How does diversity help a community?

Answer 1

Diversity, like socialism and charity has become a dirty word. Multiculturalism is now apparently what the fascists need rail against the strongest. Whether one takes diversity to mean an abuse of one's position as a minority or a disruption to one's indigenous culture, or for that matter a new colour in your packet of m&m's, it is simply a word that should indicate a willingness to tolerate difference.

In all walks of life we are likely to experience the diverse, in many walks of life those more adventurous of us may find ourselves embodying the diverse. Some people are diverse in nature or philosophy and some simply by birth.

It is a quite natural human impulse, even an animal impulse, to find change stressful and to be afraid of that which is different to the familiar. i'm going to quote a really silly source now. In Zemeckis' film Men in Black, Tommy Lee-Jones' character tells Will Smith "a person(sing) is smart, but people(pl) are dumb, panicky dangerous animals."
Whilst we are capable, more than capable of accepting diversity on an interpersonal basis, as a society we are drawn towards mob mentality, as a defensive reflex, and this need to be able to draw together as a people is interrupted by the diversities in our social make-up, causing us constant fear and anuish that we are divided.

That's not to say that diversity is a bad thing. Whilst we can accept our instinctive prejudice we can also be sure that no matter how bland and uniform we make our society we will always find things diverse, and there will always be those among us who seek to remove that diversity. it's an eternal uphill struggle and they will never win, or at least it's unlikely that they'll live to see the fruits of their labours.

Hitler apparently wanted us all to be blond super-men, but would never have made it past quality control himself, you know?

So, to totally avoid your question- and my apologies for going around the houses here, All of us enrich each other's lives in different ways. The forward-thinking among us recognise diversity for what it is in our lives, and i'm sorry to say the backward-thinking among us will spend their lives trying to expunge it by social exclusion, despite their many claims that some their best friends are black / gay / short / foreign / stupid / women / musicians / trekkies / atheists.

Since the over-arching human instinct is to care for one's fellow man though, the intolerant, fearful bigots who would have us remove all trace of diversity from our lives are in fact an outsider group. Those "against" diversity form the minority. they don't realise it, but they are the diverse element that they wish to remove from society. It is up to those of us who appreciate a little flavour in our sauce to lead by example and be as tolerant as is possible of their diverse philosophy. It's either that or send them all back where they came from. right?