people informally segregate all the time. You will find various ethnic enclaves in Melbourne and Sydney. Ethnocentric in-group preference is also seen in choice of friends and communication levels among work colleagues of different ethnic backgrounds.
While there may be enough tolerance to allow semi-deracinated individuals to participate in capitalism and consumerism, the reality is that in-group preference is innate and Multiculturalism/diversity should be avoided a much as possible, because it breaks down social cohesion and trust. Diversity is our greatest weakness - an observable, scientific reality (footnote: Robert Putnam).
Remember that forced integration has lead to many conflicts in the 20th and 21st century. WWI and Hitler would not have happened if various ethnic groups had sovereignty rather than being under the thumb of oppressive empires. Iraq and Israel/Palestine are two current examples of Multicultural conflicts. There is widespread revolt against forced integration/Multiculturalism among large populations of people in Europe.
Multiculturalism as a deliberate social engineering project has failed too many times for the Pollyanna appraisals it has received in the Australian media. The reason there is not the revolt we see in Europe is because Australia still has much social capital which has not yet been eroded, and we're still a more homogeneous nation than the hotspots in Europe.
While there may be enough tolerance to allow semi-deracinated individuals to participate in capitalism and consumerism, the reality is that in-group preference is innate and Multiculturalism/diversity should be avoided a much as possible, because it breaks down social cohesion and trust. Diversity is our greatest weakness - an observable, scientific reality (footnote: Robert Putnam).
Remember that forced integration has lead to many conflicts in the 20th and 21st century. WWI and Hitler would not have happened if various ethnic groups had sovereignty rather than being under the thumb of oppressive empires. Iraq and Israel/Palestine are two current examples of Multicultural conflicts. There is widespread revolt against forced integration/Multiculturalism among large populations of people in Europe.
Multiculturalism as a deliberate social engineering project has failed too many times for the Pollyanna appraisals it has received in the Australian media. The reason there is not the revolt we see in Europe is because Australia still has much social capital which has not yet been eroded, and we're still a more homogeneous nation than the hotspots in Europe.
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