I caught a radio ad promoting Diversity the other day on the Dennis Miller show. Here’s a partial transcript:
Obviously White young girl: “Gee, you work with lots of people who don’t look like you at all!”
White mother: “What do you mean?”
Girl: “Well, there are Asian people, African-American people, Latino people–”
Mother: “We all work together as a team.”
Girl: “Aren’t they different from you?”
Mother: “In a way, yes. But those differences are good. They mean different ways of seeing things, different ways of thinking things, different ways of doing things.”
Girl: “But if those differences are so good where you work, why does everyone where we’re living look just like us?”
Wise Announcer: “Diversity shouldn’t be left behind at work each day. Prepare your children for the coming global life that lies ahead. Your family doesn’t live in a 9-to-5 world. Why should Diversity?”
The ad is sponsored by the National Fair Housing Alliance, which proudly proclaims that it is “dedicated to the creation and sustenance of diverse communities throughout the nation.” We can be assured their vision for us is good, because its members include such enlightened entities as Wachovia, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, which, now that I think about it, are some of the chief proponents of the diversity-at-any-cost policies that gave us the ongoing Diversity Recession.
But I quibble. Let’s take the ad’s message at face value. The first thing it’s telling us is that thinking, seeing, and behaving are determined by race — an idea that I thought was considered eeeevil. Guess I’m behind the times.
And if that assumption is true, then the radio ad raises a question: Since Magic happens when people of different races work together, why aren’t all the Nobel prizes swept up every year by people in racially diverse areas, such as Brazil and south Los Angeles? And here’s an interesting implication: If a homogeneous community is fatally hobbled by its dull uniformity, shouldn’t measures be taken to prevent people from intermarrying and creating a homogenous community of mestizos? Clearly, the government should criminalize marriage among different races — how else can we continue to enjoy the mysterious creativity that emerges when the different ways of thinking, seeing, and doing things bump into one another, making those stimulating sparks when people of different races interact?
Of course, I’m not advocating those things, I’m just thinking about the logical implications of the National Fair Housing Alliance radio ad. And you’re not supposed to think when you hear ads promoting Diversity.
