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I [once] wrote on a public message board "you can either have diversity or equality, pick one."
Everyone disagreed with me, but no one even attempted to explain why or talk through the issue. They couldn't even think about the issue. To them there was nothing to think through. In their brain there is an imprint, made somewhere by something unknown to them, that equality and diversity are both good and exist and should be pursued simultaneously.
It was one more clue to me that even intelligent people are miseducated so that they won't be able to think.
bionic mosquito June 18, 2020 at 8:27 AM
Yes, I am afraid this is quite correct.
Actually, I am now thinking that you can have both, but the implications of this are totally lost on most of the “intelligent” people chanting these words. But I am getting ahead of myself.
the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness: diversity of opinion.
variety; multiformity.
a point of difference.
the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.
uniform character, as of motion or surface.
Things that are different cannot be equal; things that are unlike cannot have the same value. So, RMB is right – you can’t have both. Except…if you eliminate value.
Things can be diverse and equal if we value the diversities equally. If there is no difference in value of dark and light, good and evil, lie or truth, tall or short, kindness and abuse, then we can have both diversity and equality. And we will not end with the highest values, but the lowest.
But…then…what’s the point of diversity? If we value the differences equally, then why care for the differences? If we want differences, then we must not hold these in equal value.
So…maybe RMB is right after all.
Conclusion
Now…I can think of how to make these two work together in a meaningful way, and in the context of the discussion / violence / riots occurring today. Let me see…how can I put it succinctly?
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
Martin Luther King would get kicked out of the club for saying this today, but there it is. In any case, most of the intelligent and unintelligent people chanting diversity and equality don’t want what King offered. They want, kind of, the opposite.
Epilogue
Actually, I skipped one of the definitions for diversity. It is the third on the list of four, but I suspect it will soon move up to number two…and then one (demonstrating diversity at the expense of equality):
The inclusion of individuals representing more than one national origin, color, religion, socioeconomic stratum, sexual orientation, etc.
This definition includes a clarifier: diversity in the workplace. The definition for equality also includes a clarifier: equality in the workplace.
Go figure.
I thought Theodore Dalrymple put it well. "To excuse some and not others, and to excuse them without strict moral criteria but ex officio, that is to say by membership in a social, racial, or occupational group, is to undermine the only equality that really matters, namely equality under the law." Copied from this link: https://lawliberty.org/justice-means-punishment/?fbclid=IwAR1zw03leimWyfetV8NZjSv07CF3DAz40q4pSAu4wRo83U_KYnitXfHDWRw Peg
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the type of discussion I was trying to start in the other public forum I mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI would add that you show by the definitions that diversity and equality can't coexist in a complete or absolute way.
When you look at humanity the diversity is obvious. We are all different in many ways. To apply equality you have to start adding qualifiers. We are equal in some ways, but we are so different trying to force equality of outcome or even of opportunity will end in injustice.
All humans share some common human traits are in that way equally human. Each human life does have the same inherent value if you base your view on the Bible. In society, we want all people to be equally treated under the law. That is better called impartiality.
But when politicians or leaders of political movements call for bringing equality or equity be very afraid, but in order to create they will have to destroy many things about society including justice.
Equality, in the way it is used in the political discourse today, can only lead to the lowest common denominator.
DeleteThe trees are all kept equal, by hatchet, axe, and saw.
You'll see the conflict between diversity and equality come to life before your very eyes if you DuckDuckGo "Islam is right about women." Those five simple words appeared out of the blue on signs posted across Winchester, Mass., in Sept. 2019. They spawned widespread consternation.
ReplyDeleteAll right-thinking people know Islam is good. All right-thinking people know equality of the sexes is good. All thinking people know that, by Western standards, Islam treats women as second-class citizens.
Either Islam is good and equality of the sexes is bad, or Islam is bad and equality of the sexes is good. You can't have it both ways. Watch the video narrated by *Black Pigeon Speaks* on the controversy. You'll see the right-thinking people's heads explode.