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The 'Diversity' Movement: Defeating Itself, Destroying Society
By Jay Haug
January 20, 2013
As America vaults itself into a period of accelerated change in areas of culture, politics, religion (or lack thereof), marriage, health care, and a whole host of other arenas, the term we hear more and more from government, higher education, and business is the word "diversity." The purveyors of the diversity movement ask us to embrace the concept as a worthy goal and an important part of America's future. Should we join them?
We appear to be on the cusp of a different America. The recent election proclaimed loudly and clearly that the non-white portion of the nation is growing and will continue to grow. Moreover, several states via referendum embraced gay marriage, driven by an emerging acceptance among younger people. On subject after subject, liberal pundits tell us that change is here and that only backward-looking Republicans and fundamentalist Christians could possibly oppose it.
But in an environment of accelerating change, we should remember that there is a downside to everything. Getting married means commitment. Landing a job means giving up other possibilities. Playing one sport means not playing others. Keeping life insurance means paying the premiums. So what is the downside to the "diversity" agenda"? Since all change involves giving up one thing in order to embrace something else, what are we giving up?
Apparently a lot. In a large study of nearly 30,000 people across the country, Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, has shown some highly negative results from "diversity."
Michael Jonas, in an article called "The Downside of Diversity," published in Boston.com in 2007, encapsulated Putnam's research as follows:
[T]he greater the diversity in a community, the fewer people vote and the less they volunteer, the less they give to charity and work on community projects. In the most diverse communities, neighbors trust one another about half as much as they do in the most homogeneous settings. The study, the largest ever on civic engagement in America, found that virtually all measures of civic health are lower in more diverse settings.
But the diversity-peddlers rarely tell us about any downside. In the case of gay marriage, is it just a net addition with no subtraction, no negative? Is it, as some would say, "all good"? Is this all about reactionaries keeping others from "people they love"? Or could the issues be real and substantive?
This past week, the Obama administration has disinvited a pastor, Louie Giglio, from speaking at the upcoming inauguration. Why? Because Giglio was discovered to have given an "anti-gay" sermon, and, as the administration puts it, his words "don't reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this Inaugural." Have we come to the place in our country where one must toe the line or not be allowed to speak? By focusing on outward differences in college admissions, are we simply doing the easy work, instead of promoting diversity of background, income, and intellectual perspective? Are we sufficiently protecting freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the face of the diversity agenda?
The truth is that the diversity movement has problems, and those who tout it must acknowledge them now -- before this invented concept makes us all less free, less honest, and less educated.
Here are a few reality checks for the age of diversity. It is time to ask: after all the diversity initiatives, what have been the results?
1.College campuses are less tolerant than ever before.
One result is that real debate and dialog suffer. The Atlantic's Wendy Kaminer explains why.
One of the ironies of this drive for civility ... [is that] you end up encouraging incivility, because people don't know how to argue. They don't know what to do when confronted with an idea they really don't like. They don't have an administrator they go complain to, and so they just shout it down because they haven't learned how to do anything else.
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