Correctness: A Threat To Multiculturalism?

Follow the rules or live with the consequences
One quickly realizes that there are rules governing written or verbal communication in public space, whether on or off the Internet, First Nations, US, Canada, or … Quebec. The consequences to breaking these rules can be negative. An American risks serious problems at work, in the neighborhood, and even in the family when arguing against the Iraqi conflict. An Aboriginal must not show bitterness over the past. Ethnic people should switch language in the presence of the majority. An immigrant must not challenge social injustices. A technology worker must not discuss impacts on the environment, the investors or the customers. “Public Relations” will take care of this. Similarly, a member of a cultural minority must not question the relevance of a particular cultural subsidy or the needs in an area left out. The official organization mandated for the well being of the community will address the issue.

The impacts of correctness seem to disengage people into hermetic cocoons amongst the closed ones. The public appearance would be performed behind a mask at the expense of the community life. The distinctive status of a cultural minority would be completely withheld amongst the larger demographics lot. But how does this correctness manifest itself?

Linguistic Correctness
Members of a cultural minority will often not master a single language of expression for numerous reasons. The written language will first suffer. So, before taking the risk of writing for others, one has to commit to that language and be prepared to make mistakes. This is commonly experienced when learning a new language or forgetting the mother’s language.

This first barrier to written expression can be overcome with some effort and goodwill, including help from the technology of spell and syntax checking. The purists of the language and other idealists need to better understand the marginal linguistic situation, unions with partners of other languages, and the offspring that this generates. Simple judgments will not help. In front of such a challenge, the local community media that often serve as the last culture survival line should encourage people in expressing themselves in writing.

Journalistic Correctness
A new form of correctness will become a factor when writing under the title of a regular columnist. Difficulties to write in new formats, to carry an interview, to have access to media information will be added to the first barrier also raised by several notches. The problems are magnified when publishing in a media operating under the monopoly encountered in a subsidized cultural minority. The Internet challenges these legacy monopolies as well as the role of the “experts” that have been formed there. Newcomers will most likely not be welcome.

This second barrier to expression can be overcome due to ease of access of information on the Internet, to the flexibility of the medium, and the ability of the reader to select and contribute himself to what really matters.

Political Correctness
The choice of content is most delicate and therefore represents the most difficult barrier to overcome. What are the community topics on which people are prepared to discuss in the public space? The more fractured the community is, the most difficult this will get. Money and power will worsen things. Are people prepared to discuss what has worked, what is not working, how to reform, and how to preserve? In the most severe cases, the root causes of violence, fear, isolation and alienation will simply not be discussed. First Nation communities certainly come to mind in this regard.

Consequences of breaking the rules to this last form of correctness are severe and range from physical violence to property or body, to psychological violence of threats all the way to more “subtle” ones such as the loss of employment, contract, subsidy, livelihood, friendship, etc… Overcoming this last barrier is a tedious affair.

The “Netiquette”
There is nothing new under the sun and Internet practitioners, and activists in particular, have had to deal with the problems of correctness. The “netiquette” represents the first guide. No matter what topic is discussed, be kind, express yourself clearly, and respect the time of the people to which you are directing your message. Hate and discrimination content is clearly not allowed. Do direct follow up when necessary, sometimes by phone or within your traditional meeting places. Avoid personal conflicts and discuss content. Move toward consensus. If a topic is of no interest or perhaps you are too busy or tired, resist the urge to generate discouraging comments. If a topic is too sensitive, consider expressing yourself under an alias.

Cultural Correctness
Members of cultural minorities are expected to express themselves in the confines of a folkloric mold from which so called “cultural” products and services can be purchased when not subsidized. European visitors are known for wanting to experience the nomadic life of our First Nations people commuting on dog sled, fishing and hunting, sleeping in rustic huts, cleansing in the sweat tent, gathering by the fire, sharing the pipe, and beating the drums: the Reality Disney experience! All of these will make for good media events showing that the culture has survived and give a good conscience to all, particularly the bureaucrats looking at its promotion. The larger the media events are, the better.

Communicating on the topics of business, technologies, and political arenas is not going to be encouraged. The Internet is particularly suspect as it does not constrain the participants to safe cultural topics such as maple syrup and ice fishing. What started as good intentions by the cultural bureaucracy to safeguard the traditional culture ends up choking it and ultimately assimilating its most dynamic participants. People in these cultural minorities that wish to engage into the non-cultural topic areas cannot do so with members of their own community and must operate amongst the majority. This certainly comes across as a follow act reminiscent of the residential school dismal failures. There is an opportunity lost for the community not finding its place in the sun and increasing its dependencies on these “cultural” subsidies.

Breaking the cultural conformance rule means difficult dealings with the cultural and media old guard, including the bureaucracies carried by that minority. The more subsidized the minority is, the most challenging this will get. Overcoming this barrier is going to be a lonely and long journey. It will be difficult to rally other members of that minority when they are either disfranchised, subsidized or have integrated within the majority full-time. You may not be able to do this in your own language or culture either and may have to work with other activists often struggling with strangely similar issues. Good communications, patience, persistence and thick skin will all be required. And someday you may succeed if you are lucky and do not go nuts meanwhile.

The Internet Culture
The traditional culture may be able to subsist but living cultures will express themselves in new and unexpected ways. Think of the early puppet theatres in North Vietnam, graffiti in the inner cities, rap or even text messaging amongst our young adults. The various forms of expressions on the Internet are the most likely suspect for cultural minorities to express themselves nowadays. The next generation certainly seem motivated on chats, forums, blogs, wikis, file swapping and other interactive Internet mechanisms.

The cultural bureaucracies do not however currently recognize the Internet as a form of cultural expression and will not facilitate it. If a feds department or agency happens to use the Internet medium, the ugly head of correctness shows itself in over moderation of the content or the choice of topics and even in personal identity checks for those that enjoy leaving that Google trace. Such a heavy-handed approach is unlikely to suit the needs of the community trying to express itself. The results are little community support and claims by the bureaucracies of limited interest in the Internet. Funding folkloric molds is more established and far less threatening. Meanwhile the next generation assimilation accelerates as they converge on the Internet amongst the majority. But if we let the cultural communities converge onto the Internet, is this not a threat to our cultural diversity?

Cultural Diversity and Globalization
Cultural minorities do evolve amongst the majority and integrate their identities in mysterious ways while preserving some attributes of their language, spirituality, art forms, and other customs. Maintaining the traditional culture may no longer be possible or affordable as such. As a result, matters of self-confidence, pride, healing and identity often preoccupy members in communities threatened by assimilation. Expressing oneself with others in same situation is a first step toward improving a dire condition. The Internet would allow this by regrouping people into virtual online communities. This is particularly critical for the individuals that have chosen to integrate in our cities so that they can interact amongst themselves as well as with the ones still clustered in the “reserve”.

An Alternative Beacon of Multiculturalism
The case of the First Nations is of great interest. The rich mosaic of cultures and languages has very much been decimated and marginalized. These people are currently our most vulnerable ones after so much neglect and one would expect a will to recover. There is recognition of the mistakes of the past and many attempts at helping these people out, perhaps under the pressure of our collective guilt. They may be unemployed and have access to the Internet. GhostChild.com regroups many disfranchised First Nations people on a web site dedicated to the struggle of cultural evolution. You will meet activists, writers, and marginalized people expressing in a powerful language of metaphors their plight, anger, dream, unity, and healing. This Canadian based site is an independent NGO and represents a beacon of hope to all cultural minorities threatened by globalization and the Internet.

Canada is starting to show complacency in several areas of its sovereignty. It has claimed for many years being a beacon to the world on multiculturalism and yet carries these huge bureaucracies of “correctness” getting in the way of its founding nations recognized in the Canada 1867 act. What’s with this multiculturalism if we fail to adequately sustain our First Nations and Francophone cultures outside of their respective reserves? And who would be next to drop? In regards to globalization, let’s leave the last words to Crazy Horse as he sat smoking the sacred pipe with Sitting Bull shortly before he was assassinated:

"Upon suffering beyond suffering; the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colours of mankind will gather under the sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that centre within you and I am that place within me, we shall be as one."

'Gaulois' publishes politically biting satires on the Canadian Internet space. He is also relearning to write in French out of his Vancouver home base after a telecom and tech sector career in Western Canada. You can provide your feedback at rbeaulieu@canada.com.

[Author’s Note : This article was rewritten and adapted from the original article first published in French «La Rectitude de l’Internet Franco-Colombien» on a Internet mailing list; a previous version was published on the GhostChild First Nations forum under «Correctness amongst communities threatened by assimilation». This last version broadens the scope to multiculturalism and globalization.]