A few years ago, during the good times, when Covid19 hadn’t
destroyed us, we were accustomed to public gatherings where people sat side by
side and listen to a speaker.
One once such occasion at a reputed news organization, an
individual of great reputation was to address us. The organization left no
stone unturned to ensure that the welcome was rousing.
The individual ascended the stage to rousing applause.
She looked at the audience in the first row and
scanned over the rest, and her first words were ‘I see your commitment to diversity and I
must congratulate you. Because diversity is the only way we grow. Stronger together.’
Every noise in the hall was drowned with the sound of rapturous applause, soon the audience was up on their feet and the applause continued.
In time the clapping hands rose above heads and the applause continued. Finally, the speaker had to request the overenthusiastic audience to calm down and be
seated. There were smiles everywhere.
The speech was very long and full of platitudes but what
else did one expect.
So I enquired with the organizer who was friendly with
me. Since I attended the event virtually, it was hard for me to comprehend how
the speaker had arrived at the conclusion of diversity.
He proudly informed me that he had arranged the audience
in such a manner to ‘make the diversity obvious’. Upon further probing he informed
me that the rule was not more than two Caucasians sitting side by side. Indians,
Chinese, Koreans, Blacks, people of mixed racial origin were also included in
the first several rows. So were people from the LGBTQ community.
“We had requested them to embrace their roots,” said the
organizer
I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, hence an explanation
was furnished
“People were requested to wear their traditional clothes. For
instance, Indian ladies were requested to dress up in saris. Muslims were asked
to wear their skull caps. The LGBTQ people were requested to wear the rainbow.”
said the organizer
“Was it a request or an order?” I enquired
“We wanted to prove our commitment to our guest,” said the
organizer
In other words, this was like a fancy dress party and carnival
with myriad races and sexual orientations on display.
“Would anybody wearing a MAGA hat be allowed?” I asked
There was laughter, the question was so ridiculous that it
didn’t merit an answer.
The point of diversity is to allow myriad perspectives. For
instance, if you are covering a news story about refugees from Afghanistan, it always
helps to have an individual who has lived in the area and had experienced the occurrences.
How often do we read news items written by journalists who
have dropped in for a few days and filed their report. It always sounds
inauthentic and superficial.
While race, nationality, sexual orientation, religion art
are important attributes for diversity. The most important kind of diversity is
the diversity of perspectives from across the spectrum of ideological and
political affiliations. But that is not what the Diversity section of the HR department wants.
It was beyond a doubt that despite the fact that the
people belonged to different races, countries, sexual orientations, and
religion. They were all liberal, some of them were even socialists. They all
supported the Democrat cause and they all look at Donald Trump as worse than
Satan.
In fact, this sort of tokenism is insulting to the various
‘minority groups’ on display almost as if it were a freakshow.
Clearly, this diversity ploy is clearly another way to
fortify the echo chamber by making superficial changes. The thought police are
always around to ensure that only the right sort of ideas are expressed.
What an abominable fallacy this is.
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