Where I Differ From Lind
Lind:
I have touched on this point in earlier columns, but here I want to state it as plainly as I can: in a Fourth Generation world, multiculturalism is the death of states.
This approach is flawed because he is convinced that the state will die. With that mentality it is easy to get lost in the battle for monoculturalism, because the threat becomes existential.
Multiculturalism, however, is a given in an era of empowered groups. Any attempt to rid us of it is regressive. The state will not die because the center of gravity has descended by an order of magnitude. It will simply adapt. Why not seize the opportunity instead of a move backwards.
Lind actually touches on the solution, scaling down the state, but does not take it seriously:
Yes, there can be exceptions, as Switzerland illustrates. But the primary loyalty and level of government in Switzerland is the canton, not the federal state, and most cantons are monocultural. Switzerland’s current very loose confederation is itself the product of a 19th century multicultural civil war.
-Shlok
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May 27, 2007
Shloky,
I had a recent thought on the same article by Lind. His conception of culture has a constancy that is the same as Huntington’s. Culture, and the common perceptions of power held by different groups about other groups, are in fact changable and one might even say malleable. His view of culture and its implicit assumptions for 4GW make 5GW impossible to see.