"Multiculturalism‪"‬

Alice Kneen examines the meanings and consequences of the term “multiculturalism.” 

From a rational perspective, the definition of a term is its meaning. In this regard, “multiculturalism”—comprised of inconsistencies, misdirections, and double-standards—is completely inadequate.  The word’s irrationality can, however, be explained by its social function. “Multiculturalism” is a nebulous-power-word; in other words, it represents language used as a weapon. Inadequate for rational debate, “multiculturalism” instead serves to intimidate and confuse, and to foreclose and forbid certain lines of discourse.    

Words like “multiculturalism”—”racism” is another—gain their power specifically by their lack of clear, delineated meanings—and by the fact that most people do not recognize how they are being used socially and politically.  In Britain and  America, “multiculturalism” has served mostly to justify immigration policies and immigration-related phenomena. But that is only the beginning of the uses and abuses of a term that is in desperate need of critical analysis.