Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
First, a little background on how the diversity movement came to be: In 1978, Allan Bakke filed suit against the Regents of the University of California at Davis, after learning that minority students with qualifications lower than his had been accepted to medical school under a program that reserved spaces for "disadvantaged" applicants. Bakke's case worked its way up to the United States Supreme Court, where Bakke seemed certain to prevail, as the school's admission policy was clearly discriminatory.
Indeed, the Court did order the school to admit Bakke and struck down the school's admissions policy. However, lawyers for the University persuaded five justices to accept a novel argument that taking affirmative action to assure a racially-diverse student body was acceptable because the school's students would somehow benefit from being educated in a more diverse environment.
The Bakke decision opened the door for those who would elevate race over merit in the selection of applicants to justify their policies on the basis of the idea that diversity is a transcendent good.
In the 33 years since the Bakke decision, a vigorous diversity industry, abetted by media and the legal profession, has firmly ensconced the concept into our culture.
One now routinely hears people say that they chose their particular community, or their child's school, because they enjoy its diverse character.
I've lived in some of the most diverse communities in the United States and in some of the least diverse. Aside from the marginal advantage of being able to sample Ethiopian, Afghan or really authentic Mexican cuisine, I'd have to say that I've never personally experienced the benefits of diversity.
Do you consider diversity when you're choosing a place to live, a school for your children or other social opportunities?
- Comment (49)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (4)
Comments :
Jan '11
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Well, I'll offer the most obvious comment, just to get it on the record. Diversity of persons is only beneficial when it offers a diversity of perspective. And when diverse perspectives are respected, that's when we can all learn from each other.
But it hasn't worked out that way. "Diversity" now only means everyone works on the lowest common denominator, and don't offend anyone ... out of which emerges a common political correctness. Ironically, those are the places where alternative opinions are least respected.
Current society demands that no one give offense. I say, grow up. Learn to live with offense, if you take offense at every disagreement. Or, as Jesus said, turn the other cheek. Deal with it.
Jul '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
But of course, as we all know, the same people who celebrate racial diversity are those who seek to stifle diversity of opinion.
Nov '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Kenneth
But of course, as we all know, the same people who celebrate racial diversity are those who seek to stifle diversity of opinion. · Feb 25 at 6:45am
Exactly. I find much more diversity of option/thought among my predominately straight and white community of friends outside Boston than I'd find in the more "diverse" city. My city friends like to collect their "diverse" friends as what Thomas Sowell calls, their "mascots".
Jan '11
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
When I'm always right, something is wrong. But I avoid diversity at every opportunity. I read Ricochet not the huff-n-puff post. If I am unable to think critically about things I believe then mixing in other or contrary concepts is not likely to improve that skill.
Calling Amish Dude. You seem very well read. Given your handle - do you know other Amish dudes or dudettes? I wonder if they feel they suffer due to lack of diversity? I also wonder what about their unemployment rate and their real estate situation.
Nov '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Kenneth
Do you consider diversity when you're choosing a place to live, a school for your children or other social opportunities? ·
Very definitely. Diversity - when it's natural and organic to an area - is a wonderful intellectual stimulant. I quite enjoy having people in my life who see things in radically different ways than I do. It provides a constant challenge to compete and improve.
I lived long enough in very undiverse communities (rural Quebec, Nefoundland) to reach the conclusion that while the people themselves were wonderful, the narrowness of view a lack of diversity fosters is stultifying. I moved here from Newfoundland specifically for my children to have the opportunity to engage in a broad culture. They are grown and gone, but I still love it here in Halifax, and its motley population. And because of its small size (~300K) it is almost impossible to isolate oneself from other subcultures, as one could do in the large American cities of my youth.
I do, however, dislike it when that diversity is artificially created, because it is always accompanied with rules that strangle the best part of a diverse society - that open competition between ideas.
Jul '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
I can't wait to see them bussing affirmative action to home schoolers.
Oct '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Diversity is simply "newspeak" for think and do as you are told. HalifaxCB has the benefit of living in areas where, at one time, at least, the PC police haven't prevailed. He is speaking of the original meaning, with which I believe most of us would be heartily in agreement. Now, diversity is simply another value hijacked by the left as part of their ongoing campaign to dilute America into irrelevance, and win the world power they seek.
Jul '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Charlie
Kenneth
But of course, as we all know, the same people who celebrate racial diversity are those who seek to stifle diversity of opinion. · Feb 25 at 6:45am
My city friends like to collect their "diverse" friends as what Thomas Sowell calls, their "mascots". · Feb 25 at 7:09am
I call this Olive Garden diversity - you know, those television ads in which a group of diverse young couples are having a wonderful, smiley time sharing tasty morsels from each others plates. The ads always feature a white couple and a black couple - the rest of the cast varies, though Hispanics are featured more often than less-numerous Asians.
Young people love to think of themselves as having a diverse group of acquaintances, and perhaps some of them do. But the fact is that once they leave college, few of them really have a diverse group of close friends.
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Diversity of opinion can be a tonic. Among other things, it forces one to refine one's own arguments. And, of course, it sometimes forces one to rethink one's premises. Diversity of experience has some virtues as well. I used to get coffee at a bakery where one was genuinely welcome to sit down anywhere, and I got a sense of what it was like to be a carpenter, the proprietor of a small shop, a plumber, a hydraulics engineer. The university is a hothouse -- only certain types (not all of them admirable) flourish in the atmosphere, and they tend to know no one outside their world. What passes as diversity in that hothouse these days is unanimity of opinion, alas.
Nov '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Kenneth
Charlie
Kenneth
But of course, as we all know, the same people who celebrate racial diversity are those who seek to stifle diversity of opinion. · Feb 25 at 6:45am
My city friends like to collect their "diverse" friends as what Thomas Sowell calls, their "mascots". · Feb 25 at 7:09am
I call this Olive Garden diversity - you know, those television ads in which a group of diverse young couples are having a wonderful, smiley time sharing tasty morsels from each others plates. The ads always feature a white couple and a black couple - the rest of the cast varies, though Hispanics are featured more often than less-numerous Asians.
Young people love to think of themselves as having a diverse group of acquaintances, and perhaps some of them do. But the fact is that once they leave college, few of them really have a diverse group of close friends. · Feb 25 at 12:07pm
My black friends at my very white college always enjoyed having their images strewn all over the college's website.
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
The North Dakota of my upbringing was quite diverse: Poles, Saxons, Swedes, Norwegians, Irish, Scots, a smattering of English.
Or, as the outside world would view it today, a completely monolithic culture.
Jul '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
James Lileks: The North Dakota of my upbringing was quite diverse: Poles, Saxons, Swedes, Norwegians, Irish, Scots, a smattering of English.
Or, as the outside world would view it today, a completely monolithic culture. · Feb 25 at 12:38pm
Why did you choose to exclude the Germans?
May '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
I grew up during the height of Affirmative Action, so to me "diversity" is code for "Whites to the back of the bus."
My university was well over 90% hispanic, yet "diversity" would still come up in reference to the plethora of hispanic history courses and groups. Talk of diversity reminds me of people who only listen to "underground" bands because they think anything "mainstream" is necessarily crude or bland. They conform in their unconformity.
Diversity of ideas is only good to a point. The explosion of communications technologies in recent history (the internet in particular) has overwhelmed people with information. This difficulty to process it all is a major factor in the rise of multiculturalism, widespread rejection of objective truth and morality, and rejection of traditions in general. Knowledge without wisdom can do more harm than good.
Besides, any good friendship provides a lifetime of discovery. If you think you've figured a person out completely and already know that person's perspective, you need to dig deeper. Even among people of similar backgrounds, there is much to learn.
Edited on Feb 25, 2011 at 12:43pmJun '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
"My black friends at my very white college always enjoyed having their images strewn all over the college's website. "
Ha ha --- My daughter's high school always plucked a few "girls of color" for public relations. Their pictures were everywhere & in every publication & all over the website. It was comical. Especially when they'd have a bench-warming Hispanic holding a soccer ball in pictures and pass over the all-state Div 1 scholarship winner because she was white.
I like diversity of opinion. I think diversity of socio-economic levels usually offers much more varried perspectives and experiences than race in 2011. Frankly, I picked my town because it is close to NYC, has lovely parks, a Currier and Ives downtown, everyone mows their lawns & shovels their snow promptly, and we all have driveways. (Half my young adult years were spent searching for parking in Hudson County, NJ.) Its middle-class feel means I can wear jeans, rather than an Ann Taylor pantsuit, to run to ShopRite. I could not care less about the race of my neighbors or my kids' classmates.
Edited on Feb 25, 2011 at 12:43pmAug '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
I don't have the time right now to reread Bakke, http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0438_0265_ZS.html, but my recollection is that Justice Powell's acceptance of the petitioners' argument that academic freedom of expression might justify ethnic diversity, as a means to enlarge the range of ideas to which students might be exposed, was not adopted by a majority of the Justices. You'll note from the link that Powell merely announced the judgement of the Court, not its opinion. If you give a mouse a cookie . . . .
Jan '11
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
The weird misguided thing is that it is all about phenotype. I have more in common with my Singaporean co-worker (who is more melanocytically endowed) than my chromatically similar co-worker from Albania. My Singaporean friend and I share the British traditions of law, education, etc.
In Canada, another weird and strange thing is that there really isn't representative diversity in workplace diversity posters. In my part of the world, the Asian and Indian phenotype disproportionately outweigh the African phenotype, but most posters include a typical African phenotype female - likely clipart-ed from an American PR companies.
I was in Paris last summer, and there was a real mélange of phenotypic couples, which was really nice and refreshing to see. Most seemed truly colour blind. There was one particular phenotype however that remained insular IYKWIMAITYD.
Feb '11
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Well I may have a slightly different perspective, since I am usually the diversity.
I certainly don't go out of my way to find perfect racial mixtures but I will say that where I am now I'm surrounded by people with all sorts of different cultures and nationalities and it's much more interesting than the homogeneous groups I was part of when I was at Howard University. I personally am against forced diversity and command neighborhoods just sound creepy but I don't agree that diversity is undesirable or of marginal importance. I also think that experiencing other cultures (or at least personally knowing people from other cultures) is part of finishing an education. I disagree that people from other cultures should go to other countries and take up space, be insular and not adapt, and I agree with Angela Merkel, but when it is done right it really does make an improvement.
That said, there is a line that I always loved - "There is no multiculturalism in Saudi Arabia"
May '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
I grew up in an area where million-dollar homes and trailer parks are within minutes of each other. I went to school with rich and poor alike. The main thing I learned is that people of all socio-economic levels worry about bills, because most people live up to their means.
Feb '11
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
Kenneth
Do you consider diversity when you're choosing a place to live, a school for your children or other social opportunities? ·
If by diversity you mean there is a certain percentage of skin color or ethnic heritage, not so much. If by diversity you mean, people with interesting ideas, who are funny or have a different way of looking at things, yes. More interestingly to my husband and me, if by diversity you mean that we are not too far from the ocean, mountains, rivers, nearby hiking, skiing, museums, shopping, churches, with seasonal changes throughout the year, then yes, I value diversity highly! I love traditional professional educators who chide me and other homeschooling families for not exposing our children to "diversity," when all the students in their schools are segregated completely based on age and have a nigh-on pathological fear of seeming abnormal to their peers (I exaggerate, I am sure). My children may be weird -- we don't have cable, they love to read -- but they are not made to feel ashamed of it. They can relate to people of all ages, races, and creeds, based on human interest and inclination, as can I.
Jul '10
Re: Diversity: Another Great Idea out of California.
What we have now is socially-engineered racial diversity within the institutions of academia, government bureaucracy and business, where the gatekeepers can congratulate themselves on creating a gorgeous mosaic whilst assuring that they're safe from EEOC nose-counters. It's a totally artificial construct.
When it comes to the personal level, however, most people tend to socialize with people who look like them and share the same cultural mores and folkways.
I would go so far as to say that this self-segregation is mostly the choice of the minorities: they've so internalized the idea of white racism that they're not comfortable in the company of Caucasians; as Barack Obama demonstrated in Dreams from my Father.