We've gone down a long path here because of my lack of clarity. When I said "no defense for multiculturalism" this was way too broad a statement. I love multi-culturalism. I celebrate diversity in other cultures' history, food, art, music, festivals and customs. Where I draw the line is basic human rights. This is something America has always stood for. If another culture's custom is to marry off 11 year old girls to old men, I will not look the other way. If it is their custom to not allow women to drive or leave the house without a male escort I will condemn it, and so should other progressives. I'm not advocating bombing them into oblivion for it.

I've started two threads on this topic and both have brought the regressive liberal response you say you don't see. I got it from you with comparisons of my human rights stand to racism and jingoism; from Bowser calling me a hypocrite for denouncing human rights violations when our own culture is so imperfect; and from Robert indicating non violent muslims are all "just fine" despite human rights atrocities. All standard regressive liberal responses to criticism of certain islamic customs.