Or stupid is as stupid does. Calgary's Asian communities seem to revolt against the latest piece of decerebrate multicultural mumbo-jumbo: an "asian mall" to be built from scratch.
In a free, democratic and business-oriented country it is your right to set up shop wherever you want selling whatever is legal. The wonks at Calgary town hall somehow think an "Asian Mall" will cater to the local community. What it will do, instead, is almost certainly deprive the local community of choice, make it feel marginalized and isolated (isn't this what multiculturalism is about?) and ghetto-ize the area.
Were the local community to demand almost exclusively Asian-imported products, any shop not selling the appropriate stuff would be bust within a month in a local mall, leaving space for Asian shops. I am convinced, differing from Calgary town hall folk, that a free market would make a mall into an "Asian" one if it were truly needed.
Big Papa planners assume everyone is as close-minded as them, ergo a strong local Asian community will only buy Asian. This kind of paternalism spells the end of multiculturalism, as those who are supposed to welcome this with open arms rebel against being classified, labeled, itemized and trumped.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Schmulticulturalism
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6 comments:
I don't know why some Westerners keep up the facade that they are so different than us Easterners... Calgary is looking alot like Toronto from where I read about it! Keep it up and you will soon have a Mayor to rival David Miller... Its taken you that long - not even a generation - to piss away Ralph's legacy.
Kinda scary and very sad.
Heck we already got an Asian mall in Richmond BC complete with a restaurant that refuses service to whites.
This is most certainly another, Druh-ism, as we call it at our house.
Most of these guys will be toast next election. They are completely out of touch.
The fees at the park and rides will be the straw that breaks the camels back.
There's been a Chinese-Asian 'galleria'-type shopping centre in downtown T.O. for (on Spadina) for many years. It's a great success. Everyone is perfectly welcome, my experiences with the shopkeepers has always been very positive and the food is great. I wish we had one here like it here in Ottawa!
There are already several Asian malls in Calgary, have been for years. Not just in Chinatown but in the NE as well.
I love the varieties of foods and the way they are sold. They carry lots of 'western' items as well because the market demands it. They are business people and understand market demands.
My point entirely. Build a mall, the shops will fill up by themselves with the stuff people need. Whether it's Asian shops or Wal-Mart makes no difference.
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