I’ve been intending to do a post on this topic for a while now. Here are my disorganized thoughts on the topic of diversity. If you are so inclined, please share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section.
If you want to keep the special interest groups off of your back, you’d better play their game.
Even the company I work for, who makes money by moving freight from point A to point B, takes every opportunity it can to push the issue of diversity. I recently saw a trainmaster wearing a cap that said BNSF- Safety and Diversity. What does diversity have to do with safety and what does it have to do with moving freight?
Diversity has more to do with skin color than anything else.
I dare say that if you put a white guy from Boston, a white guy from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a white guy from Podunk, Alabama, and a white guy from Pecos, Texas in a room together they would not be considered a diverse group by the goofballs who decide what is and isn’t diverse. However, if you put a white woman from Boston, a black man from Boston, and a Chinese man from Boston who all went to high school together, then you would have yourself a very diverse group. According to the experts that is.
White and Male is now considered the ultimate absence of culture.
A Texas classroom with 19 Caucasians, 2 Blacks, and 1 Mexican would not be considered very culturally diverse, but a classroom with 19 Mexicans and 2 Caucasians would be considered not only very diverse, but culturally rich and wouldn’t learn anything on May 5 because they would be celebrating that culture. Makes no sense to me.
A Look at History
I’m stereotyping and making a generalization here so you can call the ACLU on me now if you’d like, but in looking at history, lands that had diversity forced upon them were/are lands of war and discord. Whereas lands that were culturally homogenous have experienced long periods of peace.
See if you can figure out which list is which:
*The Middle East, Spain, Italy when it was made up of individual city states, Los Angeles, New York City, the border of Pakistan and India.
*Switzerland, Italy after the Renaissance, Maine, Australia, Lubbock.
Real Research
I recently heard of a study which found that communities which were more homogeneous were much closer knit, more likely to know their neighbors names, etc… while residents of communities that were the most “diverse” often remained strangers to each other. You can visit any town in West Texas and then visit a new subdivision in the DFW Metroplex to conduct your own study.
I’m not saying white is right, not saying the whole world should speak English, not saying that I don’t enjoy visiting foreign places and experiencing different things.
What I am saying is that, as Americans of all races and backgrounds, having a false diversity and cultural variety forced upon us because we are assumed to have a flawed culture or even and absence of one will bring division and resentment rather than unity.
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3 comments:
I couldn't agree more. You might even be surprised that some of the "experts" agree with you-Jonathan Kozol has written some of these exact sentiments.
I agree that diversity is a political term that can become ridiculous. I also agree that in the political context it often refers strictly to skin color when obviously there are other important factors that make people different. Where I'm not sure I follow you is regarding the 'homogeneity and peace' bit. I think the evil parts of people will find ways to come up with an 'us them' mentality and create hate. I'm thinking that poor cultures where there is homogeneity often keep some peace primarily for survival - but even then there is a caste system with prejudices and abuse. In the end, I guess I do value 'diverse' environments with people who look, grew up, think differently than I do because hearing where they come from and their experiences make me a more compassionate and effective person. Even if I don't have a hat that says so ;-)
There is a black guy I work with, from West Texas, with pre-school age children, a Christian... but I'd bet that if the HR dept. of BNSF got on a train with us and took our picture, they would use it on one of their diversity posters. It's the ridiculous that leaves me incredulous.
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