See The D

Sunday, April 29, 2007

The Deception of "Diversity"

Ahh diversity, thy deception is so subtle. Gather round kids, we're in for a doosy on this one. Just the other day, while eating breakfast, I ran across a tiny little news story in Newsday, informing me that the First Annual Diversity Day was coming up in Huntington, a town about 45 minutes from me. Well, those of you who know me must have assumed I wrote it down on my calendar and planned the 45-minute trek to show up for this wonderful occasion.

Right.

Diversity is a sham in its current state, and is also wrongly named for what is actually happening. Let's take it one at a time.

Let me start off by saying that natural diversity in society, workforces, etc. is a great thing. It means that there is something appealing to every human regardless of national origin, race, beliefs, or anything else. There's nothing wrong with diversity. Having diverse anything is good, it creates more options, outlooks, choices, etc. Diversity in America in its current state, however, is a sham. There is nothing natural about diversity when it is a forced program upon people. For instance, if I was a college and admitted the top 10,000 students in the country based on test scores, grades, and extra curricular activities, and it happened to be a very diverse group of incoming students, then wonderful. That's what I'm talking about when I say that NATURAL diversity is a wonderful thing. FORCED diversity is admitting the very best of the country, but not allowing many of them because they aren't a diverse enough group and you need more black people, more asians, and more people of hispanic origin. Notice how I didn't say that you would need more white people. If you can name of diversity program that forces more white people into a group, then my friend, you get the gold star for the day, cause I can't think of a one.

This is also why diversity is the incorrect name for what is actually happening. Diversity by definition is this:

Differing from one another, unlike. Composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities.

Look at America now. When you meet someone new, a question that is often asked is "What are you?" By this, the person is asking what your heritage is. Little ol' me answers with Irish, German, English, and Native American (f.k.a. Indian). By definition, isn't this diverse? I bet that less than 1% of the population of this great nation is 100% of anything. Nearly everyone has at least 2 different cultures/countries in their background. That's diverse! And nearly everyone in this country has this kind of diversity within their bloodline! We are indeed diverse already! Is that what's being celebrated? As hertz commercials would say, not exactly.

Oh, well then they must be talking about ages. We have people from ages 1 day to over 100 years old and every minute in between. Surely that's diverse!

Maybe they’re talking about talents. We have numerous professional sports, occupations innumerable, hobbies, interests, etc. This is even more diverse than the previous two! Surely they must be celebrating this!

Eh, not exactly.

What is being celebrated here is racial diversity; you just won't ever hear it called that. And when I say racial diversity, I really mean racial minority diversity, wink wink. If you know anything about these diversity festivals and events, you have seen the disproportionate numbers of the races. If it was truly cultural diversity, as the left propagandists would make you believe, then they would have representatives of England, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, and all those other European countries. Eh, not exactly. You see nearly everything from central and South America, plenty of African nations, Asian nations, even a couple mid east nations thrown in for good effect. What is being "celebrated" here (actually it's being promoted and pushed, not celebrated) is non-white diversity.

Further more, why is racial minority diversity being celebrated? Did we somehow become unaware of other countries, races and cultures? Seriously, what is the point? What do we as a society gain from this so-called celebration? I leave the floor open to anyone who can tell me what actual gain we get from this. Diversity celebrates something that in fact is random chance. When you're born, you are a product of those before you, both genetically and socially. But it's completely random, it's nothing you have achieved or accomplished, it's an accident. Do we celebrate little Jimmy at 6 months when he takes a dump in his diapers? It took more effort for him to do that than for you to be "diverse", so why not. I don't get it, why is this celebrated? Which brings me to my next point.

Diversity says to me that these races and cultures are more important than my own. Read that again. Now please believe, I'm not so sensitive that this actually affects me for more than one second, but this is the message that it gives off. These cultures (not yours) are worth celebrating, and yours isn't. This point hits harder at another topic that I can't get into right now, the topic of liberalism as a politics of feelings, and conservativism as a politics of logic. We'll get into that on another date.

Another thing I've heard a lot of is that America is the great melting pot of immigrants and cultures. Right you are! Well, actually, not exactly. This is a wonderful phrase that used to be true, and I won't get into it too much today, but let's touch on it. Do you actually know what a melting pot is since you use the phrase? I'll save you the trouble of looking it up.

A melting pot is this: A place where a variety of races, cultures, or individuals assimilate into a cohesive whole.

That's right! A bunch of things get thrown into the pot, melt, and join as one. Back in the earlier and middle part of the 20th century, this phrase was indeed true and lovely. Immigrants came (LEGALLY!) and assimilated to our culture, learning our language and staples. Nowadays? Not at all. We celebrate diversity instead of what we have in common. We celebrate what makes us unique rather than what makes us bonded. These celebrations further splinter our culture into sects of population that look out for their own interests rather than the collective interest of the country. Diversity divides. That is the root of the word diversity. Diversity is a product of division. When you divide, you get more than you started with. Take an apple, divide it, and you'll have more pieces. Diversity divides, it does NOT unite. Think about it, you have millions upon millions of ways that we are all different, unique. There is only one thing that we have in common in this country, only one as opposed to millions. We are Americans. (Those of us that are friggin legal) But yet we choose to "celebrate" the most common thing rather than the rarest, which is in opposition to every instinct and history of humans.

Even more interestingly enough, diversity is in direct opposition with something like feminism. Think about it, really. Diversity claims to celebrate what is unique in us. Feminism tries its damndest to make us all the same. Direct conflict, yet both are favorites of the left wing. Like I said, liberalism is a politics of emotion, not logical thought.

Look, I'm not against natural, true diversity. Diversity is actually what has made us such a great nation. People with different thoughts created this nation. People with different interests were behind the most important inventions in history. It provides us with many different channels and in fact lets us hone our own interests and uniqueness. All very important things, all very natural. Beware this new program of diversity though. It aims to divide us into factions and sects, not unite us. What is being celebrated here is forced and false diversity of only one type: Racial. They can call it whatever they want, they can double talk all they want, but in the end, this is what it is. Be on the look out, and tell it like it is, don't let this get pushed down your throat. In the meantime, I will continue to be who I am, somewhat regardless of my heritage, and continue with my life. My heritage is my past, it is what was before me, not what I am now. I define me, not my heritage. Thank you for reading. I'll see you at the First Annual Diversity Day!

Eh, not exactly.

p.s. I saw Little Miss Sunshine tonight and it's wonderful. If you haven't seen it, go see it, it's really really good.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Overreaction for justification

I will do my best to piece together my many, many scattered thoughts on this subject. It is semi political, but if you're not a fan of politics, you will still find this interesting from a human psychological perspective. If you follow current events, even slightly, then you have heard the extreme rhetoric in the political arena and even the political fringe.

People have been quoted comparing the President to Hitler. Our troops in Iraq to mercenary murderers. Bush has been called the greatest terrorist the world has ever seen. That he should be on trial for war crimes. He has been called a huge racist. Besides the hate speech (which I will get into that topic soon) against the sitting President, who deserves respect simply because he is such, whether you like him or not, there has been a ratcheting up of accusations at others as well. Just look at Imus and his situation. I have never seen such a firestorm over 2 1/2 words. (Nappy-headed is hyphenated, so i only give it credit for 1 1/2 words). Leading the way is the infamous Al Sharpton, with Jesse Jackson in tow. Now another shock jock talk duo is in trouble for making fun of asians, lampooning their speech characteristics. You know, like in "The Christmas Story" when the asians are singing Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra, Ra Ra Ra Ra instead of La's. It's funny. It's true in some cases.

Unfortunately, Bush, Imus, the new poster boys for freedom from speech, and many others in the public view have been vilified beyond rational thought and reason. Why? I enjoy proving a point by simply asking questions and letting you come to the point I'm trying to make by yourself.

Think of 5 important people in history. Not just American history, but world history. Some of these people might come to mind:

Jesus Christ. Martin Luther King Jr. George Washington. Gandhi. Abraham Lincoln. Rosa Parks. Churchill. And the list goes on. So with this list, what do all these people have in common?

Try this. They all overcame something great. (Great as in large/huge not great as in good) Jesus Christ, well c'mon, he overcame hatred from his own people, umm, you know, death, temptation, challenges. Martin Luther King Jr overcame racism, TRUE racism, not what you hear Sharpton yelling about over Imus. Washington overcame the British in the war for independence and was the first president of a unique nation, overcoming doubt and the unknown. Ghandi, overcame the freaking British. Lincoln, overcame civil war and slavery. They all have that in common. They all overcame something great and usually evil.

So how does this relate to what's going on now? Think about it this way. All generations born in the late 60's and forward have not had that great evil to overcome. We have not had the severe hardships our previous generations had to deal with and overcome. Starting to see the connection now? The current "leaders" and politicos have exaggerated the evils of certain people to make their cause more just, more noble, more pious. Take Imus for example, since it's fresh. You're right, I'm not black, I'm not a woman, whatever. Nappy-headed ho's will not ruin your life. That phrase is modest compared to what I've heard in rap music and from comedians, mainly black ones. So spare me the fake outrage and devastation. But to Sharpton and Jackson, he's the worst of people, the most racist, etc. etc. They have to talk him up to be far far more evil than he actually is, otherwise their cause and position wouldn't be as important. Overcoming a bad thing or a semi bad thing isn't nearly as important or noticed as overcoming a super evil, a sociological wrong, etc.

This entry didn't come out as smoothly as I wanted, but I hope you got the point. The supercharged rhetoric you hear nowadays is simply an exaggeration to make their own cause appear more noble, more just. Without this over-vilifying of characters, they wouldn't have the position they have, such as Sharpton. If he makes race relations out to be the worst ever, then he has a position and will continue to rake in the dough. If he was honest about it, a clear defiance of his character, then we would know it's not nearly as bad as he makes it out to be, and he wouldn't have his lofty position of power and voice. If we were only so lucky.

This topic is tied into so many others that I want to outline over the next several days, including loss of perspective by Americans. Loss of humor. A loss of a common identity. An over selfish society destroying trust. The Knee-jerk generation of today.

Please, leave your thoughts. Leave your ideas. I'll be back soon.

D