Diversity vs Assimilation & The Impact of Media Stereotypes by Dr. Bikram Lamba

Dr Bikram Lamba

StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-There's a wildly popular Canadian commercial for Molson Beer, known as "Joe's Rant". In it, the eponymous Joe rants about what he does and does not stand for as a proud Canadian, by drawing clear distinctions with American values. You can see it, or just read the text. The most interesting lines, being the mantra of the leftist transnational progressives, are:

I believe in peace keeping, not policing;
diversity, not assimilation...
Well good for you!

I was stunned to see lack of assimilation seen as a positive! I mean, that's just incredible! And make no mistake, the ideal of the American "Melting Pot" was to assimilate newcomers into WASP culture (open to all), while maintaining pride in (but not slavish devotion to) ethnic heritage. What happens when immigrants don't assimilate? And force the host nation to accommodate to its foreign, possibly incompatible values?

Witness Sweden:
The police now publicly admit what many Scandinavians have known for a long time: They no longer control the situation in the nations' third largest city. It is effectively ruled by violent gangs of Muslim immigrants. Some of the Muslims have lived in the area of Rosengård, Malmo, for twenty years, and still don't know how to read or write Swedish. Ambulance personnel are attacked by stones or weapons, and refuse to help anybody in the area without police escort.

Swedes, who a couple of decades ago decided to open the doors to Muslim "refugees" and asylum seekers, are now turned into refugees in their own country and forced to flee their homes. The people abandoning the city mention crime and fear of the safety of their children as the main reason for leaving.
ALL of the 600 windows at one of the schools in Malmo have been broken during the summer holiday. Window smashing alone costs the city millions every year. City buses have been forced to avoid the immigrant ghetto, as they are met with youths throwing rocks or bottles at them if they enter.
Rapes in Sweden as a whole have increased by 17% just since the beginning of 2003, and have had a dramatic increase during the past decade. Gang rapes, usually involving Muslim immigrant males and native Swedish girls, have become commonplace.

Recently a taxi firm in Odense announced they had taken the decision not to carry Somalian passengers due to a number of attacks by young Somalians on taxi drivers. Surely, immigrants are needed in the West for growth, but they must be assimilated. (Classical historian Victor Davis Hanson discusses a similar problem we face here, in his book Mexifornia).
The doctrine of multiculturalism, however, has served only to assault our confidence in Western Judeo-Christian civilization, rendering us unable to insist that the newcomers conform, so as not to appear to imply -- horrors! -- that our culture might be better (disagree? Two words: Individual Rights).
Multiculturalist doctrine is based on the false equation that race = culture. Given that mistake, it then seems to follow that denial of cultural equality equals racism. But it doesn't.

The revisionism that suggests Columbus Day, Thanksgiving, or even the First of July should not be celebrated, is part of this effort. But multiculturalism, which has already made such thorough inroads that there's no stopping it; most of the people fear that it will lead only to the extinction of Western identity.  Which, out of self-loathing for imagined sins of the past, is exactly what many Leftists long for. 
Stereotypes in the media both assist and detract from the cause of diversity in the media. The media can at times promote diversity, but the media can also give diversity or particular stereotypes a negative connotation.

Stereotypes in the media both assist and detract from the cause of diversity in the media. The media can at times promote diversity, but the media can also give diversity or particular stereotypes a negative connotation.

Many news shows will shun people because of their political views. Sometimes the media seems like it wants to promote assimilation instead of celebrate diversity. Many news broadcasts cater strictly to certain political stand points. Many political campaigns slander and degrade other political views in the media. These stereotypes promote assimilation instead of diversity, and this can be harmful to society.

The effect of media portrayal on diversities consciousness in the workplace can be both positive and negative depending on the form of media or the subject portrayed. For instance when talking about a crisis or conflict the subjects may be looked upon in a negative light for being diverse. If the media is reporting or portraying a positive event or news story, then diversity might be positively emphasized.

Diversity in the workplace is portrayed in some areas of the media such as promotional areas. I think the marketing area of the media portrays diversity as common place, and this is probably beneficial to their goals. Marketing experts know that diversity is reality and they cater to diversity to sell products. Many commercials show diverse cultures, races, and genders. This positively impacts their goals of consumerism.

Although marketing in the media may portray diversity like it is common place they also assist in assimilation. These commercials assert some sort unity through consumerism which is a form of assimilation. Unity is a positive idea, but an individual should not have to give up personal culture in order to bring about unity.

The media assists and detracts from cultural diversity in the world and the workplace. In many ways the media and the stereotypes used by the media detract from diversity by adding negative connotations to certain groups or cultures. The media also promotes diversity in order to sell products, but there is an underlying tone of assimilation. Assimilation is not as powerful or productive as celebrating and welcoming diversity, and stereotypes are harmful to the world and workplace. Ultimately it has to be sensible mix of the two.