When Diversity Was Real

I didn’t realize it at the time, but growing up I was exposed to all sorts of diversity.  The fact that I didn’t realize it is a plus, not a minus.  That is, I interacted with people of different colors, cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs.  I came to know them as friends, or as someone I didn’t particularly like, or as someone with whom I enjoyed a particular activity, or just as an acquaintance or someone with whom I interacted merely because we ended up in the same locale or venue on some sort of regular basis.   That is, each was simply a person with whom I related in one way or another, not because of their color or culture or beliefs, but because of their particular qualities as an individual. 

At the same time, I was less aware of the details of their racial or cultural backgrounds.  If they had particular cultural or religious celebrations, even if I was invited to participate, I didn’t (and still don’t) pretend to understand the details, meanings, depth or significance of the celebrations or traditions.  I sometimes found their traditional food unusual and either distasteful or strangely to my liking.  I simply respected these different traditions and celebrations, enjoyed them, perhaps felt a bit uncomfortable or found them odd, but accepted that these were a part of that individual’s life that made that person whom she or he was.

I and many other diverse people simply interacted with one another as human beings.  To this day I cannot tell you the details of some of those people’s cultural heritage or their religious or political beliefs.  The focus was not on the things that made us different, but simply on the many things we shared that gave us a community.  We did not share everything; our cultures, traditions, and backgrounds were different; and, sometimes. we chose to share those traditions only with others of the same background.  We did not have the need to all be the same; what we did have was simply a need and a desire to be a community in which we respected one another as individuals and all supported the particular community (and country) in which we lived.

Fast forward to the present day.  Now the focus is on the identity factors that make us different.  Are you Black, African American, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Republican, Independent, Democrat, Socialist, Christian, Buddhist, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, Straight, Gay, Male, Female, Transgender?  These and similar identity factors have become the definition of whom one is.  A Black man is expected to hold certain beliefs; a White is assumed to have come from certain privilege and thus hold certain beliefs; a woman is expected to have an attitude that conforms to the attitude of all other women, a Jew is expected to have political positions consistent with all other Jews, etc., etc.  And, each group identity includes a belief that some other group either is better off or is hostile to their interests, requiring each group to protect itself against the others.

Now, rather than two people meeting, developing a friendship and then learning that they are of different cultural backgrounds or belong to different religions and learning from one another as a result of those differences, the starting place of any relationship is the identity factor that seems to have come to define whom one is.  Hence, where in my childhood I happened to have two peers of a religion that differed from my own, one of whom became a close friend and one of whom I did not particularly like, today most people would likely begin both relationships with the preconceived label of that religion and what all its people are allegedly like.  That is, the pre-formed and labeled identity would likely preclude the development of the true and individual relationships.

We now find “diversity” in these group identities.  Thus, various entities insure that they have a sufficient proportion of people of color on their staffs; schools want some certain number students from varying identifiable groups so as to create a “diverse” atmosphere.   Yet, while I now may be able to walk into a classroom and count a certain number of black and brown and white faces and conclude there is diversity, this is simply a diversity of a superficial characteristic and does not ensure a diversity of individuals. This simply suggests that if one can claim the right number of friends in varying colors or backgrounds that they somehow are in a better place than one who can claim a number of friendships based not on identity characteristics but on true and deep interactions with unique individuals with unique and varying viewpoints, backgrounds, values, and talents.   

As to those differing celebrations and traditions, they too suffer in this era of forced diversity and identity politics.  For example, winter holiday celebrations now often include some sort of recognition of Hanukkah, so that most non-Jews now know that Hanukkah involves some sort of candle lighting and oil that burned for 8 days.  That’s fine, but one wonders how many think that is all they need to know, or that by knowing this that they have a full understanding of the significance of Hanukkah to the Jewish people and how it fits into their history and their religious beliefs.  We tend to merge many holidays together in winter, cheapening the religious significance of all of them.  This seems to be the result of some well-intentioned attempt to teach us respect for differing religious beliefs.  But why not simply respect that someone of another faith has different beliefs; we do not all have to celebrate everyone else’s traditions. (Perhaps a friendship with someone of another faith will result in an invitation to celebrate with that individual’s family; that - through individual friendships – seems a far better way to experience and learn about the different culture of another).

The forced diversity that we see today based upon group identity characteristics seems to be just another way to avoid actually thinking.  If one accepts the label they are given and identifies with a particular group as the definition of whom they are, then they need not worry about what they should think because they will be told what the positions of that group are just as they will be told which other identified groups are their friends or their foes.   Hence, they can avoid developing friendships or even talking with individuals with diverse and unique beliefs and positions. 

Forced diversity results in a false belief that we know and understand people and their cultures.  It is not real diversity, but just something that seems to make people feel good.   What today’s “diversity” actually gives us is labels for people based on identifiable characteristics, along with a definition of the supposed characteristics and beliefs of every member of that group.  What forced diversity and group identity does is prohibit us from getting to know individuals as the complex individual that each and every one of us is.  And, it prohibits us from having a true dialog with any of the many and diverse individuals with whom we come in contact every day.  Our communities cannot then be held together by the common humanity that unites us, but instead become divided based on the superficial and assumed characteristics of competing group identities.

[Addendum:  an example of the danger of group identity and its resultant lack of individual thinking can be seen in the recent experiment in which students at George Washington University rejected the Trump tax plan when told it was from Trump, but embraced it when told it was Bernie Sanders’ plan.  When given the details of the plan and told it was from Trump, the students called it “evil,” said it only benefited the rich and that it is “wrong.”   When given the same details and told it was from Sanders, students said it was “amazing,”  "caring," and “so compassionate.”   This seems to reveal a mindset that anything Trump is bad and anything Sanders is good, suggesting a group identity/group think that dictates what one should think rather than encouraging individual thought or actual dialog.  This may be one small example, but sadly rather than being isolated or unique, it is an example of what occurs throughout our society on a daily basis as we give up individual thought and interaction to the dictates of a particular group.]