The Perils of Diversity: Immigration and Human Nature

The Perils of Diversity: Immigration and Human Nature Byron M. Roth Washington Summit Publishers, 2010 Dr Byron Roth, a professor emeritus of psychology at Dowling College on Long Island, has written an important book on impact of large-scale immigration of non- European peoples on peoples and cultures of Europe and North America. Roth begins by documenting how elite opinion-formers in academia and mainstream media almost all assume that peoples of all cultures and races are essentially similar, and therefore that they can be accommodated with little difficulty in United States and Europe. Amongst them, principal debate is between those who advocate assimilation of newcomers and those who advocate multiculturalism. While acknowledging that different racial groups can sometimes be in conflict, assimilationists argue that ethnic problems can be solved through the magic of assimilation, a process by which immigrants of all races and religions are gradually transformed into Americans or Europeans. By contrast, argue that immigrants should be allowed to keep their culture, beliefs and practices. The latter argue that this can be accomplished peacefully and that resulting different communities can live in social harmony. Any conflict is blamed on intolerance of host populations, claiming that any discord is fault of indigenous American and European peoples who should do more to accommodate immigrants. Roth argues that both assimilationists and multiculturalists fail to understand human nature. Assimilationists believe that all races have intelligence and abilities required to maintain Western civilization, while multiculturalists believe that all races can live together in social harmony. He claims that such assumptions are seriously incorrect in light of historical experience and scientific evidence, and goes so far as to allege that academic and legal professions, joined by numerous philanthropic foundations, not only ignore, but sometimes even suppress, scientific evidence that refutes their views. He asserts that while science has now established that genes play a major role in shaping not only individual but also group differences, scholars who publicly discuss genetic differences are bitterly attacked by both assimilationists and multiculturalists. To support his contention, he describes fate of Chris Brand, who was fired from University of Edinburgh for emphasizing genetic basis of racial differences; attacks on Bruce Lahn at University of Chicago; and even on discoverer of DNA molecule, Nobel prize winner James Watson, who was forced to resign from his position at research institute at Cold Springs Harbour for remarking publically to effect that some races were less intelligent than others. Discussion of these issues is further suppressed in a number of countries by hate speech laws that prohibit public debate on race and intelligence. It is effectively illegal to publish a book criticizing immigration on ground of genetic difference in Canada, and publishers are fearful of publishing books of this kind in Europe, where similar laws exist in a number of countries. Roth also notes that most philanthropic foundations that sponsor publications and conferences on subject of race do not invite scholars who might make case for genetic differences between races or groups, while they give major grants for studies of racism and to support activist proimmigration groups such La Raza, which advocates return of southern U.S. states to Mexico. He explains that business leaders often favor loose immigration controls because immigrants provide cheap labor, while liberals and leftists favor mass immigration because they care little about preservation of Western civilization and have adopted a form of Marxism in which whites have taken place of Marx's bourgeoisie, and non-whites are proletariat. …

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