The Menace of Multiculturalism: Trojan Horse in America

229 Pages·1997·0.805 MB·English

by  Alvin J. Schmidt

The Menace of Multiculturalism

T M M
HE ENACE OF ULTICULTURALISM
TrojanHorseinAmerica
.
ALVIN J SCHMIDT
ForewordbyDineshD’Souza
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Schmidt,AlvinJ.
Themenaceofmulticulturalism : TrojanhorseinAmerica / Alvin
J.Schmidt ; forewordbyDineshD’Souza.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–275–95598–2(alk.paper)
1. Multiculturalism—UnitedStates. 2. Pluralism(Social
sciences)—UnitedStates. 3. UnitedStates—Racerelations.
4. UnitedStates—Ethnicrelations. I. Title.
E184.A1S345 1997
305.8'00973—dc20 96–24462
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationDataisavailable.
Copyright(cid:1)1997byAlvinJ.Schmidt
Allrightsreserved.Noportionofthisbookmaybe
reproduced,byanyprocessortechnique,withoutthe
expresswrittenconsentofthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:96–24462
ISBN:0–275–95598–2
Firstpublishedin1997
PraegerPublishers,88PostRoadWest,Westport,CT06881
AnimprintofGreenwoodPublishingGroup,Inc.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
TM
Thepaperusedinthisbookcomplieswiththe
PermanentPaperStandardissuedbytheNational
InformationStandardsOrganization(Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my dear sons
Timothy John
and
Mark Alvin
May they do their part
in keeping multiculturalism
from destroying their great nation
and their future.

Contents
FOREWORD BY DINESH D’SOUZA ix
PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
1 Introduction 1
2 False, Deceptive Portraits 9
3 Multiculturalism’s Leftist (Marxist) Concepts 25
4 All Cultures Are Not Equal 33
5 The Facts Be Damned: Omissions, Distortions, and
Noble Lies 43
6 Diversity: A One-Way Street down Leftist Lane 65
7 Political Correctness: Multiculturalism’s Police 85
8 From Melting Pot to Boiling Pot 105
9 Multiculturalism’s Threat to the Family 131
10 The Multiculturalist Purges 141
11 With ‘‘Friends’’ like These... 163
viii Contents
12 America’s Fight for Its Soul 175
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FURTHER READING 197
INDEX 201
Foreword
If multiculturalism in American schools and colleges were, as many of
its advocates insist, nothing more than a program for teaching young
people about other cultures, merely a broader alternative to ‘‘monocul-
turalism,’’ then it would be uncontroversial. Who could be against hun-
dreds of thousands of undergraduates going beyond Plato and
Shakespeare and energetically grappling with the Analects of Confucius,
theMuquaddimmahofIbnKhaldun,andRabindranathTagore’sGitanjali?
The reason for the controversy over multiculturalism—both as an ed-
ucational program and as the basis for identity—is that in practice it
offers a specific paradigm for understanding both Western and non-
Western cultures. Similarly, it provides an ideological lens for interpret-
ing conflicts about race, gender, and sexual orientation in the United
States. Consequently, the multicultural debate is a civil conflict within
the West about competing ways to understand ourselves and the world
beyond.
Alvin Schmidt’s The MenaceofMulticulturalism:TrojanHorseofAmerica
is a powerful indictment of multiculturalism in practice, yet it iswritten
from the point of view of one who is supportive of a broader, more
integratedconceptoflearning,aswellasonewhoiscommittedtoAmer-
ica as a more inclusive society. Schmidt’s attack on multiculturalism is
so unrelenting and effective precisely because he sees it as betraying its
goals, dividing the nation into warring factions, promulgating lies in-
stead of truth, and thus undermining the prospects for citizens of dif-
ferent backgrounds living together and adjudicating differences in a
rational and civil manner.
Schmidtaccuratelydiagnosesculturalrelativismtobethehiddenhand
x Foreword
guiding much of what passes for multiculturalismtoday.Afterall,asits
name suggests, multiculturalism is a doctrineof culture.Allculturesare
presumed to be equally worthy of study and respect; no culture is con-
sidered to be superior or inferior to another. In this view, the standards
for evaluating a culture must come from within that culture. Noculture
has the right to impose its values on another. For all their variety, con-
temporary approaches to multiculturalism are united in their denial of
Western cultural superiority.
One reads Schmidt’s tough expose´ with a mixture of amusement, re-
vulsion,andregret.Thereisamusementatthehypocrisiesofthepolitical
left, such as the genuflections to racial diversity, gender diversity, and
every other form of diversity except the one form that matters most in
an educational setting, namely, philosophical or intellectual diversity.
Thus, as Schmidt shows again and again, religious and political conser-
vatives are rarely welcome at the multicultural picnic.
Schmidt is unsparing in hisportrait oftheunseemlypracticesofother
cultures, such as the bloodthirsty enthusiasms of someAmericanIndian
tribes. Most of us have internalized the moral standards of Westernmo-
dernity,whichincludeavisceraldistasteforenforcedphysicalsuffering.
Consequentlyrelativistshaveanuphillbattledemonstratingthattorture
and human sacrifice constitute legitimate adaptations to local circum-
stances. Even today, there are few American defenders of genital muti-
lation in parts of Africa and the Arab world. Yet it is hardto readabout
the barbaric practices of other cultures without a sense of regret and
chagrin; set against the historical backdrop of colonialism andconquest,
this guilt too is distinctively Western.
Ultimately, Schmidt is concerned with more than saving a generation
of American students from ignorance and delusion about their owncul-
ture and that of others. His stakes are even higher, because he knows
that ideas have consequences, and he recognizes that, taken to its ex-
treme, multiculturalism threatens to weaken legitimate American insti-
tutions,indeedtheverymediatinginstitutionsofchurchandfamilythat
are the best hope for a confused nation to recover its moral and civic
moorings.
IwelcomeSchmidttotheclubofwriterswhoareroutinelydenounced
not becausewhat theysayisfalseanddangeroustosociety,butbecause
what they say is true and dangerous to the pretentions of an intellectu-
ally and morally bankrupt ideology. This ideology is loosely leftist, al-
though it masquerades as liberal. Schmidt is right to sound the alarm,
so that this time the Trojan horse will be recognized, the looters will be
turned back at the gates, and the city on the hill will be preserved from
destruction.
Dinesh D’Souza