Reaver

May 1 2009, 04:25 PM

I'm with the affirmative here, if only for the reason of culture.

Preserving the minority culture doesn't mean eliminating the majority culture or making it "bend" to fit a different set of social constraints. For example, take the example of Muslim girls in schools. They should be allowed to wear headscarves in class if they so wish because it's a matter of putting their cultural beliefs into practice. Nobody else has to wear headscarves, nobody has to believe in Islam, but we permit somebody else to further enact their set of beliefs with no harm to the majority.

Once this extends to government policy, however, we have to rework how we think about the issue entirely because issues of "majority" and "minority" rule don't necessarily yield the most fair answer. If we go with favoring the voice of the majority, we could legitimately enact slavery. On the other hand, listening to the views of solely the minority would result in unfair shifts to societal equilibria with real consequences which may even extend into the economic, tangible realm.