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comment by Isherwood
Isherwood  ·  2252 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Dirty War Over Diversity Inside Google

Nail on the head.

I think about this a lot with churches. My wife has been looking for a church that's more diverse. She found one that had a lot of racial diversity, but most of the members were in the local divinity program and she just didn't click with any of them.

Now we're at this farm where everyone has similar ideas on the value of food, but there are widely different backgrounds and beliefs (though most of us are white.) She likes this group more, but feels guilty because in her eyes it's less diverse.

In the latter location, we're exposed to a broader range of opinions and experiences, but they feel less diverse (to her) because they're all processed through a similar lens.

I'm not saying one's right - but I do believe a community requires some degree of homogeneity to at least start to mix together.





kleinbl00  ·  2251 days ago  ·  link  ·  

In order to experience an ethnically-diverse group as more homogenous than an experientially-diverse group, one must interact with them on a dismissively superficial level.

    In the latter location, we're exposed to a broader range of opinions and experiences, but they feel less diverse (to her) because they're all processed through a similar lens.

That would be the lens of "making nice with white people." Great thing about white people? They don't have to make nice with each other! That means they never have to navigate around all the racial bullshit that has become a dull hum in the background of their lives. It's almost like when you're hanging out with a bunch of white people you don't have to worry about someone taking jokes the wrong way so you can just let your white flag fly!

OftenBen  ·  2252 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    I do believe a community requires some degree of homogeneity to at least start to mix together.

I agree, but what kind of homogeneity? Linguistic diversity is a good thing, but if a group is too linguistically diverse they are quite literally incapable of communication (Barring the super good translation software that is becoming available en-masse).

To steal yet another line from Heinlein, I don't enjoy snake dances, I despise crowds, and I do not let slobs tell me where to go on Sundays.

Isherwood  ·  2252 days ago  ·  link  ·  

To me, it's some homogeneity of belief. I like the farm because it acts as a social safety net - if conversation gets difficult or awkward, you can retreat to what you know is a shared belief by everyone who's there. It keeps the connections from drying up completely.

I'm not sure I get the context of the Heinlein quote though.