Who said this?
Try to guess who said this.
[T]he educated have an obligation to work to close the cultural gaps that divide our nation and our world. In the wake of the September 11th attacks, it would have been easy, in our grief and our anger, to retreat behind a wall of defeatism and discrimination. But that is not the American way. We did not close our borders to the tens of thousands of students from Muslim countries seeking to study here. Even as we have done the necessary and important work of improving our visa screening, we have continued to welcome people from other nations and we need to do more to let people know that they are indeed welcome. This response says a lot about our Nation. At a fundamental level, it underscores our faith in diversity and individual rights.
The intellectual foundation of terrorism - just like that of slavery and segregation - rests on arbitrarily dividing the human race into friends and enemies, even human and non-human. The perpetrators of 9/11 were people who believed that differences are a license to kill. One of the great benefits of the years you have spent on this campus is the extraordinary diversity you have been exposed to. You know better than most of the world that differences should not be a source of fear, but an opportunity to learn.
Whatever field or profession you choose for your life’s work, you will continue to meet people from different areas, different backgrounds, different cultures, and different religions. Because of what you have learned here, you will always carry with you the obligation to help bridge divides in culture and understanding.…
All people are bound together by several common desires. Never make the mistake of assuming that some people do not share your desire to live freely … to think and believe as they see fit … to raise a family and educate their children. Never make the mistake of assuming that some people do not desire the freedom to chart their own courses in life.
(*) It was Dr Condoleeza Rice, head of the National Security Council, on 7 May 2004.
Dr Rice has become an American icon. I have a high opinion of her. Few criticize her except those on the Left who are firmly antiwar. Thus, I tread hesitantly.
I generally like what she said, but there are two things wrong with the quoted portion of her speech.
The first error is Dr Rice’s unwillingness to consider the need to halt immigration and student visas from Middle Eastern countries as a necessary step. This is a war. Our three stated national war goals are: (1) preserve national security; (2) preserve civil rights (including privacy); and (3) preserve the open borders immigration policy. Unfortunately, in this real world, we can only realistically achieve two out of those three goals. The question is: which two?
In that we strive for all three of these contradictory goals, we put the achievement of each of the three goals in jeopardy. Dr Rice’s unwillingness to consider this dilemma is not helpful to winning the war.
Our war goals should be revised to (1) win the war; (2) preserve national security; and (3) preserve civil rights (including privacy). Note that “win the war” should be an enunciated goal. There is no dilemma in achieving all three of these goals, because open borders are not among them.
The second error is how Dr Rice both says that we Americans must learn from the diverse cultures and peoples of the world, and yet the diverse cultures and peoples of the world must all have an American sense of freedom. This is a plain contradiction. Who will do the teaching and who will do the learning exactly? I don’t know why everyone does not see that this common multicultural expression of “diversity” contains within it a dire contradiction. Perhaps there is a compromise where diversity could generally be helpful to America and to the world, but what Dr Rice said is surely impossible.
(I should make my position plainly apparent. I oppose multiculturalism and racism. I support racial equality and universal human liberty.)
Dr Rice was speaking at a commencement, and thus her remarks can be considered somewhat informal. Nevertheless, I find them to be an accurate statement of our national policy under the Bush Administration. And that I find chilling.
The problem is not just with Condoleeza Rice, or with the Bush Administration. The problem is that our entire national leadership needs to think more clearly on the intertwining problems of terrorism and multiculturalism
This is a war. Happy talk will not win it. Bringing the fight to the enemy will. Unless we rethink our direction, the Al Qaeda flag will fly over the White House, and no amount of diversity rhetoric will save our freedom.