Debunking the diversity myth

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Dan Cassino

Many people are going to be offended by this article. Especially in a university community, where multiculturalism is something of an unquestioned sacred cow and many believe it should continue to remain so.

It is this sort of dogmatic thinking that is dangerous. If we are not ready to defend those things which are important, we can be assured that we will lose them.

Maybe we can all agree that multiculturalism is a good thing. It's one of the goals of our university and of most of the liberal community.

It brings diverse groups of people together. It is a required part of an education here. Everyone says that it's a good thing; but why?

Institutions in our society are striving towards multiculturalism. It is a policy, and a goal, and a philosophy. Universities, government agencies and corporations are all now incorporating, or already have incorporated, all cultures into their populations. But they have not done this on their own. Rather than embracing multiculturalism, they have taken it on as one might a vagrant child. Some large corporations are diverse not because they chose to be, but because they were ordered to be.

They are exactly as diverse as the court order requires them to be. If multiculturalism is such a great good, such a benefit for everyone, why didn't private industry start it years ago? Our government has never been able to do anything significantly better than the private sector, so why should this be an exception?

But what about the military? The American military has been hailed as a model of multiculturalism working. Certainly, defense is the only activity at which the federal government has proven itself effective, but the military retains its cultural diversity by removing all aspects of individual culture from soldiers.

Though we haven't yet identified any of the benefits of multiculturalism, its costs are great. To some extent it makes everyone subjected to it uncomfortable.

Imagine a typical product of multicultural policy. A class, maybe thirty students in it. In the first scenario, imagine that the vast majority of the students are of the local culture. Except for one.

Perhaps the class is at Brigham Young University, with a Jewish girl from New York. It doesn't matter.

One student has made a heroic effort to enter into a culture foreign to her. In theory, she will broaden the horizons of the students around her, and be broadened in return.

Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Instead, her presence will make the rest of the class uncomfortable. They won't be able to necessarily say what's on their minds. They feel that their urbane, city culture is vastly superior to that of this farmer girl. Maybe they even resent her presence in their college. They don't get anything out of her presence.

If we examine the student from the wheat belt, she won't have her views broadened, either. Instead, she'll feel the resentment, the condescension that everyone has towards her. Maybe she'll try to fit in, or maybe she'll be desperately unhappy. Either way, she won't be any happier for the trip.

But maybe this example is too narrow. Imagine, instead, the same classroom at Brigham Young University. But now, half the class comes from Jewish areas of Queens. Now the groups are even less likely to learn from each other. Rather than associate with each other, they distance themselves. They sit on opposite sides of the room. Rather than cooperation, multiculturalist policies have engendered antagonism.

These same problems occur in the workplace. If one employee is of a different culture, than all the others walk on eggs around him. They feel that they have to; they can't risk a lawsuit if they offend him.

Multiculturalism does have one benefit, to weigh against these costs. It makes us feel good. We know that our culture is better than all others, but we like to see these others. We like to think that we are giving them a chance to experience our culture, our superior way of life. We are doing them a favor. So, is multiculturalism a good policy? A worthwhile goal? A more salient question might be, what has it done for you lately?

Dan Cassino is a political science sophomore. His commentary appears every Thursday. He can be reached at Dan.Cassino@wildcat.arizona.edu