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TL;DR: Diversity is only a value if FIRST you have unity.
The voyage will be a success only, in the first place, if the ships do not collide and get in one another’s way; and, secondly, if each ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good order…And however well the fleet sailed, its voyage would be a failure if it were meant to reach New York and actually arrived at Calcutta.
In other words, each ship must be seaworthy and all the ships must work well together, but in the end, this only has value if all the ships in the fleet sail to the same location. Unity.
As Guatemalan columnist Claudia Nunez wrote on Trump in the Guatemalan newspaper Siglio 21: “The epithets he uses to describe certain groups are unfortunate and exemplify the decadence of the current political scene. But he has also said things that are true, for example, that it is we citizens of migration countries who have accommodated ourselves to the need to export people, as we have calmly allowed excessive levels of corruption to grow for decades.
President of Uganda, “I love Trump because he tells Africans frankly. The Africans need to solve their problems. The Africans are weak.”
The BEST ARTICLE I’ve read on Trumps S-hole comment is this one by Rod Dreher. First, I value people wrestling with their thoughts, but also because the insights from his readers who served in the Peace Corps are amazing. Read it, read it, read it. Then come back here.
Now, back to Prager:
Though many wonderful immigrants come from the world’s worst places, there is some connection between the moral state of an immigrant’s country and the immigrant’s contribution to America. According to data from the Center for Immigration Studies, 73 percent of households headed by Central American and Mexican immigrants use one or more welfare programs, as do 51 percent of Caribbean immigrants and 48 percent of African immigrants. Contrast that with 32 percent of East Asians and 26 percent of Europeans.
What I’m about to write is extremely important. THIS IS NOT RACIAL. This is cultural. I bet if you did a deeper study, you’d find immigrants from certain parts of Europe who use more welfare. Or you’d find certain Central American immigrants who use less than other immigrants from other part of Central America. I bet you can go even deeper, and find that Mexican immigrants from different PARTS of Mexico use more or less welfare. It’s not RACE, it’s CULTURE, CULTURE, CULTURE.
Please read the amazing “Black Rednecks and White Liberals” by Thomas Sowell. It will change your perspective on all of this race fetish we have in America
Now, here’s the big question. You hear all the time, “Diversity is our strength.” You’ve heard it. You may have said it. You’ve at least passively gone along with it. But let’s question it. What if Diversity is NOT our strength?
Now, WAIT! Judge how defensive you get. Stop and take an assessment of how you feel when I say that.
Try this one on, “Diversity is our weakness.”
How do you feel about that? Maybe you feel AGER at me. Why? Because your brain is PREDICTING the argument you think I’m going to make. Your brain has decided that the argument I‘m going to make is that white people are better than brown people, and the more brown people we let in, the weaker our country becomes.
If I say, “Diversity is our weakness.” and you make it a racial issue, then you’ll get angry. But that’s not my augment.
Let me make a more positive statement. Judge how you feel when I say this, “Unity is our strength”
Unity in what?
There’s a growing body of evidence that even if diversity— the kind that results from immigration — once made America stronger, it may not be doing so anymore. Robert Putnam, a liberal sociologist at Harvard, found that increased diversity corrodes civil society by eroding shared values, customs and institutions. People tend to “hunker down” and retreat from civil society, at least in the short and medium term.
His argument is that the problem isn’t immigration per se. It’s this movement against ASSIMILATION. It’s the movement against Americanism. The University of California system officially consider the term “melting pot” offensive and triggering. We’re in the midst of an anti-assimilation movement. In the name of diversity, we’re separating ourselves more than ever, and that makes us weaker.
Let’s move away from imagination. I go to a church that has people of many different ethnic backgrounds. Does that make us stronger? Not really.
What makes us strong is what unites us: Following Jesus. Once we have a uniting force, well then sure, diversity of gifts, talents, callings and abilities to relate to different people, these are all good, but only if we’re all in it for the same mission. Our church wouldn’t be stronger if we had a diverse mix of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and atheists. That is not a strong Christian church.
Similarly, in America, what are we uniting behind? What are we striving towards? If we don’t know, then diversity makes us weaker. If we can unite over a common objective, then diversity of experience and insight and talents and gifts is good. The color of skin means nothing.
Marines are strong individuals, but useless without a mission. They’re dangerous if you give each and every Marine a different and conflicting mission. The Marines strength is in their unity FIRST, and only then are their unique talents of any use at all.
The progressive movement has for too long put Diversity as the first and foremost priority.
So where are the things that unite us? First, it has to be more than a lot of people watch the Super Bowl. It can’t be surface level, pop culture things. The things that unite us must be credal. We are a credal nation, the only nation EVER founded based on an idea. So we have to be united in these funding ideas.
Nationwide, 8th graders, 18% proficient in US history, 27% proficient in geography, 23% proficient in civics. Only 49% of Millennials say they’re patriotic. The other 51%, combined with their historical and civic ignorance. No Bueno
Next time you hear someone say, “Diversity is our strength.” Ask them, “Is it? Maybe diversity is our weakness. Unity is our strength.” Unity in what? “Unity in our Amerian Crede: A nation founded on the confidence of a free and virtuous people.
Our quest is to always get closer to that ideal. More freedom. And more virtue.