It is generally acknowledged by Europeans that their official multicultural policy has failed. The reasons are several, and the effects manifold, but one of the main ones is that encouraging people in a pluralistic society to think of their differences rather than what unites them is a pretty effective way of keeping people ghettoized, psychologically and otherwise. That's what the diversity industry embraced by colleges and corporations helps do. If you work in a company or for an institution that has bought into the diversity ideology in a formal way -- by which I mean has done things like make employees go to diversity training, or had the leadership of the company or institution talk about diversity the way Tom Cruise talks about Scientology -- ask yourself: has all that made the people you work with more comfortable with each other, and willing to open up to each other, or less so? I'm betting less so, because it makes people more on edge and fearful of giving offense, and being reported to Human Resources for thoughtcrime.
According to John Leo, Yale University is taking this community-destroying fad one step further, planning to expand its "ethnic counselor" ranks. Quips Leo, "The feeling at Yale seems to be that most students lack sufficient diversity awareness and are in some danger of going mainstream instead of remaining in their identity cubbyholes."
One of the combox commentators on the Leo blog makes a point that can't be made often enough, because it exposes the charade at the heart of the diversity ideology, which is not about justice and, well, diversity, but apportioning power to groups favored by the cultural left:
One thing about "diversity" that always raises my ire is the fact that Americans of European descent cannot be diverse, unless they are gay. A Greek communist, a Polish Catholic and a French Pentecostal would somehow not be "diverse" but children of Tiger Woods, Jennifer Lopez and Oprah (if she had any) would be diverse even if they all went to the same boarding school and lived on the same block.
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"It is generally acknowledged by Europeans that their official multicultural policy has failed."
A great recent book on this subject is THE HOME WE BUILD TOGETHER, by England's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks. He not only critiques multiculturalism, but points to some positive ways out of the dead end.
As far as diversity itself goes, the 'rah-rah diversity' crowd fails to see that it's not a value in and of itself -- it's a null. As a quality it only becomes valuable if it has a positive impact on the group to which it's applied. For instance, you may have a "diverse" basketball team, but if for the sake of diversity your starters include a Korean center and a white point guard who can't play as well as the two black guys they're being passed over for, what good is the diversity? Isn't it better to have five good starters that are all black, and nevermind the diversity in this case? We do this in sports all the time. Why does it then become a problem in business and education?
Likewise, there have been some complaints already about this year's list of Oscar contenders for actor and actress being not diverse enough. Well, so what? Do we want quotas for the Oscars? Or, as my wise 16 y.o. daughter put it, giving Jamie Foxx a (well-deserved) nomination for "Ray" is one thing. Giving Samuel L. Jackson one for "Snakes on a Plane" just to make the nominees 'diverse' is a different thing altogether.
I have to go through diversity training every year and it's dreadful...silly presentations and "group activities" led by finger-wagging nanny types. I bristle at the implicit assumption that I'm fundamentally racist and need to be shown the way of tolerance by the piously arrogant. The minorities I talk to bristle because of its patronizing tone. And anyone who is truly racist certainly isn't going to have a change of heart because some corporate empty suit tells them to.
I work for a global technology company and work every day with people from all over the world. I'm the only American on my team of 20. Aside from some maddening language difficulties, I'm not generally conscious of their ethnicity...most are good, competent people and some are jerks, just like any random group of Americans. I like working with such a diverse group...it's fun to hear about their customs, food, religions, etc., and many of them are interested in my Christianity and American way of life.
The only racism--or intolerance, whatever you want to call it--I encounter in the workplace is a pronounced anti-Semitism from several of my Indian colleagues, one of whom went so far as to make excuses for Hitler because Jews control all the world's money. I was aghast. This was from a man who is, in every other way, a perfect gentleman, a consummate professional, and a pleasure to work with..or so I thought. There was also a young, black, Muslim man from Senegal on my team who not only refused to work with a Jewish colleague, but sabotaged his work. Management yawned. It was disgraceful. And, no, I'm not painting all Indians, Muslims, blacks, men, or Senegalese with the racist brush. These are nothing but anecdotes from my own experience. But there is a palpable sense that if this intolerance hailed from a white American and was directed at anyone but a Jewish man, management's reaction would have been much different. And that DOES breed some resentment.
As far as whether the focus on diversity makes me more or less comfortable in the workplace, it does put me a little on edge in a general sense, especially since I work with people from many different cultures. I sometimes have a vague fear that I'll inadvertently offend someone. However, it doesn't really impact individual relationships. When I deal with people one at a time, trust, respect and friendship either develop naturally or they don't. If they don't, it has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It's just the natural dynamic of human relationships.
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