Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Importance of Diversity™

To round out this series and just get it all out of my system, here's another thing that's been bugging me a while.

Before I get started let's make one thing real clear.  I've got no problem with diversity.  Diversity IS, whether anybody likes it or not, and it is important to allow it to a rational extent especially when it comes to ideas.  Allowing it to all extents when it comes to race.

Now I just gave away my answer to the question I am about to pose to those who go about ... yeah, I'm gonna say mindlessly touting "The Importance of Diversity™" ... and that question is:

Just what, excactly is the importance of diversity?   500 words or less.  Go!

I'll wait ....

[ ... ... ...]

Here's the deal.  Like I said, diversity is fine.  Diversity simply is.   Allowing it leads to competition of ideas, and good ones generally win out.  It is important to allow diversity.  Do you sense a "but" coming?  Your Spidey Sense serves you well.

"BUT"

Enforcing diversity is an entirely different story.   It comes along with its own set of problems, as does enforcing uniformity.   Maybe not exactly the same problems.  But problems that are just as bad, and perhaps even worse.  But we don't have to choose between enforcing diversity or enforcing uniformity.  The third way is to allow it -- and that's what our Constitution does.

But back to enforcing diversity.   Enforcing it runs counter to freedom of association for one thing.  Enforcing it also artificially boosts some ideas that have, over time, been rejected in the decision making process of a particular society, thereby prolonging the detrimental effects which are the reasons the society rejected them in the first place.

Remember the term, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall"?   This extends beyond solidarity in the face of an enemy.

There is something to be said for cultural cohesiveness.  A glue that holds a people together.   A country will not last long without it.

Up to the last 30 or so years, that glue here in the USA was mainly the Judeo Christian tradition.  Perhaps not all where religious to the same degree, or the same sect, but by and large even those who were not religious at all were raised in and well aware of the idioms -- it was a common denomitator -- especially the Christian part.

That glue is being deliberately weakened, to the detriment of our culture.

The enforcement of Diversity™ appears to boil down to basically this.  Anything that is outside of European Judeo-Christian culture is "Diversity™".   Anything inside of it is, defacto, not.

Imagine if Americans who suddenly decided that tequila, tortillas, and heat were what we all really want, and we started illegally crossing into Mexico in droves, demanding other Mexicans support us when we can't find work, demanding they make everything available to us in English, including a free education, and demanding that they not only accept us as we are, but also to peel down any symbols of Mexican culture from the public square because it makes us feel marginalized and inferior.

Imagine that.

Think Mexicans would be upset?  Think the Diversity™ cops would cry that we were destroying Mexican Culture?

You bet they would.   The Mexicans would be right.  The Diversity™ cops would be hypocrites.

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