An Opinion On Social Diversity

I'm thinking that someday someone might read this blog and when they do, I ought to have some actual opinions in it. So here's one of those opinions...

Social diversity is all the rage. It's been that way for a while now. Companies are pushing for ethnic and cultural diversity, universities are too. The yearning for diversity is everywhere... well not quite everywhere. I'll tell you one place where right this second it is not lovingly embraced; that's right here in the room where I am sitting alone, writing this blog entry.

I have seen diversity. In a lot of places it is a good thing. I go to a Thai restaurant a couple of times a month. Believe it or not, the food is cooked by a guy from Thailand. It's great food. But he does not interact with his customers particularly well. Why? Because he does not completely understand the culture. It limits and weakens his customer interaction. In effect, he is a soldier of diversity, and he is losing-out, ever so slightly, to the socially assimilated Thai restaurateur down the street. As an American entrenched in the American mainstream culture, I want the Thai restaurateur to be personable specifically to me. I want him to understand my humor, and be able to deliver humor of his own, humor that I can grasp and appreciate. I want him to at least understand my interests even if he does not share them.

The Thai restaurant owner feels the same way. He would really like to have me understand his cultural nuances. The trouble is; both he and I are in America, so my need to understand his culture is not acute. Though he understands that, it still saddens him.

This whole diversity thing really stems from the many African-Americans who feel uncomfortable among white folks in this post-Civil Right Revolution America. Consequently, the larger culture has allowed blacks, who unlike the Thai man, have been Americans for generations, to essentially self-segregate. Consequently, many blacks do not interact within the mainstream culture as fluidly as do whites. This hurts their chances of finding job opportunities, let alone such things as workplace advancements. On the other side of the coin, many white people are not thrilled with the idea of multicultural integrated school, hence, the rise of home schooling.

How about this; we as a society promote assimilation. We advocate that the Thai man, and the African-American woman, assimilate into the larger culture, and in so doing, they bring along elements of their own cultures. The end result; an American culture that has elements from around the world, blended into new, unique creations, and people who can freely interact with each other without cultural hardship. It could be done with a little work. After all, we as a nation are undertaking a mammoth campaign to end smoking. Why not have something similar aimed at becoming a nation with one, unique culture that includes all of us?

All right, there's an opinion for you.