16 August 2007

The Diversity Scam--Who is Winning, Who is Losing?

Corporations everywhere have force-marched middle managers into training sessions led by "diversity trainers." Most people already knew that the basic idea beneath diversity emerged about 2,000 years ago under two rubrics: Love thy neighbor as thyself, and Do unto others as they would do unto you. Then suddenly this got rewritten as "appreciating differentness."
Source

Yes, corporations, government agencies, and academic institutions are rushing to diversify. Public spokespersons drone on endlessly about the "need to diversify", the "strength in diversification," and so on. The Diversity Industry is a multi-billion dollar institution that is just one of those "sucking sounds" you hear when you listen to North American economies, along with trial lawyers and several other large economic drains on the system. So--what are we getting for all the big money spent on diversification?

[Harvard Prof] Robert Putnam....wrote Bowling Alone, a bestselling book about declining civic engagement. People across the country are clearly disengaging.

Sociologists have even given it a name: Turtling.

Putnam is back, this time with the results of almost 30,000 interviews nationwide. He's not happy with what he has found.

Ever heard the phrase, "Let us celebrate our diversity?"

Putnam has discovered that diversity severely damages civic life. The more diverse the community, the fewer activities people engage in, including voting. They become reluctant to volunteer with charities or arts groups, or to contribute to them.

The greater the diversity, the more residents distrust local leaders and the media -- plus they have little confidence in their own influence. It's not a healthy trend.

At least in the short run, Putnam says, "Immigration and ethnic diversity challenges social solidarity and inhibits social capital."

Translation: The more different we become, the less likely we are to become involved with our communities.

"The more ethnically diverse the people we live around, the less we trust them," Putnam discovered.
Source

You wouldn't expect all the consultants and trainers who are getting rich from diversity training to take all this lying down. They challenged Putnam's findings.
Colleagues and diversity advocates, disturbed at what was emerging from the study, suggested alternative explanations. Prof. Putnam and his team re-ran the data every which way from Sunday and the result was always the same: Diverse communities may be yeasty and even creative, but trust, altruism and community cooperation fall. He calls it "hunkering down."
Source

So other than vested financial and ideological interests, who could possibly still fall for the "diversity scam?" Unfortunately, North American businesses and other employers are rushing headlong into the heart of the scam, investing many billions every year for a system that will only reduce trust of citizens in their communities and co-workers.

North America is addicted to this diversity scam, as it is addicted to many other dysfunctional and counter-productive ideologies. This widespread dysfunctionality--much of it mandated by government agencies--will simply undermine the foundations of workable community, until the individuals who make up society change and grow. I sense a secession movement of some type, building. I call it the next level.

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2 Comments:

Blogger brian wang said...

Not related to this article but something that I thought you would be interested in.

the economist has an article on more accurate climate forecasting
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9645109

http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9645336

Thursday, 16 August, 2007  
Blogger al fin said...

Thanks, Brian.

Accurate climate forecasting is almost an oxymoron. Rather like foolproof war plans.

Thursday, 16 August, 2007  

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“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” _George Orwell

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