Cultural Climate Change
When citizens act on self-interest without a commitment to the common good and lose our care for others, we will cease to have societies and instead have identity groups. We will lose our feeling of collective responsibility and find in its place a culture of competitive victimhood, the equivalent of cultural climate change. In an age of unprecedented possibilities, people will feel vulnerable and alone.
Liberal democracy is incompatible with identity politics that builds walls around groups, allowing no one else to enter, and at the same time insists on recognition from the wider society. This turns difference into exclusion and suspicion. It builds walls, not bridges. It abdicates the hard work of understanding, respecting, and working with and for people different then us. It encourages a mindset of victimhood and oppression. It abandons ideas of the common ground and the common good.
When I first led the Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA) in 2014, one of the first things my team did was change the acronym ALPFA to the Association of Latino Professionals for America. Our new mission: to develop and empower Latino leaders of character for the nation.
Nationalism is the hunger for power soothed by self-deception. Patriotism, by contrast, is devotion to a place and way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people. Without patriotism, a cohesive sense of belonging and identity is impossible.
The first country to introduce multiculturalism, and the first to regret it, was the Netherlands. When asked why they were against it, they said: because the Dutch were in favor of tolerance. When asked for their explanation of the difference between the two, they replied that tolerance means ignoring differences; multiculturalism means making an issue of them at every stage.
Identity politics deepens the fragmentation caused by multiculturalism, adding to it not just culture and ethnicity but also other forms of identity based on gender and sexual orientation. The real danger is the splitting of society into self-segregating, noncommunicating ghettoes.
By understanding our unique gifts and pursuing our calling, we live a purposeful life, and we contribute to society what only we can give. That is a way of being white, brown, or black, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, or Jewish - while being proud to be an American. #Leadership #Patriotism #Tolerance
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3 年Well written without any tone of polarization. Bridging rather than dividing. As a member of AZ interfaith, we seek to build bridges of understanding rather than walls around differences.
Investor, Board Member/Advisor, Reputation Manager, Founder
4 年This is why my firm’s mission is to “empower and enable difference for a common good”. Our differences make us unique- shinning a light on that uniqueness for all to gain from is the goal.
Husband, Father, Environmentalist
4 年Well said Charlie. Now more than ever we need to search for the common good with equality for all.
Because Innovative Leaders cultivated Liberty.
4 年Well articulated, urgent message for these times! We came to the Academy from all corners of the world, but we were bound together with a shared idea of honor. We need smart people with solutions to refocus the next generation on something bigger than individuals’ victim hood.