A very good point, and succinctly stated. Diversity can be a wonderful thing, depending upon where it is found.
It is a fact of genetics that regardless of race, all humans are ultimately of the same family. Genetic diversity serves to generally enhance the ability of a species to survive very many eventualities. On this basis (and others) I have no problem whatever with the intermingling of a multitude of races.
Cultural diversity is a very good thing. I heartily enjoy the multifarious ways peoples in this world do the same things. My father showed me how to cook a prime piece of salmon and choose the wine for it. A friend showed me how to cut that same piece of salmon and eat it raw (and it was good!!). I have learned several languages, and am currently learning Korean from a Korean family that attends a Korean church within my own church. This family has shown me how to make a quick and delicious snack simply by steaming bean sprouts with a little sesame oil, and combining it with rice, watercress, seaweed, sometimes flavored with a little beef and eaten with a minty sesame leaf. I now know how to make various kinds of a thing that in English we might spell "Kim Chi" (or Kim Chee). I have made it both using cucumbers and cabbage with a bit of oyster. Extraordinary! I know how to make Masala Dosa and other wonderful Indian dishes. I have been fortunate to have attended some of the grandest dinners and pageants in this world. I have been just as fortunate to have attended some of the simplest and humblest of gatherings. I have fished with fishermen in Portugal - ate and drank with them. My college roommate introduced me to a thing called "noodle-koogle". I had my first taste of herrings in cream sauce from this great Jewish man. This past year I have seen that I enjoy Soul Food-- Neck Bones, collard greens, cornbread and black-eyed peas. I simply love Ebonics (nothing like it), and am so thankful to have had the pleasure of being laughed at by a group of Blacks as I tried to use it. (It was really very funny). I just yesterday heard a program on public radio called "Remembering Slavery" where recordings of actual slaves were played. I listened in awe, continually thinking "What an amazing country this is". I would have experienced practically none of these things were it not for the wonderful diversity extant in this country and world. Cultural diversity is a wonderfully good thing.
Diversity in mores is fantastically destructive, a thing to be vehemently discouraged as it is upon the mores of a society that general trust and cohesion is built. I cannot respect people whose basic morals differ from mine. It is ridiculous for me to even try. By basic moral homogeneity, I can truly consider others my fellow countrymen or even to some extent brothers. If, for example, we as a society generally scorned and actively rejected lying, I could trust my neighbor in some basic sense, assuming that since he is part of the society, he believes as society believes. In me and many others, such a neighbor would find a virtual blanket of efficient protection from adversity because we all would be prone to rally to his side in his time of need, this, without wasting valuable time performing sober inventories of his character. Surely we should always think and watch for the immoral exception, but I posit that in a so called civilized society one should as a rule be able to help a woman stranded on the roadside without first assuming her a murderess or even struggling with the question. I am certain that were we all to work together to actively promote at least what we say we believe are good mores (there is yet a consensus on many of these matters), society would not fragment. I cannot tell you how many times I have ignored people who were obviously in need, simply because I did not want to be bothered with the mental struggle of determining whether they and I shared the same basic mores. I usually rode past them thinking, "Let them take care of themselves." or "Somebody will be stupid enough to trust them." or "That's why I pay taxes, let the cops help. They can always shoot them if they must." |
