Multiculturalism: Really Beneficial?

Whenever we discussed multiculturalism in class, we were always talking about it like it was obviously beneficial; and that is what I personally believe as well. But I wanted to discuss here, some possible disadvantages.

When one thinks “multicultural society” one probably thinks of different people of different races all working together, becoming friends and living happily ever after. But for the most part, this rarely happens. Just language barriers are sometimes too hard to bypass, let alone cultural or traditional differences. People are usually passionate about their own religions and beliefs and it’s hard for them to understand and accept another religion. Multiculturalism might actually be dividing a country up on the basis of different origins and ethnicities, which causes stereotypes and other judgemental views. And when it’s put that way, doesn’t it sound a lot like racism?

Multiculturalism could possibly implement a sense of resentment amongst other cultures as they might think that their cultural praise/importance comes at another cultures expense. There are just too many cultures out there and it would be impossible to treat them all in the same way, just as I think it is impossible to be a truly multicultural society. Therefore, in all fairness, wouldn’t it be easier and fairer to just assimilate every culture into one central one? It would certainly unify a country. In Canada, we encourage people to not become Canadian but to stick with their own national identities and beliefs, and that could leave us with a largely divided and unstable country.  

Economically, it is also very costly. To assimilate new immigrants enough so that they can somewhat function in society but not assimilate them too much so that they lose their own sense of their previous nationality. This is especially evident in schools where in order for it to work, there must be very diverse and competent staff members who can embrace the diverse beliefs, perspectives and experience while addressing issues of controversy.

I had never really thought about multiculturalism possibly promoting racism until now, although my opinion hasn’t changed – I still think that the advantages and benefit outweigh the disadvantages. 

Norman Bethune

Doing my history questions the other day, I came across a question about Norman Bethune. Now this was a name I’m pretty sure I hadn’t heard before, but it rang a bell somehow. So I was reading the page in the textbook about Bethune when my mom happened to walk in. I was surprised to learn that she knew all about Bethune (whom I discovered I knew previously by the name of 白求恩 – which was why he sounded familiar).



In short, Bethune was a Canadian doctor who was born in Ontario in 1890 and served in WW1 as a stretcher bearer but was injured and sent back to Canada. He finished his medical studies and went to Spain (in the Spanish civil war) and China (during their struggles against the Japanese). He saved many lives there, and he developed the first mobile-blood transfusion service (a concept that is still in use today).

Bethune on the left with Chinese Army Official and Translator

When I asked my mom to elaborate more on it, she gave me this whole dramatic speech that sounded like it came right out of some textbook; saying that “Bethune was a great man who came from so far overseas to aid the Chinese and gave his life for that cause”. I was astonished because I never thought that there was a Canadian hero that the Chinese upheld with such great respects that I had not even heard of before.

I wondered why this was and so I researched a little (and asked my dad) and I think that the reasons behind this could be that he didn’t really help his own country and instead went to a place like China (there was racism against Asians in Canada during his time) and also because he was a supporter of the Communist Party of Canada. This really made me disappointed because I think that Bethune is really a hero that should be more well known and respected in his homeland.

"Inspiring Hitler Quotes" Apps

Today I read an article online about apps on the Android play store that featured “inspiring Hitler quotes”. The article listed about 4 free apps that provided quotes and information about Hitler. Without reading the article, I went on my phone and quickly searched up the apps. However, I found that 3 out of the 4 that had been listed had been removed.

One of these apps, called Infamous Hitler Quotes, apparently had 50,000 downloads in the past 3 days and had 1,012 votes, giving it a 4.5 out of 5. The description of this app was asking Android users to “enjoy the inspiration of Adolf Hitler on your phone.” (This sounded odd to me and I had to read it over a couple of times to make sure that’s really what it said).  

But it didn’t end there because there were 2 more apps that had been removed. Apparently, the description of another app called Adolf Hitler Thoughts stated that “the wonderful leader has given a lot of quotes that could motivate people to conquer the world” and the final app called Hitler’s Sayings refers to his quotes as “beautiful sayings that we could benefit from in our lives.” I click the one app that was still there, expecting negative reviews and comments, however, that was not the case as many people were enthusiastically praising the app (that could let you share your favourite quotes you’re your friends) and their only complaint was that there wasn’t enough pictures.

Having said all this, I find it odd that Google really did remove them from the play store, personally I think that they didn't really need to since everyone is entitled to their opinions and whoever wanted to could download it and people who didn't could just ignore it. 

Hitler Praying

I read an article in the news on my phone one day, titled: Adolf Hitler praying statue causes controversy in Warsaw

Here is a picture of the statue called "HIM"

Basically, it's a statue of Adolf Hitler down on his knees and praying made by an Italian artist who did not specify what Hitler was praying for. This statue is located in the former Warsaw Ghetto where many Jews had been killed by the Nazis. This is why there have been some mixed reactions. The people who are against this statue probably believed that Hitler's only prayer was the elimination of all Jews and felt that it was insulting the memories of the victims. But I see it differently. 

First of all, this statue can only be viewed from a distance (a small hole in the door) and only the back of it is visible, making it hard to see the details (not that that changes anything). But the statue itself is of Hitler in a gray suit, praying, with the body of a child. I think that it goes to show how every criminal, no matter what they did or how many people’s deaths they caused, was once an innocent defenseless child. This is something I never really thought about before and it’s very true. The statue gets people to think about good, evil and hidden evils. It also could be interpreted in a different way like maybe evil comes in many disguises. But in retrospect, I think that it is an interesting and thought provoking way to view Hitler. 

Would America have dropped the atomic bomb on Germany if Japan had surrendered first?

Would America have dropped the atomic bomb on Germany if Japan had surrendered first?

I think that the answer is definitely a ‘no’. Putting the factor of racism aside for a moment, let us consider the situation logically. Firstly, Germany is a European country (in the middle of Europe) that is also bordering a bunch of other countries including France (an ally) and Switzerland (a neutral country). Bombing Germany with such a powerful new weapon (with no previous large scale testing to know the real effects) was really out of the question, because what if they missed and the radiation travelled further than expected? On the other hand, Japan was an island not bordering any other country.

Now, let’s consider the racism. The difference between Germany and Japan in the eyes of the Americans is that the ‘evil ones’ were always the ‘Nazis’ or ‘Hitler’, not necessarily the German people. But with the Japanese, there was this mindset that ‘all the Japs were heartless, murdering, inhuman monsters who deserve to be wiped off this planet’. Not the mention that the idea of ‘superior races’ and ‘enemy aliens’ had much support in the US and North America in the beginning and the Japanese-Americans were always treated much worse than their German and Italian allies.