This is what I wish leftist social justice was for: Small U.S. businesses thrive with Ethiopian woman's help -CNN.com
Instead, The New Left, circa late 1960's to now, would want these immigrants to NOT assimilate into a capitalist society, and try convince the immigrants that their pre-colonial era cultural heritage is the more valuable and to hold onto it.
Of course a rational approach, and the one the people in this story could very likely be doing, is to assimilate into and master capitalism while retaining a sense of unique cultural heritage.
It is the New Left that draws a disabling line in the sand, in which cultural and personal evolution and adaptation are a dirty sin much like St Augustine saw women.
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In the 1960's a remarkable convergence of academics, their students and cutting edge developments in philosophy converged to challenge the establishment and create our postmodern world. Unfortunately the pressures that triggered this convergence (the baby boom, the vietnam war, the draft, etc.) also had some disappointing side effects like lowering academic standards.
As the Movement disintegrated into sectarian conflict (race riots, the backlash against forced bussing, jews vs. blacks, stoner dropouts, new age cults, militias, etc.) The big ideas of postmodernism became dumbed down slogans for various ideologies.
In left-leaning Academia we have the anti-imperialist slogan that says all cultures are equal (and by extension all traditions within each culture) except for the cultures which are most actively influencing other cultures.
Cultural liberals who dominate the media insist that all lifestyles are equal (but if you can combine several lifestyles, like being a single mom with a career you might be more equal than other people.)
Modern conservatives are also a product of the Movement. Their slogans lean toward insisting that all ideas are equal, therefore an opinion of a few scientists is just as reliable as the opinion of the vast majority of scientists, and for that matter religion, public opinion and science are all equally useful ideas for dealing with any problem.
At some point you have to put your foot down and say "I disagree, here is something that is better than another thing. Here is an idea that makes a real difference, a lifestyle that that is worth pursuing, a culture that should be imitated"
Hey guys, great stuff. I'm too busy to comment more right now, but I appreciate your thinking. (I have to write a mid-term quiz and instructions for my students' next essay.)
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