Re: ASCII Art Fart for Thu, 2004 Nov 25

On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 15:41:17 +0000, Simon Williams wrote:

> Michael M. <hfr...@msbx.net> wrote:
> 
>> IIRC, Canada is
>> something like 88% White.  It certainly looks that way when you travel
>> there, very white.  (One might say, um, bland.)
> 
> Certainly not in our major centres like Vancouver, Toronto and
> Montreal... we have a good deal of cultural diversity kicking about
> here... for some reason we "officially" like to refer to Canada as a
> cultural "mosaic" as opposed to a "melting pot"... I think that just
> means that our minorities aren't expected to assimilate into the
> mainstream...

You mean when Canada chooses to let non-white immigrants in?  Didn't
Canada institute a complete ban on all Chinese immigrants in the 1920s?
Didn't Canada impose a half-million dollar savings requirement on anyone
seeking to emigrate from Hong Kong before the handover to China?  Doesn't
Canada currently have hundreds (thousands?) of would-be refugees locked
up?  I'm not *that* conversant with Canada's immigration policies, but its
been my impression that Canada is generally less welcoming -- historically
and in the present day -- than the U.S.

Yes, Toronto certainly has ethnic neighborhoods and publications and
restaurants, and Vancouver too.  But Toronto is still something like 60%
White.  New York, where I live, is 35% White, 27% Hispanic, 24% Black, and
about 10% Asian/Pacific Islander. You'll forgive me if I'm not overwhelmed
by Toronto's "diversity."  I can hear more languages and dialects and
encounter people from more countries on a two-block trip to and from the
supermarket here than in a long weekend in Toronto.  At least, that was
the case the last time I was in Toronto -- but, I admit, I was visiting a
friend with a new baby (White! <g>), so I didn't get around as much as I
otherwise would have.  Still, really -- there's no comparison.

>> Whether or not one values diversity (personally, I do), it goes
>> hand-in-hand with conflict, and often with violence.
> 
> Are you insinuating that cultural diversity is largely to blame for the
> USA's abundance of shooting deaths?

No, I'm saying that ethnic and cultural diversity is a cause of violence,
tension and strife.  A country that is largely homogeneous is going to be
less violent than another that is more diverse, other factors being equal.
 I think it is a much larger factor than the "culture of fear" Michael
Moore posited in his movie, when trying to explain the rates of gun
violence in Canada vs. the U.S, and it's a factor he ignored.

-- 
Michael M.  ~~  hfr...@msbx.net  ~~  New York, NY USA
 "No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely
  under conditions of absolute reality;..." --S. Jackson

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