What is Multiculturalism?

One view is that multiculturalism is the willingness of social and political factions to allow the expressions of different cultures within its own society without penalizing them. Multiculturalism has proponents of it who believe that diversity is strength and we can learn from each other in many areas like the arts and philosophy. Then, there are the detractors that feel that some things like language and social customs need to be adopted by people of other cultures when they emigrate. There is a fear that by allowing multiculturalism in a society that ghettoes, conflicts, and bastions of questionable legal activity may proliferate.

Social Issues with Multiculturalism

Denmark thought of itself as a very progressive community, embracing multiculturalism to the extent that over a million Muslims had emigrated and made their home in Denmark. However, after "Submission" (a movie depicting the stories of four abused Muslim women) was released in 2004, the filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, received many death threats from Muslims and was subsequently assassinated in broad daylight in the streets of Denmark. This has led to a reassessment of policies that embraced multiculturalism and in particular the stance of tolerance towards Islam in Denmark.