Culturism hates racism for many reasons. Western culturism is dedicated to saving of Western civilization. Racism is not only stupid, it is dangerous to Western Civilization. America, a central pillar of Western civilization, is a multi-racial society. If we start to divide by race, we will be torn asunder. As our hero Ben Franklin said, “We must hang together or we will surely hang separately.” That which divides us makes us weaker. If we care about Western civilization, racists must be confronted and stopped.
As people cannot change their race, discussing race cannot result in much. On the contrary, World War Two and our domestic history tell us race consciousness can result in great evil. The very noble and necessary goal of denouncing racism has, however, recently undermined our ability to discuss culture. Cultural diversity is real and very important. Not being able to discuss cultural diversity, for fear of being attacked as a racist, endangers Western Civilization. To discuss cultural diversity we need to be clear that race and culture are separate and distinct topics. Culturism serves to make it clear that discussions about culture do not imply we are talking about racial or genetic characteristics.
Not all cultures are the same; diversity exists. Mexicans drop out of school at a higher rate than whites. They also have a higher rate of out-of-wedlock pregnancy. No one denies these two statements of fact. But many would call those who mention them “racist.” Calling the statements racist incapacitates our ability to discuss and deal with such issues. We cannot create programs to address disparities in achievement if we are afraid to discuss them. If race were the reason between the disparities, we would be hopeless. You, again, cannot change your race. But if we are clear that we are discussing culture and culture alone, we can have fruitful discussions.
Multiculturalism tells us that we must not judge cultures. To the contrary, it tells us that we must celebrate all of them. In denying that cultural diversity can include negative as well as positive attributes, multiculturalism also silences discussion on culture. Multiculturalism further undermines conversation by confusing culture and race. It tells us that any attention to the negative aspects of culture are racist. By conflating culture and race, multiculturalism too silences conversations about the real impact and significance of cultural diversity.
Diversity must be taken into account if we are to protect Western Civilization. Nations outside of the West are not hung up discussions of diversity. Saudi Arabia does not allow non-Muslims to become citizens. They do not even let necklaces that represent other religions into their country. China censors speech and defines citizenship on a racist basis; only Chinese can become Chinese. Culturism respects international diversity. These nations have a right to define, protect and promote their majority cultures. Unlike what multiculturalists tell you, we also have a core culture. Some foreign cultural traits do not mesh well with ours.
Multiculturalism’s telling us we have no core culture and to discuss one is racist, undermines our ability to protect and guide Western culture. Issues as ranging from immigration to alcoholism, from poverty to education cannot be successfully addressed when we are not able to frankly and openly discuss cultural diversity. Calling those who want to discuss diversity racist not only stops conversations, it frames issues in very dangerous ways. Multiculturalism’s “celebrate diversity” slogan does not provide direction and denies that Western nations have a history or particular culture. Calling ourselves culturists and discussing culturism can help us safely guide, protect and promote Western culture.
John Press is the author of Culturism: A Word, A Value, Our Future. He is also a doctoral student and adjunct professor of education at New York University. http://www.culturism.us has more information about culturism.
