Slaughter at a "Diversity Festival"
Sometimes the headlines just write themselves.
Did you see that three people have been stabbed to death and others injured at a “Diversity Festival” celebrating multiculturalism in the German town of Solingen?
The attacker, who is currently on the run, randomly stabbed festival goers partying in the Fronhof central square where live bands where playing at around 9.45pm. Police have said they have very little information on the suspect so far but believe the stabbings were carried out by a lone attacker.
I’m not sure if the stabber is a “Cardiff man” or not, although there are some reports suggesting it was “an Arab looking man” but these are not confirmed. I have seen images online of what appears to be a black man carrying a large knife and wearing a face mask. How accurate these are I do not know.
As is always the case in these events it is better to let the facts emerge before commenting directly on what has taken place but the supreme irony of a DIVERSITY festival being the target for a mass stabbing event can’t be overlooked! And it raises the more general question as to whether Multiculturalism is compatible with a peaceful pluralist society?When those such as London Mayor INSIST “Diversity is our strength” and we see people being literally murdered at a Festival of Diversity then we are entitled to not only question the accuracy of his claim but also to wonder if the reverse may be true - Diversity is our weakness. It seems to me that UNITY is what actually makes a society strong - a shared purpose, a shared faith and a common understanding. How can that be best achieved when we import those from societies that are often violent, brutal and put less value on the sanctity of human life that we do?
The debate as to whether diversity is beneficial or deleterious is one of the more interesting of our time.
On the one hand, we have Harvard political scientist David Putnam's huge 2007 survey pointing out that increasing diversity is strongly correlated with declining trust and civic engagement; plus the ever-growing list of atrocities and minor inconveniences inflicted upon an increasingly aware public; plus the ONS data about the negative economic effects of non-EEA immigrants; plus the data from European countries showing rates of criminality among immigrants which are way above the norm.
On the other hand, there are all the assertions from wealthy bien-pensant liberals about how enriched we are. These are often backed up by media focus upon individual immigrants doing useful and nice things.
So it's difficult to know, isn't it!
Diversity isn’t always a good thing - ask the rat what he thinks about sharing his space with snakes!