I’ve spent some time thinking about this, and my conclusion is that, at least personally, what I value about diversity is the variety of worldviews that it leads to.
This does result in some rather interesting issues, though. For example, one of the major factors in the difference in worldview between dark-skinned Americans and light-skinned Americans is the existence of racism, both overt and institutional. Thus, if I consider diversity to be very valuable, it seems that I should support racism. I don’t, though—instead, I consider that the relevant preferences of dark-skinned Americans take precedence over my own preference for diversity. (Similarly, left-handed peoples’ preference for non-abusive writing education appropriately took precedence over the cultural preference for everyone to write with their right hands, and left-handedness is, to the best of my knowledge, no longer a significant source of diversity of worldview.)
That assumes coherence in the relevant group’s preference, though, which isn’t always the case. For example, among people with disabilities, there are two common views that are, given limited resources, significantly conflicting: The view that disabilities should be cured and that people with disabilities should strive to be (or appear to be) as normal as possible, and the view that disabilities should be accepted and that people with disabilities should be free to focus on personal goals rather than being expected to devote a significant amount of effort to mitigating or hiding their disabilities. In such cases, I support the preference that’s more like the latter, though I do prefer to leave the option open for people with the first preference to pursue that on a personal level (meaning I’d support the preference ‘I’d prefer to have my disability cured’, but not ‘I’d prefer for my young teen’s disability to be treated even though they object’, and I’m still thinking about the grey area in the middle where such things as ‘I’d prefer for my baby’s disability to be cured, given that it won’t be able to be cured when they’re older if it’s not cured now, and given that if it’s not cured I’m likely to be obligated to take care of them for the rest of my life’ exist).
I think that’s coherent, anyway, as far as it goes. I’m sure there are issues I haven’t addressed, though.
With your first example, I think you’re on to an important politically incorrect truth, namely that the existence of diverse worldviews requires a certain degree of separation, and “diversity” in the sense of every place and institution containing a representative mix of people can exist only if a uniform worldview is imposed on all of them.
Let me illustrate using a mundane and non-ideological example. I once read a story about a neighborhood populated mostly by blue-collar folks with a strong do-it-yourself ethos, many of whom liked to work on their cars in their driveways. At some point, however, the real estate trends led to an increasing number of white collar yuppie types moving in from a nearby fancier neighborhood, for whom this was a ghastly and disreputable sight. Eventually, they managed to pass a local ordinance banning mechanical work in front yards, to the great chagrin of the older residents.
Therefore, when these two sorts of people lived in separate places, there was on the whole a diversity of worldview with regards to this particular issue, but when they got mixed together, this led to a conflict situation that could only end up with one or another view being imposed on everyone. And since people’s worldviews manifest themselves in all kinds of ways that necessarily create conflict in case of differences, this clearly has implications that give the present notion of “diversity” at least a slight Orwellian whiff.
I’ve spent some time thinking about this, and my conclusion is that, at least personally, what I value about diversity is the variety of worldviews that it leads to.
This does result in some rather interesting issues, though. For example, one of the major factors in the difference in worldview between dark-skinned Americans and light-skinned Americans is the existence of racism, both overt and institutional. Thus, if I consider diversity to be very valuable, it seems that I should support racism. I don’t, though—instead, I consider that the relevant preferences of dark-skinned Americans take precedence over my own preference for diversity. (Similarly, left-handed peoples’ preference for non-abusive writing education appropriately took precedence over the cultural preference for everyone to write with their right hands, and left-handedness is, to the best of my knowledge, no longer a significant source of diversity of worldview.)
That assumes coherence in the relevant group’s preference, though, which isn’t always the case. For example, among people with disabilities, there are two common views that are, given limited resources, significantly conflicting: The view that disabilities should be cured and that people with disabilities should strive to be (or appear to be) as normal as possible, and the view that disabilities should be accepted and that people with disabilities should be free to focus on personal goals rather than being expected to devote a significant amount of effort to mitigating or hiding their disabilities. In such cases, I support the preference that’s more like the latter, though I do prefer to leave the option open for people with the first preference to pursue that on a personal level (meaning I’d support the preference ‘I’d prefer to have my disability cured’, but not ‘I’d prefer for my young teen’s disability to be treated even though they object’, and I’m still thinking about the grey area in the middle where such things as ‘I’d prefer for my baby’s disability to be cured, given that it won’t be able to be cured when they’re older if it’s not cured now, and given that if it’s not cured I’m likely to be obligated to take care of them for the rest of my life’ exist).
I think that’s coherent, anyway, as far as it goes. I’m sure there are issues I haven’t addressed, though.
With your first example, I think you’re on to an important politically incorrect truth, namely that the existence of diverse worldviews requires a certain degree of separation, and “diversity” in the sense of every place and institution containing a representative mix of people can exist only if a uniform worldview is imposed on all of them.
Let me illustrate using a mundane and non-ideological example. I once read a story about a neighborhood populated mostly by blue-collar folks with a strong do-it-yourself ethos, many of whom liked to work on their cars in their driveways. At some point, however, the real estate trends led to an increasing number of white collar yuppie types moving in from a nearby fancier neighborhood, for whom this was a ghastly and disreputable sight. Eventually, they managed to pass a local ordinance banning mechanical work in front yards, to the great chagrin of the older residents.
Therefore, when these two sorts of people lived in separate places, there was on the whole a diversity of worldview with regards to this particular issue, but when they got mixed together, this led to a conflict situation that could only end up with one or another view being imposed on everyone. And since people’s worldviews manifest themselves in all kinds of ways that necessarily create conflict in case of differences, this clearly has implications that give the present notion of “diversity” at least a slight Orwellian whiff.