The Downside of Diversity

In "Diversity Can Spell Trouble," Victor Davis Hanson writes a thoughtful piece on the often-negative consequences of diversity in a society. Hanson is such a well-educated scholar and historian of ancient civilizations such as Greece and Rome that it's really tough to argue with his points--although people often do. In fact, VDH's website has an "Angry Reader" feature in which he publishes criticisms he has received, along with his responses.

Whenever I read articles by such learned and astute writers as Mark Steyn or Victor Davis Hanson, I'm reminded of how sorely lacking our public education system is today. It's one of the drawbacks of diversity, the disintegration of our national unity in exchange for the dominance of various ethnic or social groups.

Hanson expresses that thought eloquently, as follows:

"A diverse America requires constant reminders of e pluribus unum and the need for assimilation and integration. The idea of Americanism is an undeniably brutal bargain in which we all give up primary allegiance to our tribes in order to become fellow Americans redefined by shared ideas rather than mere appearance."

 Good luck with that in today's fractured America. How sad for us--every last diverse one of us.