This might sound totally paradoxical and contradictory, for how can a society that is mutually tolerant of multiple cultures, be intolerant? Nigel Pocock Some have argued that such an utopian vision of society could not be achieved without imposition from above. Given that there would no doubt be many […]
Needle’s Eye
Multiculturalism: Creative new society, or a dead ‘tolerance’?
Taken on its own, the term ‘multicultural society’ has no practical use. It is a non-criticisable and non-falsifiable chameleon that changes its colour with its environment. That is, unless it is made predictable, at least for the purposes of testing. Nigel Pocock We might, for example, wish to […]
Integration and the limits of tolerance
Clearly the issue of multiculturalism is ultimately about social change. This is together with the capacity to live in a ‘tolerant’ way with other groups that hold diametrically opposing beliefs. . Nigel Pocock . But what if these groups believe in tyranny, whether of theocracy, materialism, secularism or of any […]
Is ’emptying’ a realistic means of achieving peace?
In his book, A Different Drum, Scott Peck argues that the idea of ’emptying’ is an essential prerequisite to peace in any ‘community’. . Nigel Pocock . With major possible catastrophes, such as global warming and pollution, common cause and open discussion free of power struggles, is absolutely vital. Peck’s […]
Community : Possible by individuation, destroyed by individualism
Far from being a society of mature people, western culture encourages mass narcissism and infantilisation, in ever-increasing numbers. Nigel Pocock What is ‘community’? It is a noun, and has a verbal form, ‘communication’. This gives us the essence of a ‘community’, for it is nothing more or less […]