Spikey,

Racist was never my word. You first implied it here:

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=7727#120566.

Anyway, we can keep arguing about this. The bottom line is that too much mixing of cultures is wrong, whether it's between us and people from Africa, the Middle East or the Hell's Angel who lives next door. After a while we all have our senses dulled, and our own cultures attenuated, by the constant infusion of new cultures.

At some point, as individuals' well of resistance starts to wear thin, they will recognise the cultural mismatch and do what's required to put their own culture back on an even keel.

RobP,

You introduced the word 'racist' by saying that I implied it. Dumb eh?

Anyway, for you << The bottom line is that too much mixing of cultures is wrong, whether it's between us and people from Africa, the Middle East or the Hell's Angel who lives next door. After a while we all have our senses dulled, and our own cultures attenuated, by the constant infusion of new cultures.>>

So where's the pure standard? Where can we find it? Let's look at what we used to call Mother England. What is a Briton?

Ice Age: early humans crossed the land bridge from Europe - Lower Paleolithic hunters, Neanderthals, and homo sapiens.

2500-1800 BC: Later Neolithic immigrants

7-6th Centuries BC: Picts from northern Europe

400 BC: Celts

2nd Century BC: Belgae from Picardy

55 BC-4th Century AD: Romans

c340 AD: Scots (from Ireland)

late 4th Century onwards: Saxons

8th Century onwards: Vikings and Danes

1066 onwards: French - Normans

I suppose you could argue that the modern nation emerged with the Tudors but even that's not so simple with continuous infusions into the ruling cartel of Germans, Greek etc. And immigrants from many parts of the world. Then the old British Empire struck back - and Enoch Powell and the jackboots tried to make a stand for racial purity!.

So in what sense can you argue that "too much mixing of cultures is wrong"?

Clearly immigration has played a significant part in the making of Britain for many centuries. Those who advocate violence in order to keep Britain culturally pure are talking through their hats and have no understanding of history.

Now if you're still not convinced that most modern nations are made of a whole lot of cultural and ethnic mixes, take a quick look at the USA?... Go on, don't be afraid. You might learn something of value.

Spikey,

Very smart. There is no pure standard as you well know. Your argument is simply a relativistic one - ie seeing as though we've had racial mixing for so many centuries and we still haven't become extinct or anything, ergo racial mixing must be OK.

BTW, I'm racist and I'm not dumb.

But you are a smarty pants.

RobP

Forget the name calling which is not helpful. Stay with the issue.

In the light of the facts on mass immigration over the centuries, in what sense can you argue that "too much mixing of cultures is wrong"

Spikey,

OK, If you're prepared to be serious.

First let me correct a howler. What I meant to say was:

"BTW, I'm NOT racist and I'm not dumb."

-- -- -- -- --
>>In the light of the facts on mass immigration over the centuries, in what sense can you argue that "too much mixing of cultures is wrong"<<

To the extent that people of different cultures invade each other's (inner and outer) space and where there's discord between them. There are sufficient differences between cultures where, if people live too close together, they cause problems for each other. The biggest example of which is mixed-race marriages IMO.

On the "mass immigration over the centuries" bit, it's all very well flicking through a book and seeing how harmonious things look on the surface of a multicultural society, but this scene has, over the centuries, been preceded by lots of bad events (eg killing on the battlefield, suspicions, inter-generational hatreds, etc). It's only after a period of time that people have learned that staying separate/cellular within society is the only way to make it (multiculturalism) work.

Also, a picture-perfect view of the world hides the fact that putting people together that are very different causes extreme effects on some people (particularly those in minorities) such as isolation, humiliation, etc. I wouldn't mind betting there are plenty of people from cultural minorities in Australia right now sitting at home scared to fit in with mainstream society for one reason or another.

Spikey's historical over-view of how multi-cultural societies evolve is very clearly and cleverly put and I applaud him for it.Each stage of cultural confrontation and subsequent mix was accompanied by pain on the battlefield invariably and its aftermath of cultural and racial discrimination during assimilation and sublimation but over a period of time things settled down and the newly emergent society was stronger and richer.

Nature teaches that every stage of growth is accompanied by growing pains.Ofcourse there's a lot of nostalgia and yearnings for the past on both sides.In the process of historical growth through assimilation, racial purity is the first casualty.So what? I am yet to believe that it, racial purity is a good thing. The concept,like religion, has led to most of the world's sufferings and injustices.

socratease