THE P RTAL
February 2017 Page 24
Multiculturalism : How it works
With Irving Berlin as his example , Geoffrey Kirk explains how multiculturalism is designed to get others to do the work of secular liberals for them !
have never quite understood multiculturalism . The first problem is that it seems to apply to other
I cultures only when they accommodate themselves to Western secularism . The second is that it only applies here . We laud ‘ moderate ’ Islam – advocates of women ’ s rights who sit light to sharia law – and demonise as ‘ extremists ’ orthodox Muslims who believe the opposite . With Christians the dynamic is reversed .
We lament the treatment of the orthodox suffering under Islamic regimes ; and persecute them in our own country with laws about gay marriage , abortion and ( soon ) euthanasia . The ideal of the multiculturalist , it seems , is the ‘ assimilated other ’ – a Jew , Muslim or Hindu who has been tamed sufficiently to be invited onto ‘ Thought for the Day ’. The role of the obligingly assimilated , of course , is to do the work of the secular liberals for them .
‘ Izzy ’ was brought up in a strictly orthodox family
Consider the case of Israel Isidore Beilin , a native of Tyumen , in the then Russian Empire . His father was the cantor in the local synagogue , and the family was caught up in one of the periodic pogroms which swept across the region . The young Israel was said to have childhood memories only of the smouldering ruins of the family home .
In 1893 the Beilins emigrated to New York city where they changed their name to Baline . ‘ Izzy ’ was brought up in a strictly orthodox family . If his father caught him lacing up his shoes in a manner proscribed by the Talmud the boy was beaten .
The young Baline had a rather sketchy education and few obvious assets except the musical talent he had inherited from his father . Ashamed that his sisters were making a greater contribution to the well-being of the family , he ran away from home , and made a doubtful living for himself playing and singing in the immigrant ghettos of the Lower East Side . Years passed , until his break came . Then the honky-tonk pianist wrote ‘ Alexander ’ s Ragtime Band ’, and as Irving Berlin became a name to conjure with . Said George Gershwin , the very epitome of musical respectability : ‘ The first real American musical work is “ Alexander ’ s Ragtime Band ”. Berlin had shown us the way ; it was now easier to attain our ideal .’
the sacred American anthems for the great feasts of the Christian Year : ‘ Easter Parade ’ and ‘ White Christmas ’
Berlin was to repay the compliment with a heart-felt tribute to his adopted country : ‘ God Bless America ’ ( later to be sung at the first anniversary commemoration of 9 / 11 ). But the proud Russian / Jewish / American had other show stoppers up his sleeve , not least the two which became the sacred American anthems for the great feasts of the Christian Year : ‘ Easter Parade ’ and ‘ White Christmas ’.
Israel Beilin ’ s achievement was remarkable . He took the two great Christological festivals and de-Christed them ! Easter turns into a fashion show and Christmas into a holiday about snow . Both songs , of course , were a great success . He had done - with sentimental lyrics and a catchy tune - what the secular liberals , with their ‘ Thought for the Day ’ earnestness , could never manage in a month of Sunday Programmes . And what , incidentally , the rabbis of Tyumen had never dreamed .
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