Multiculturalism is a concept that really has to be dealt with.

I think that multiculturalism is an idea with nothing but good intentions behind it. I think that it's a concept that people latch onto in the name of diversity, acceptance, and open-mindedness, often to the extent of wrongfully viewing multiculturalism as being synonymous with those characteristics.

The reality, as I see it, is that multiculturalism runs into the same problem that Karl Popper brought up with the paradox of tolerance. In fact, the problem is baked into the cake. Some cultures are more tolerant than others. If a culture strives to be perfectly tolerant while intermingling with a grossly intolerant culture, the intolerant culture is always going to win out.

This isn't to say that we should all agree with each other. I think that national unity is neither possible nor desirable. Even if everyone were to agree that I'm right, I would view a society that all agrees on a common mission to be unhealthy. If you have freedom, you're never going to have unity. Freedom is more important.

Still, we have to have some idea of who we are in western civilization. We believe in free speech in this country. If you wanna live here, it's okay for you to personally hate the fact that people can draw Muhammad; but, you've gotta suck it up. We believe that women should be allowed to wear what they want here. If you want to be covered from head to toe, and that's how your household wishes to voluntarily operate and present yourself, that's fine; but, you can't harass women for wearing skirts without expecting backlash.

It seems as if much of Europe has adopted the idea that the melting pot concept is somehow racist, and that newcomers shouldn't be expected to integrate -- as if all these new people are going to import is some extra cultural flavor. There comes a point, as has been demonstrated, wherein authoritarian and theocratic cultures aren't just living in their own bubble beside a liberal culture. Rather, the authoritarian cultures infect the liberal cultures.

Just like with tolerance and non-violence, which are great ideas, multiculturalism has to have a limit. We all know that if 90% of us were perfectly tolerant pacifists, and the remaining 10% were militant authoritarians, the 10% would have the 90% either killed, enslaved, or in hiding in a week. There needs to be a point werein the tolerance runs out, and the people who don't want to be violent are willing to pick up a gun. So it is with multiculturalism.