{"id":53172,"date":"2017-04-01T01:48:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-01T01:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=53172"},"modified":"2017-05-17T15:37:29","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T15:37:29","slug":"we-got-diversity-all-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=53172","title":{"rendered":"We got diversity all wrong!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We got diversity all wrong!!!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Dirty Movies: Your platform for thought-provoking cinema<\/a>
\n2017-03-30<\/p>\n

Victor Fraga<\/strong><\/a>, Writer and Publisher
\nLondon, United Kingdom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nBrigitte Mira<\/a> and El Hedi ben Salem<\/a> in Fear Eats the Soul<\/em><\/a> (1974)<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Liberals like myself like to embrace and demand diversity, but we often come up with flawed arguments; Fassbinder<\/a> has taught me that this can backfire with catastrophic consequences – Victor Fraga<\/a> reflects on the 1974 classic ‘Fear Eats the Soul<\/a>‘, as the film reaches UK<\/a> cinemas<\/em><\/p>\n

Diversity is not as straight-forward as it seems. We liberals like to think that it is a mandatory requirement for a multicultural, modern and sophisticated society. Yet we often come up with arguments that only serve to perpetuate\u00a0the most reactionary and short-sighted rhetoric. For example, during the Brexit<\/a> debate, the discussion around immigrants was almost inevitably linked to their financial and social contribution, something along the lines: \u201cEU<\/a> citizens have been paying taxes for years, they don\u2019t claim benefits, and so on\u201d. This is a dangerous fallacy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s as if our tolerance of foreigners was entirely contingent on money and, to a lesser extent, social functionality (\u201cthey are our nurses, our train drivers, etc\u201d). We have thereby stripped tolerance of its fundamentally altruistic nature. It\u2019s as if we suddenly decided that tolerance has nothing to do with kindness, hospitality or high-mindedness.<\/strong> I have learnt from Rainer Werner Fassbinder\u2019s<\/a> 1974 classic Fear Eats the Soul<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(which is out in cinemas this weekend) that this is a very serious mistake with very pernicious ramifications. Tolerance founded upon economic\/ vested interests will develop into an ulcer<\/a> and kill…<\/p>\n