perfect process and many feel they were lied to and misled, and there certainly wasn’t enough detail made available or known at the time, making it difficult to judge, BUT one thing is certain, as a Brit, I want British laws and not dictates from a European group who have a very limited understanding of how we want to live our lives in Britain. Being able to trade freely and engage with Europe should never be at the expense of losing our way of life to German-French dictates. So, YES, exiting the EU was the correct decision, but the way it was done and the lack of care for those to be impacted harshly, is what has left a foul taste in many mouths and the full implication may still be yet to come.

But yes, each democratic country can still today, use democratic means to restructure and set new rules relating to societal norms, afterall we have that in our laws. Ignorance is not an acceptable defence in law. So, we can mandate that anyone coming to live in each country needs to accept how things are done there (as opposed to granting liberties that anger the locals because people coming in are coming in to form their own enclaves and carrying on with certain practices e.g. forced marriage, and instead of integration, we’re left with conflicting cultures, leading to more hate and intolerance across the board). There can then be a variety of options. A migrant or refugee looking to practice arranged marriages or corporal punishment for instance, can migrate to countries that allow that as opposed to moving to countries that do not normally do that, but seeking to exploit civil liberties in those countries to circumvent their norms

I believe there is a democratic way to redress this and set each country up, so that the views of the majority creates an environment where the values of each country is maintained by all-comers, with full integration. It is the only way to avoid intolerance and hate brewing..