A Skeptic at a Diversity Discussion

Ashley Thorne

  • Article
  • February 04, 2010

Should diversity skeptics bother to participate in diversity discussions? Forums conducive to full and fair discussion would seem to be quite scarce. Is it better to contribute as possible, or ignore such events entirely? So asks Brian T. Johnson, a political science student at the University of Missouri. After attending a diversity dialogue session on campus, Johnson offers some pointers for skeptics who desire to influence the direction of such conversations:

  • Understand the unique language of the movement. Diversity vernacular tends to be surreptitious and supple, with a heavy emphasis on subjective personal experience, emotion and perception.
  • Bring at least one fellow skeptic to any diversity discussion.
  • Organize your own diversity discussion, designed with better balance for a more full and fair discussion. Invite intellectually honest participants of divergent viewpoints to attend.
  • Educate others - outside formal discussion environments - about the larger goals and philosophical underpinnings of the diversity movement. The lay observer may simply need some friendly confirmation that it is indeed acceptable to think critically about what a confident, politically-correct movement like the Diversity movement hands down as gospel.
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