Thursday, November 05, 2009
The Soft Bigotry of Diversity [Roger Clegg]
In today’s Federal Register, there is a notice by the State Department announcing competition for two grants to be spent on summer institutes for youth from various countries. The “Purpose” section says, “Through these institutes, diverse but intellectually curious students aged 16 to 18 will participate in an intensive, three- to four-week exchange program in the United States.”
Now, what interests me in that sentence is the phrase, “diverse but intellectually curious” and, in particular, the word “but.” We are always told by the diversiphiles that diversity and intellectual curiosity go together like ham and eggs, but here the mask seems to have slipped, with an acknowledgment that the relationship between the two is often more like oil and water.
11/05 02:26 PM
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