[Vision2020] The Myth of a Monocultural "Western" Civilization

[Nicholas Gier]

Greetings:

This is my radio commentary/column for the week.  I wrote it especially for
the Latah County Human Rights Task Force to counter the activities of a new
student group on the UI campus.  It is a right-wing group called "Youth for
Western Civilization."  The Task Force asked me not to name the group so as
not to give it any PR.

The full version is attached.

Yours for an incredibly rich multicultrual American civilization, which we
must preserve at all costs,

Nick

*THE MYTH OF A MONOCULTURAL “WESTERN” CIVILIZATION*


            When I traveled to India for the first time, I found it
initially puzzling that the newspapers called the Middle East “Western”
Asia.  Distinguishing cultures by the cardinal directions is obviously
quite arbitrary.  To avoid these confusions, I now tell people that I
taught Euro-American and Asian philosophy and religion.

But even here the term “American” must include the rich and sophisticated
cultures of the indigenous peoples of the “Western” Hemisphere (which of
course to Asians is to their East).  For example, the Iroquois
Confederation had a profound effect on the founding of American democracy,
and Iroquois women had more rights than their European counterparts.

What is really amazing about some who clamor for a return to Western
Civilization is that they define it narrowly as “Anglo-Saxon” culture.
Former Congressmen Tom Tancredo, a second-generation Italian-American, once
declared that “people who are not white Anglo-Saxon have become American by
adopting a white Anglo-Saxon  culture."  This is really odd: all the
Italian Americans I know celebrate their Southern European heritage and
their cuisine is one of the most popular in America.

Even more ironic is that Hispanic Americans, some whose families were on
American soil long before Northern Europeans came, also have a Southern
European heritage and speak a European language.  Along with Catholic
Poles, French, and Italians, Hispanic Americans are also “European
Christians,” another term that our nativists are fond of.  More irony
abounds in the meaning of that word: one who “protects the interests of
native <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/native> inhabitants against
those of immigrants.”

            In his most recent book *Suicide of a Superpower*, Pat Buchanan
predicts that “historians will look back in stupefaction at 20th and 21st
century Americans who believed the magnificent republic they inherited
would be enriched by bringing in scores of millions from the failed states
of the Third World.”  In the book Buchanan also repeats his outrageous and
completely discredited claim that white males are the most intelligent
human beings.

            Due primarily to Anglo-Saxon oppression and a belief that the
Irish were not full human beings, Ireland was a failed “Third World” state.
But no one would now say that Irish Americans, especially after building
the transcontinental railroads along with their despised Chinese
co-workers, are not welcome in this nation.

            Interestingly enough, some American nativists give back-hand
compliments to Asian Americans for their hard-working, entrepreneurial
spirit, but they condemn Hispanic workers who turned American fields and
orchards into the most productive in the world.

            Muslim Americans have the highest average income of any ethnic
group and their women have earned more college degrees than their men, but
Buchanan, Tancredo, and many others want them deported as well.  Christian
Europe was in the Dark Ages until Islamic scholars brought Arabic
translations of the Greek literature, medicine, and philosophy—the
foundations of “Western” civilization—to medieval Spain.

Muslims have lived in America since the importation of slaves from West
Africa.  Thomas Jefferson once defended the sacrifice of lambs, which most
certainly indicated that some of his slaves were Muslims celebrating the
feast of Eid.  Jefferson studied the Qur’an and may have drawn some legal
inspiration from it, and he also celebrated Eid at the White House, a
tradition that Presidents Bush and Obama have continued.

Contrary to popular belief, 63 percent of Arabs living in the U.S., with
roots in this country going back over a century, are Christians.  Steve
Jobs, Ralph Nader, Gen. John Abizaid, and former Senator George Mitchell
are all from Christian Arabic families. Well above the national average, 36
percent of these good citizens have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
According to the Prejudice Institute: “Fewer than 11% of Arab Americans
live below the poverty level [national average is now 16%]. On average, the
Arab American income is 22% higher than the U.S. national average.”

The U. S. has been a multi-cultural nation since its inception, and no
culture, except remote isolated tribes, can claim to be pure.  We now live
in a “fact aversive” climate, so too many people accept as truth Tancredo’s
and Buchanan’s bigoted statements.  This is a national tragedy.

Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31
years.
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