Posted by
Gladys Kravitz on Saturday, February 02, 2008 4:37:30 PM
I am brought to my knees every time I read an article in the newspaper or hear a news story where the word “diversity” is used. Whenever I see it, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach fearing that much of what I am about to ingest will not open my mind, rather it will likely make me nauseous.
Along with another emetic phrase “for the children” it is a popular mantra overused by the seculars in this country to shame us into conforming to their “progressive” approach to social issues and problem solving. No, I am not a card carrying, right wing nut case. I am a recovering liberal, now a pragmatic traditionalist with a growing fear of modern liberalism, who has shifted to the more conservative line for the sake of my offspring’s future. As to the diversity issue, I believe what makes our country the prosperous and most sought after place in the world to live, is not due to its cultural “diversity”, rather to the cultural “assimilation” of its immigrants and the ability to balance this within the framework our republic was founded upon. That framework lies in the belief that our rights to freedom are bestowed by God. The “diversity” part is simply an element in the process of “assimilation” that has encouraged generations of American immigrants to bring their work and social mores into the larger realm of citizenship in American society.
The simplistic view that America is great today because it is such an ethnically diverse nation and needs more “diversity” is simply untrue and deceptive. It is the “assimilation” of that “diversity” into the American cultural model that has led to our greatness as a nation. It is that same American cultural model that is now under regular attack from the seculars repeating the false assertion that it lacks diversity. What it lacks is assimilation. To define the word “diverse” actually shows it is a divisive term, as it derives from the Latin “diversus” (ptp of divertere) meaning to “divert”.
Assimilation is not about “diverting” dissimilar cultures into separate entities, nor about diverting anything at all; rather integrating that which is good, having been brought here from elsewhere, into the fabric of something larger. Let the secular naysayers take their cues from the blogs, but as responsible stewards of history the printed media should avoid propagating the myth that “diversity” in itself is the primary ingredient in the glue that binds the great multi-cultural society that is modern America. Assimilation is what will lead us into the future without losing our own identity and American heritage.