Monday’s Boston Globe gives page-1 space to a story about “honor killings” by Muslims extremists in Europe, and specifically to one such killing of a young Turkish woman in Germany. Quote:
“It's been taboo to discuss integration. It offends those who say every expression of cultural difference is somehow wonderful” said Heinz Buschkowsky, mayor of the Berlin borough of Neukoelln, where more than a third of the residents are Arabs and Turks. ''But now, with culture being expressed by covering women's faces or killing a girl who refuses to marry some old man in the home village, perhaps it is time to break the taboo.”
Questions about the role of religion and culture and their relationship to law are difficult, and are not advanced by our smiley-faced brand of multiculturalism. My own German friends agree that such candid discussion is a taboo in their country. Their mainstream media simply will not delve into the topic.
I believe this is a result of their concept of membership in the nation being more a function of ancestry than is ours. Can people who live in Germany, are citizens, and enjoy the rights of German citizens not be accepted as German? The American concept of the _____-American, is something we have been forced to develop given our history. It is a great thing to have.
Kudos to the Globe for again mentioning the unmentionable. There is a vast amount of undiscussed but newsworthy material in this area. It is ripe for honest and thoughtful journalism.
No comments:
Post a Comment