How diversity actually makes us smarter

2014/07/09 Leave a comment

In other words, diversity requires us to shift from automatic to deliberative thinking (from System 1 to System 2 in Kahneman’s terms):

In more homogenous parishes, towns, states and countries, residents aren’t necessarily obliged to take that extra intellectual step. In places where the overwhelming majority of residents share a common background, they are more likely to maintain an unspoken consensus about the meaning of institutions and practices. That consensus, Dutch philosopher Bart van Leeuwen reminds us, is enforced “through sayings and jokes, in ways of speaking and moving, and in subtle facial expressions that betray surprise or recognition.” In other words, the way things are is so self-evident that they don’t require a second thought.

Diversity, however, requires second thoughts. When the consensus is challenged in a homogenous place by the presence of new people, things get interesting. The familiar signs and symbols that undergird our implicit understanding of the world can change in meaning. The presence of conflicting worldviews causes confusion, uncertainty, and alienation for holdovers and newcomers alike. These feelings can either cause people to draw back into themselves — or force them to articulate and justify themselves to those who don’t share their view of the world. Or both.Because of our long history of immigration, the disruptions of diversity have been commonplace in American life. The late historian Timothy L. Smith famously called migration to the U.S. a “theologizing experience” that forced newcomers into the existential dilemma of having to “determine how to act in these new circumstances by reference not simply to a dominant ‘host’ culture but to a dozen competing subcultures, all of which were in the process of adjustment.”

How diversity actually makes us smarter – The Washington Post.

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The life of a jihadi wife: Why one Canadian woman joined ISISs Islamic state

2014/07/08 Leave a comment

Another extremist perspective, that of the jihadi wife. Like many of the Canadian extremists who leave Canada to fight in Syria, Iraq, Somalia etc, moved to Canada as a child:

In a recent interview conducted by text message, Umm Haritha said she moved to Canada as a child and lived there for 14 years before deciding to move to Syria. She was a university student and said her upbringing was “normal” and “middle class.”

While she wouldn’t disclose where in Canada she lived, she said her decision to join the jihad in Syria was motivated by a desire to “live a life of honour” under Islamic law rather than the laws of the “kuffar,” or unbelievers.

Four months before she left for Syria, she began wearing a niqab, a veil that leaves only the eyes visible, and says she experienced harassment from fellow Canadians.

“I would get mocked in public, people shoved me and told me to go back to my country and spoke to me like I was mentally ill or didn’t understand English,” she said.

“Life was degrading and an embarrassment and nothing like the multicultural freedom of expression and religion they make it out to be, and when I heard that the Islamic State had sharia [Islamic law] in some cities in Syria, it became an automatic obligation upon me since I was able to come here.”

Since her husband’s death, Umm Haritha has been living in a house with the widows of other fallen jihadists in Manbij, a town of 200,000 people near the Turkish border controlled by ISIS, which recently declared a caliphate in eastern Syria and western Iraq.

The life of a jihadi wife: Why one Canadian woman joined ISISs Islamic state – World – CBC News.

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ICYMI: From Washington Redskins to queer culture, the uneasy evolution of the slur

2014/07/07 1 Comment

Neil Macdonald on the changing nature of slurs and how our perceptions of what is acceptable and what is not changes:

Personally, for the sake of consistency, I’ve begun to avoid using the word “Redskins” in news reports about the controversy surrounding the team’s name.

It goes against my grain to do so; I’m a speech libertarian, and I believe we should shrink from no word if it is relevant to the discourse at hand, which, in this city, Redskins most certainly is.

But I also try, at least, to avoid hypocrisy, and there’s plenty of that in the discussions of the controversy surrounding the team.

The word itself is a self-evidently racist, slangy, condescending term for Indians, as a U.S. government commission ruled just recently. And yet we in the news media still use it when describing the team, simply because the team’s owner refuses to consider changing the name.

Imagine for a moment someone naming a team the “Houston Wetbacks.” Or the “New York Coons.” Would we repeat those names in reports? To ask that question is to answer it.

Other slurs are so radioactive they cannot even be uttered in a hypothetical discussion, so I wont. Again, I don’t think any word should be off-limits to discussion, but like the comedian Louis CK, I despise the fig-leaf coyness of euphemisms like “the n-word.”

So why is it still acceptable to use the term Redskins?

Do we allow ourselves to use it because it’s the name of a major sports team? Or is it still the name of a major sports team because we allow ourselves to use it?

Some people say that not all Indians regard the word as necessarily racist. But pretty clearly a large number of them do. Indian groups have tried, and failed, to force a name change.

That leaves us with the ugly conclusion that native Americans simply don’t have the political clout in the U.S. that some other minority groups have acquired through vigorous activism.

From Washington Redskins to queer culture, the uneasy evolution of the slur – World – CBC News.

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Why is Canada the most tolerant country in the world? Luck – Ibbitson

2014/07/05 1 Comment

John Ibbitson nails it with respect to the culture of accommodation, brought on by our French and English heritage (and to some extent with aboriginal peoples given the Royal Proclamation of 1763 setting a different tone than south of the border):

We are as lucky in our cultural geography as we are in our physical. Canada was originally a union of French and English, who had been at war with each other in Europe for much of the past 800 years. The only way to make the dominion work was for each to give the other plenty of breathing room. That respectful distance made it impossible for Canada to gel as a nation, but it also prevented immigrants from feeling they were outsiders in some nationalist club. Multiculturalism is the greatest gift of our Constitution, even though the Fathers of Confederation hadn’t the faintest clue they were bequeathing it.

That same culture of accommodation makes it possible for sexual minorities in Canada to feel safe, even welcomed. There is not a city, town or village in Canada where my husband Grant and I would hesitate to live.

Of course, things are far from perfect. The legacy of intolerance and abuse by the Europeans toward the aboriginal community is Canada’s shame.

Why is Canada the most tolerant country in the world? Luck – The Globe and Mail.

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Asian British Columbians less likely to be organ donors

2014/07/05 1 Comment

Ongoing challenge with a number of communities given the need for donors. Similar pattern elsewhere in Canada and USA, although there are likely a few examples of successful campaigns within these communities:

BC Transplant doesn’t ask those who register as donors about their ethnic background. But it does record the ethnicity of actual donors.A University of B.C. study released last year found that the vast majority of organ donors in this province are white, despite the fact Asians make up a significant share of organ recipients.

The study looked at all deceased organ donations in B.C. from 2005 to 2009: a total of 182 donors and 765 recipients a single donor typically donates several organs.

Whites made up 89 per cent of donors but only 69 per cent of recipients.In contrast, East Asians Chinese, Japanese, Korean made up four per cent of donors and 12 per cent of recipients. And South Asians Indians, Pakistanis made up one per cent of donors and eight per cent of recipients.

Put another way, given their overall share of B.C.’s population, whites are three times more likely to be organ donors as East Asians and eight times as likely as South Asians.Last year’s study was a repeat of a similar study conducted in the 1990s, and showed little progress since then in organ donation by Asians, despite a concerted campaign by BC Transplant to reach out to them.

Possible reasons:

Yoshida has a few theories.

While no major religions prohibit organ donation, he said, some Asian families do place importance on the idea of burying their loved ones whole.

The language barrier between health professionals and a patient’s family may also play a role.

“When English is not a first language and you’re hearing things through a translator, maybe it doesn’t come out the way it should,” he said.

Gill said another factor may be immigrants’ level of trust in government.

“Organ donation is a tricky business,” he said. “There are myths that people are not going to have the best care because ‘the system wants to get their organs.’”

Asian British Columbians less likely to be organ donors with video.

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Toronto-area Muslims working to change religion’s public perception

2014/07/05 Leave a comment

Interesting approach:

While last year’s inaugural campaign saw 85 ads run inside TTC cars and platforms, and focused on messages of compassion, this year’s, on station platform posters, will focus on practical advice. “We want to show that Islam is not just a religion in a mosque. It’s a way of life.”

One of the posters quotes the Prophet Mohammed as saying “Do not waste water even if you are standing at the banks of a flowing river.” Others cover finances, relationships, community, and health.While some have questioned the allocation of such funds toward what essentially amounts to PR, rather than toward charity efforts in Syria, for example, Ms. Kamal defended their focus by saying other organizations do that and she contributes, but Muslims also need to spend money on building a better community where they live.

“I shouldn’t just be caring about back home and forget about the land I’m staying in,” she said.

Toronto-area Muslims working to change religion’s public perception – The Globe and Mail.

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British jihadist warns of black flag of Islam over Downing Street

2014/07/05 Leave a comment

More on jihadists raised in the West and travelling to Syria and Iraq, along with efforts by imams to counter the jihadist message:

An open letter signed by more than 100 imams from across major theological backgrounds and cultural groups has urged British Muslim communities “to continue the generous and tireless effort to support all of those affected by the crisis in Syria and unfolding events in Iraq”, but to do so from the UK “in a safe and responsible way”.

The letter comes during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, but against a backdrop of tensions between the Middle East and the west.

…. Concerns have also been raised about homegrown involvement in terrorism after Britons appeared in a propaganda video for insurgent group Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Isis.

Among them was aspiring jihadist Aseel Muthana, who told the BBC he was fighting in Syria and had no intention of returning to the UK.

…. The man told interviewer Nicky Campbell: “I have no intention of coming back to Britain because I have come to revive the Islamic khilafah. I dont want to come back to what I have left behind. There is nothing in Britain – it is just pure evil.

“If and when I come back to Britain it will be when this khilafah – this Islamic state – comes to conquer Britain and I come to raise the black flag of Islam over Downing Street, over Buckingham Palace, over Tower Bridge and over Big Ben.”

…..”The imams open letter read: “As the crisis in Syria and Iraq deepens, we the under-signed have come together as a unified voice to urge the British Muslim communities not to fall prey to any form of sectarian divisions or social discord.

“Ramadan, the month of mercy, teaches us the value of unity and perseverance and we urge the British Muslim communities to continue the generous and tireless efforts to support all of those affected by the crisis in Syria and unfolding events in Iraq, but to do so from the UK in a safe and responsible way.”

British jihadist warns of black flag of Islam over Downing Street | UK news | theguardian.com.

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The Use and Abuse of Diversity in Canada’s Foreign Policy | CIPS

2014/07/04 Leave a comment

Natalie Brender on diaspora politics, the risks involved, and the current approach of the Government:

What is surprising, though, is that the Ottawa Forum speaker who most explicitly mentioned Canada’s diversity as a foreign policy asset to be exploited did so ambivalently. Former Prime Minister Joe Clark challenged policy thinkers to see that Canada’s most valuable assets in today’s global environment are the ‘soft power’ capacities of our people, which enable us to influence other countries through leadership and advocacy. This capacity should be deployed, he continued, by using diaspora members as informal ‘diplomats’ representing Canadian interests and values to their countries of origin.

On the other hand, Clark also called it “seductive but dangerous” for Canada’s government to involve diaspora communities in foreign policy. The reason for this seeming contradiction was his concern about what happens to Canada’s social fabric when government uses foreign policy as a political tool for targeting the votes of specific diaspora communities. In the context of highly divisive international disputes, a government’s packaging of foreign policy with partisan politics conveys to Canadian diaspora groups on the ‘non-favoured’ side of disputes that they are not part of the government’s calculated ‘base’ of voter support. Effectively, such groups become—and realize themselves to be—discounted from the democratic calculus.

It’s no reach to see the current government’s targeting of diaspora groups through Jason Kenney’s outreach and John Baird’s foreign policy at the heart of such a worry. The Conservatives’ political stance on Middle East and security issues has effectively discounted the votes and standing of most Muslim Canadians—and has amplified the views of some by no means all Canadian Jews. It’s a dangerous manoeuver in light of its potential impact on Canada’s social cohesion.

ICYMI, my Shopping for Votes Can Undermine Canada’s Fine Balance takes a somewhat softer approach but largely agrees on the risks of the Government’s current approach.

The Use and Abuse of Diversity in Canada’s Foreign Policy | CIPS.

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Zarqa Nawaz: My hijab rebellion

2014/07/04 Leave a comment

A funny excerpt from her book (she was one of the starts in Little Mosque in the Prairie):

I had turned my faith into endless rules. They had given me structure. They had helped me torture my parents. And now they were being thrown back at me.

My father had heard enough. “My daughter is right. We have to be more flexible when it comes to faith. We can’t be extremists when it comes to Islam.”

And in one fell swoop, my father dismissed the meeting and said I could go to summer camp as long as I wanted. His relationship with Uncle Mahmood soured. But as far as my father was concerned, Uncle Mahmood was a crazed religious nutjob. Halal meat was as big an issue for my father as it was for Uncle Mahmood, but he ruled in my favour because he knew how much I loved summer camp.

In that moment, I decided not to take Islam so literally. Religion had been my weapon of choice to break my parents’ hearts. But then it came back and almost broke my heart. Maybe God had sent me a sign through those Chicken McNuggets — my parents were good Muslims and it wouldn’t kill me to become a little more like them. After all, even though I had a strange haircut and paraded around in my hijab like I was the pope, my father still stuck up for me because I was his little girl.

Zarqa Nawaz: My hijab rebellion

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European court upholds French ban on face veils

2014/07/03 Leave a comment

Gives European governments wide latitude, arguably overly so:

The courts Grand Chamber rejected the arguments of the French woman in her mid-20s, a practicing Muslim not identified by name. She said she doesn’t hide her face at all times, but when she does it is to be at peace with her faith, her culture and convictions. She stressed in her complaint that no one, including her husband, forced her to conceal her face – something of particular concern to French authorities.

The court ruled that the laws bid to promote harmony in a diverse population is legitimate and doesn’t breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

Critics of the ban, including human rights defenders, contend the law targets Muslims and stigmatizes Islam. France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, estimated at five million, making the issue particularly sensitive.

Under the law, women who cover their faces can be fined up to 150 euros $205 or be obliged to attend a citizenship class, or both.

When enacted, the law was seen as a security measure, with veiled women considered fundamentalists and potential candidates for extremist views. Another concern was respect for the French model of integration in which people of different origins are expected to assimilate.

The court concluded the ban is a “choice of society,” giving France a wide margin of appreciation – all the more so because there is no common ground in Europe on the issue. Only a minority of countries ban face veils.

AP News : European court upholds French ban on face veils.

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