Culturist Lessons from Pakistan's Swat Valley

The Pakistani government has agreed to implement Islamic law across a large swath of northwest Pakistan know as the Swat Valley. This has been done to pacify the spreading Taliban insurgency. Of course, it will have no such effect. Whenever a group’s agenda overcomes resistance, their belief and enthusiasm swells. This article will discuss a few other culturist truths in regard to the situation in Pakistan. It will then offer culturist thoughts to clean up our logic and help salvage the West.

As an educator is saddens me that Pakistani negotiators were brought to the table by the burning of girls’ schools. As a westerner I shudder at the political strategy of beheading that has been employed. But notice I say “as a westerner.” Culturists thought relies on a belief in diversity and pragmatic thought. Both considerations informed that phraseology.

The West does not yet realize that diversity is real. We believe that deep down all agree on western values; on the sanctity of individual life and conscience – on the love for education. But the mere fact that many people will rejoice over the imposition of Islamic law in the Swat Valley contradicts this assumption. People like Islam. They are willing to die for it. They will exchange economic growth for it. We shall see how well Iraq has worked when we leave; our attempts to make Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan progressive western outlets of humanity have failed. Cultural diversity is deep and real.

What of the women? Great question. Two answers. One is that, as a culturist, I hold to the opinion that diversity exists. Believe it or not, many women think female genital mutilation or circumcision is great; they enthusiastically perform it on their offspring. Many say this is because they do not understand that we are right. This assumes that in a hypothetical argument, you would sit down with a Muslim man or woman and explain to them that they are wrong and you are right. They, of course, would be trying to do the same thing. You are sure that they would convert. I am not so sure. Diversity exists.

But culturism is more pragmatic than abstract. The idea of convincing them we are right reminds me too much of the failed strategy of talk with Ahmadinejad. As Sarah Palin would say, "Good luck with that." Trying to convert Ahmadinejad will work as much as appeasing those in the Swat Valley. This belief that we can and will all agree is the same logic that justifies massive Muslim immigration. This logic holds that all will be great citizens who will naturally adopt our universal culture because diversity doesn’t exist and deep down we all agree on fundamentals. To know us is not to love us. Other cultural models are able to sustain themselves and spread in opposition to our ideals. Diversity persists.

The United States is attacking militants in the Swat Valley. I guess we are trying to loosen their grip in order to restore the natural state of secular humanism. If it is killing people that attacked or threaten us, I am totally for it. If it is for the purposes of conversion, I am not. Cultures enshrine different beliefs. Our military convincing them that polygamy is wrong seems to be beyond the scope of what bullets can offer. Besides, another culturist truth is that people unite when they are invaded. To paraphrase Hirsi Ali, "Me against my brother, both of us against our father, our family against the tribe and our tribe against the other and all of us against the infidel."

Affirming universal values leads to foreign entanglements and open borders. Affirming that diversity exists leads to the conclusion that we need to take care of ourselves and seal our borders from Islamic immigration. Even if you believe we need to spread “human rights” and rescue their women, this will be better done by sealing our borders and making sure we are secure than by spending our resources fighting overseas and accepting the resulting refugees on the basis of “humanitarian” values. The best route to securing or spreading our values lies in having a strong and solvent West. The best place to start our new Truman Doctrine of containment will happen, as his did, at the borders of the West. But this tactic will not be undertaken until we accept the culturist premise that diversity is deep and real.

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