It's funny the way "diversity" has become a kind of all-engulfing, always-anywhere-all-times ideal and good, isn't it? I mean, I like living a big-city life where it's diverse myself. I get a kick out of the range of people, the food, the cultures, the mess of it. But it isn't something I'd recommend to a lot of people, and it isn't something that's necessarily easy either. There's a cost to it. Crime, lack of trust ... But also the way it turns every day into a bit of a fight. Things get tribal very quickly, for one thing. For another, there are few assumptions and behaviors everyone shares. Sometimes this is cool, but sometimes it's a huge pain in the ass, or just dismaying or trying. In heartland America, for instance, I'm a fairly funny guy. I do droll and deadpan, and I can pretty much make people laugh at will. In diverse NYC, droll and deadpan doesn't work. You do it, and you aren't considered a likable funny guy, you're considered bizarre, and a loser. You're always having to do what you can to communicate past misunderstandings, which are legion. People don't automatically behave well in the usual American sense. They're often antagonistic.

Also, it isn't as if "diverse" means "anything goes," let alone "free and easy." I think that's the fantasy, isn't it? But in fact there are behaviors that tend to succeed in diverse areas better than others do. Loud and aggressive tend to prevail, for instance.

Anyway, the entire world is already hugely diverse, even in the strictly human-population-group sense. Why does every micro-unit within that macro-sphere also have to be "diverse"? The result of that would be uniform gray sludge. Isn't it more "diverse" to let people clump as they will and then enjoy the Diversity of It All by visiting it for yourself if/when you see fit?

I'm not quite sure how and why diversity became this overriding abstract ideal that our elites have determined they must pursue at all costs. Let alone what its appeal is, even in the abstract, to the elite mind. I did read that book, "Diversity the invention of an ideal," or whatever it was called, and it was pretty good...

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on March 21, 2007 9:45 AM

> "Diversity the invention of an ideal," or whatever it was called, and it was pretty good...

Posted by: James M. on March 21, 2007 5:13 PM






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