Objectivist critique of multiculturalism....

MB · 03-01-2006, 10:39 PM

... from the Ayn Rand Institute.

Multiculturalism is a growing force in America’s universities and public life. In brief, multiculturalism is the view that all cultures, from that of a spirits-worshiping tribe to that of an advanced industrial civilization, are equal in value.

Since cultures are obviously not equal in value—not if man’s life is your standard of value—this egalitarian doctrine can have only one purpose: to raze the mountaintops. Multiculturalism seeks to obliterate the value of a free, industrialized civilization (which today exists in the West and elsewhere), by declaring that such a civilization is no better than primitive tribalism. More deeply, it seeks to incapacitate a mind’s ability to distinguish good from evil, to distinguish that which is life promoting from that which is life negating.

We are opposed to this destructive doctrine. We hold that moral judgment is essential to life. The ideas and values that animate a particular culture can and should be judged objectively. A culture that values freedom, progress, reason and science, for instance, is good; one that values oppression, stagnation, mysticism, and ignorance is not.

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServ...lticulturalism

See link for articles.

mkpdavies · 03-01-2006, 10:58 PM

Interesting site that. Here is what they say they are about.

Quote:

The Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), a 501(c)(3) educational organization, was established in 1985 and is headquartered in Irvine, California. ARI has a distinguished Board of Directors and a staff of about 30 employees.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was an ardent advocate of reason, rational self-interest, individual rights and free-market capitalism.

ARI seeks to promote these principles, spearheading a "cultural renaissance" that will reverse the anti-reason, anti-individualism, anti-freedom, anti-capitalist trends in today's culture. The major battleground in this fight for reason and capitalism is the educational institutions—high schools, and above all, the universities, where students learn the ideas that shape their lives.

Ayn Rand's philosophy—known as Objectivism—holds that historical trends are the inescapable product of philosophy. To reverse the current political and economic trends in America and throughout the world requires a reversal of our society's fundamental philosophy.

Victory in this war of ideas will ultimately mean the defeat of the widely held, pernicious ideologies that dominate contemporary culture and threaten our liberty—ideologies such as statism, multiculturalism, environmentalism, racism and mysticism

.

Not sure they can say they are for certain isms and then rubbish other isms, but they hit on some truth.

John Carter · 04-01-2006, 01:15 AM

I'm down with Rand. She was wrong about religion, but I'll let her off for that.

03-01-2006, 10:39 PM	#1 (permalink)
MB Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 16	Objectivist critique of multiculturalism.... ... from the Ayn Rand Institute. Multiculturalism is a growing force in America’s universities and public life. In brief, multiculturalism is the view that all cultures, from that of a spirits-worshiping tribe to that of an advanced industrial civilization, are equal in value. Since cultures are obviously not equal in value—not if man’s life is your standard of value—this egalitarian doctrine can have only one purpose: to raze the mountaintops. Multiculturalism seeks to obliterate the value of a free, industrialized civilization (which today exists in the West and elsewhere), by declaring that such a civilization is no better than primitive tribalism. More deeply, it seeks to incapacitate a mind’s ability to distinguish good from evil, to distinguish that which is life promoting from that which is life negating. We are opposed to this destructive doctrine. We hold that moral judgment is essential to life. The ideas and values that animate a particular culture can and should be judged objectively. A culture that values freedom, progress, reason and science, for instance, is good; one that values oppression, stagnation, mysticism, and ignorance is not. http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServ...lticulturalism See link for articles.

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04-01-2006, 01:15 AM	#3 (permalink)
John Carter Uber Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: On Sabbatical Posts: 5,110	I'm down with Rand. She was wrong about religion, but I'll let her off for that.