Multiculturalism begets misunderstanding, challenges

By John Phillips

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Multiculturalism in the United States and in other multicultural societies is touted as a social, political and economic virtue that strengthens and vitalizes society. Commendation about multiculturalism are so strong that one is led to believe that multicultural societies are somehow better than societies which are not.

In fact, multiculturalism in a society is a condition which makes cooperative, peaceful society more difficult to obtain. Furthermore, if multicultural America is any example of what happens in a society that is fragmented by so many cultures, then multiculturalism can be said to be a burden on most societies who must work extra hard to devise means of ensuring the cohesiveness of the social order.

In America, the most significant public expression of multicultural disharmony is the hyphenated American, such as African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Greek-Americans and so forth. The point of the hyphenation trend was for the society to recognize cultural differences and learn to tolerate and accept them.

However, as has been pointed out in a recent speech by Milton Bennett, neither tolerance nor acceptance is sufficient to make multiculturalism work in a society. It takes respect for differences and a degree of appreciation for other ways of doing things which most people find difficult to do.

When we acquire our culture, we are not taught that this is but one way of looking at the world and acting within it. Instead we are taught that this is the "right or natural" way of the world. Our view of the world is reinforced by most of our experiences. We are surrounded by people for most of our lives who are exactly like we are.

Most of us never leave the safety and security of our "world" to become international citizens or even intercultural citizens in our own countries. We usually associate only with people who we feel comfortable with because we know what to expect from them, how they are thinking, and how they will act. Most of the time this is not particularly racist or segregationist; rather it is a reflection of our lack of experience, our cultural bias, and our fear of the unknown. Basically, most of us are too insecure in our own identities to trust ourselves to try on the identities of others.

In multicultural societies, the opportunity to experience the "other" are more abundant, but the security of our primary identity is more threatened. We find people in our own country, our cities, and even in our neighborhoods who do not think, act or speak as we do. They do not confirm our identity but challenge it. We find ourselves having to defend what we assumed was right.

Often when we experience the "other" it is through the strong lenses of our own preconceptions and bias. Like the city boy who cannot tell the difference between a cow and a bull, we are blind to the nuances of the other culture.

So, our first tendency is to deny or minimize differences. We do not recognize differences, so they do not exist. Everyone is assumed to be more or less the same since we are all God's children. But his view of the world becomes dysfunctional when we assign our cultural specific meaning to an action that may have no meaning in another culture. Thus using the left hand in Indonesian culture is impolite, but it has no meaning in American culture.

Different values within a multicultural setting are even harder to understand. In America, reactions to both the Rodney King and O.J. Simpson trial verdicts are prime examples of when culture values clash in a society. But instead of arguing about what kind of food tastes better, the different cultures were arguing about extremely emotional issues of great importance concerning concepts of justice, racism, and class consciousness. More than any other recent events these trials have polarized society and seriously shaken the multicultural ideal.

One reaction to the multicultural muddle in the U.S. has been for some to become defensive about their own culture and hostile towards others. There has been a rise in so-called cross-cultural hate crimes that can no longer be simply ascribed to difficult economic conditions. People are genuinely afraid of one another and openly prejudiced towards those who are different.

One ugly but minor incident recently occurred when a Mexican crowd in the U.S. shouted obscenities during the U.S. national anthem, threw beer bottles, and threatened Anglo-Americans.

This incident was in part a reaction to growing anti-Mexican sentiment in the U.S. fostered by social class and ethnic differences, perpetuated by the inability of the two cultures to blend. But these problems with multiculturalism are neither new to the U.S. nor unknown to other multicultural societies. Multiculturalism within a society then is a major dilemma since it makes living together more difficult, but it also provides us the opportunity to adapt to the multicultural demands of a global village.

The writer is a visiting lecturer at Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta.