Dive into diversity

Be yourself, kindly

But by all means, be yourself!

When we are talking about a multicultural society we take in the fact that certain cultures have certain features that make them unique. It may be the dresses, food habits, religious practises.

Which are all marvellous and lovely to enjoy. But I feel that it does a disservice to us rebels. To talk about diversity through the lens of cultures only.

All of us are individuals and all of us have the right to express ourselves the way we want.

I think for this and this reason only there should be a guiding principle when we are talking about diversity. I am not in favour of accepting superstition or conservatives if that is enforced on an individual. I also want superstition to be gone from the world.

By leaving things as they are we are also creating a more hostile situation for the new arrivals.

Take for example the Bangladeshi population abroad. They tend to be quite religious. What if someone fleeing from religious extremism comes to London to stay with a Bangalee community. Unless that community gets rid of its pro extremist views- that Bangalee will always find it hard to fit in. Ofcourse they are not going to be violent or kill you like they might in Bangladesh. I hope…

Another example is some Indian students who make fun of people who are non-binary. They have no right to enforce their mean mindedness just because they're bigger in numbers.

There are cultural differences that need to be embraced, celebrated and there are those we must constructively break.

Of course, there are laws against harm. Another example would be practices that are based on superstition, what if the culture imposes those superstitions on its member. We cannot be lazy when we are talking about inclusion and multiculturalism.

Here's a proposition:

There should always be some guiding principles, some ethical promises that can be fulfilled. A multicultural society must not only celebrate the differences but try to also break the superstitions. I believe there is a line between superstition and culture

And unless we are trying to enforce that line we will push our society to hold not values but to hold the remnants of different isms and stereotypes.