Cultural Differentiation Should Be Encouraged

Despite the perception of Australians being "outside" people, spending their leisure exploring the bush, we are a nation of "stay-at-homes". A quite startling statistic shows that most Australians travelled only 16 kilometers from their homes in a decade.

Australians are parochial - they like the town where they were born. Anyway, this finding of only 16 kilometers of travel is questionable. It would be very difficult indeed even in remote towns for people to move in such a small radius from their homes. Even doing the weekly shopping would entail travel of more than 20 kilometers.

I favor strengthening the "bushy' culture of Australia - whether it be true or not. In this day and age societies are so similar as to be boring. We all have mobile phones and widescreen TVs. Hell, even Asians living in the mountains have such technology. And Africans meandering along dusty roads hold mobile phones to their ears and tinker with the Internet.

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Germany Disappointed With Immigration "Experiment"

If Germany expected immigrants to become German by living there it is no wonder people are disappointed. The best one can hope for is that the children of immigrants born in the new country will be fully integrated. If a model of "multiculturalism" was needed Australia could be the example. In the 50s, 60s and 70s the term "wog" was prevalent. Though Australians should have more correctly called people from the Mediterranean region "waps", these Greek and Italian "new Australians" quickly moved into enclaves of major cities. They not only imported themselves, but corner store businesses sprang up selling goods that no native born Australian would buy. The stores did quite well from the local clientele.

It was common to hear people on buses and in queues speaking the language of their mother country. Australians were not offended by this because the new people were hard working and they didn't try to change Australian culture per se. Their culture just ran "alongside" the dominant culture. If one was lucky, an invite to a party or a wedding was offered. There was this congruency between the cultures. All enjoyed having a good time where alcohol was consumed. Even Asian societies have this in common.

Today new arrivals come from the Middle East and Africa and they are predominantly Muslim. It is no wonder a clash of cultures occurs. While Christianity strongly affects Mediterranean societies freedom of the individual is paramount. Islam expects the individual to live strictly by the laws of this religion. This means no alcohol and no enjoyment. Fundamentally, the problem is a religious one. If the hope is for the children of Muslims to be socialized into their new country Islam needs to be interpreted in ways that for the most part do not clash with the dominant culture. Children of immigrants who strictly follow the ways of their parents are doomed to a life of not fitting in.

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Muslims Will Not Take Over the World Via Multiculturalism

What is multiculturalism? It is the acceptance of multiple "micro" cultures within a national culture. Many believe that it is ethnic groups taking on a national culture. This is where the problem arises.

In Europe at the moment there is the issue of the burka, worn by traditional Muslims. Furthermore, there is the problem of mosques to be built in New York and Moscow.

Some European political parties are taking a stand against multicultural polices, saying they will stop more immigration and even take away the rights of ethnic groups in their own communities. Popularity for banning the burka is increasing.

Australia has been suggested as a model for other countries in regard to multiculturalism because of the way ethnic groups have integrated into the wider Australia. But the reason for its success is the way new Australian have been absorbed into society not for the traditions of ethnic groups surviving for generations in this country. As new arrivals looked for homes and work in their new country so the hands of Australians reached out to them. Ex-Brits fitted in easily and over one generation eastern and southern Europeans took on the Australian identity. Despite the white Australia policy of the early twentieth century many Chinese and other Asians have been accepted as well.

Today, however, Australia has the same problem as other countries. It is the perception that the apparent intention of Muslims from any country is to change the culture of their new country, That is the crux of the matter. This will not happen even though Muslims have a higher birthrate than any other group: note that it is falling. Even in France with 4 million Muslims out of a population of 62 million, they will never be a majority at the election polls. People in Australia saying Muslims will take over is scaremongering.

It is unfortunate that new Muslim immigrants do seem to resent their new country - the way people live irks them because it is not condoned by Islam. No Muslim country has a democratic government. Afghanistan and Iran may claim to be democratic, though the validity of their governments is questionable. Maybe new arrivals want change forced on the majority in a Muslim led takeover. This is far fetched and unlikely to happen.

In the long run Islam will have to accept that it will not greatly influence Western countries, terrorism notwithstanding. The truth is, even non-believing Westerners prefer to live in countries led by Christian governments.

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