Angela Merkel Says German Multicultural Society Has Failed

Thoughts?

♭What.

I do not like where this is going.

Interesting that I don't see any clarification of what values Muslim immigrants supposedly lack and Christians supposedly have.

edited 18th Oct '10 4:27:56 PM by FeoTakahari

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful

Ooh yeah. Red freakin' alert right there.

What's precedent ever done for us?

Just sounds like political posturing. There's been a surge in far-right sentiment in Europe and she's probably just trying to grab some votes. I'm not sure if it'll translate to any real change in policy as pertains to immigration since it doesn't make that much sense but it might mean some changes in how they deal with awarding citizenship to immigrants.

Merkel is from the Christian Democratic Union. The "christian" part is in the name of the party... so yeah.

But all in all, it's just populism. They won't really change much(and the integration debate comes once every few years... nothing new)

Btw, note that only 30% of the voters would currently vote for CDU/CSU :>

Pour y voir clair, il suffit souvent de changer la direction de son regard www.xkcd.com/386/

The fact that she has to resort to this as a populist grab, though, does not bode well for Germany's immigrant population.

What's precedent ever done for us?

Well minorities rarely get the awesome end of the populism stick.

I like the utter bullshit and blatant racism in the comments section. From what I've noted from my observations of Europe, this is merely par for the course.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

As opposed to the shining bastion of enlightened tolerance that is an American comments section?

What's precedent ever done for us?

Comments sections, with a few exceptions like the ones on Less Wrong, are too idiotic to bother with.

Currently taking a break from the site. See my user page for more information.

Precisely.

What's precedent ever done for us?

^^^ Oh no, comment boards in all countries are festering balls of ignorance and hatred.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

So no need to single out Europe in particular based on that, then.

What's precedent ever done for us?

^ I wasn't singling Europe out in terms of comments, I was talking more about the increase in Islamophobia and general far-right sentiment I've noted has been on the rise over there.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

Which, again, is not unique to Europe. Although the Roma internment camps in Italy and France are, admittedly, pushing things way the hell too far.

What's precedent ever done for us?

^ Of course, but this thread was talking about a European affair, so I didn't see any point in talking about the US, not that we're any better.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

It's encouraging to see love of one's culture ("language of Goethe" indeed) replace self-effacing multikulti, at least on the center right. The question is, will they win? If so, will they do anything serious?

“Love is the eternal law whereby the universe was created and is ruled.” — St. Bernard

I remember the last time something like that happened in Germany.

the statement above is false

Just thought that I'd throw this out here to broaden our scope in a way.

It kind of seems that she's not saying that it's the fault of immigrants or things like that, more like that the effort to help them integrate has not been sufficient.

So I'm not sure if this actually is pandering to the latest anti-immigrant sentiment at all.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.

@: Rott, in answer to the last two questions: No and No.

We're just going through the 80's again, this should be fun, and by fun I ofc mean ball crushingly stupid.

There are some fair arguments to make against multi-culturalism, see the meltingt pot model vs the soup bowl. However, this is pretty much straight up xenophobia. Real shame as it frequently toxifies real debates that need to be had.

p.s. Europe is a continent, the USA is a country. They aren't really equivicable.

"When you cut your finger, I do not bleed." Response of a man who lived on the outskirts of a concentration camp.

Heh. Godwin's Law. I actually expected it to be in the first post since I know how stupid the people on this forum can be (and how much they like to think they are not).

Don't worry people. Angela Merkel has no secret racist/fundamentalist ideology. She has no ideology. Or emotions. We expect her to be revealed to be a robot any day now.

Also, the "Christian" part of the CDU's name is just for show. They are actually just a bunch of centrists with no values worth mentioning.

Edit: The purpose of Merkels statements is to prevent a new political party to arise to the right of the CDU, which be a total disaster for them (Just look what the rise of The Left has done to the SPD).

edited 19th Oct '10 4:16:41 AM by DasAuto

Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

Actually, she didn't say anything new, she just acknowledged that multicultarism, as it was practiced in Germany, has failed. Multicultarism in Germany meant, that people from different countries or even continents, should live together peacefully side by side with their own habits and tradition. Unfortunately, this way of living advocates the existence of parallel societies which could become the target of public anger, thus it is indispensable, that the government gives inmigrants the chance to fully participate in social life and learn the german language.

Furthermore, the rise of right wing parties would be a catastrophe for Germanys reputation and bears the risk of paralysing the german politic, like it happened in the NL.

^ Well when you think of it, the kind of multiculturalism practiced there really is culturally enforced segregation. "You stick to your own kind and customs while I stick to mine" is the gist of the system seen in much of Europe including Germany.

We in America have a long history of doing just that and it didn't end well. It only bred racism, prejudice even violence.