Fredtalk: Diversity

The Fredericksburg region is actually quite diverse; not only racially and ethnically, but socially and economically. Whether one recognizes how diverse the area is depends largely upon the size of one's circle of social and professional contact.

Professionally speaking, the nature of one's occupation tends to dictate the demographics of those with whom we come into contact. So for example, a person who works in a small office setting with very little contact with the general public will be exposed to a more narrow segment of the population than someone who works at the DMV.

Socially speaking, we naturally gravitate to people with whom we have something in common, so we tend to be drawn to people with a similar cultural and socio-economic background. That's why it's called a "comfort zone" and people don't like to spend their social time outside that zone.

No matter how diverse a social circle may seem on the surface, look deeper and you will find its members value their commonalities far more than their differences. For example, you may see an economically diverse social circle, but find that their common athletic interest is of higher value to them than their economic diversity. Or, you may find a racially diverse social circle, but find their common religious beliefs are of higher value than their racial diversity.

It is somewhat paradoxical, but "diversity awareness" simply reinforces our desire for commonality; it just broadens the pool from which we can draw. That is, it does not bring people to "embrace differences" as is the stated goal; it brings people to overlook differences in others if a more highly valued commonality can be found.

If no higher valued commonality can be found, ain't nobody embracing nothin'. If we cannot find a commonality that outweighs the differences, we may "tolerate" others who are different (which is just the politically correct way of saying we'll ignore them), but we won't accept them into our comfort zone.

Consider the meaninglessness of the typical Diversity Guru's favorite oxymoron: "celebrating our differences". We celebrate that which has meaning to us, not that which does not. So if a group is truly celebrating something, it is because it is something the members of the group have assigned shared value. Ergo, it is not a difference that is being celebrated, but a commonality. If one does not value what it being celebrated, he is not celebrating, but is merely in attandance.

In short, we don't embrace differences for the sake of diversity, we ignore differences for the sake of commonality. Sorry, not my rule, blame Mother Nature.