Mixing it Up: Diversity as the New Morality

There was a time when fairness was a moral virtue worth fighting for. Fairness centered on the concept of justice, and had to do with making things right. Fairness has gone the way of the dodo.

Having attended and heard reports of various commencement ceremonies of late, it would seem that fairness has now been replaced by another concept—diversity. Diversity is now touted as the greatest achievement any institution, person, governmental body, academic discipline, or the like can attain. If any group is diverse, it is de facto better than a group comprised of homogeneity.

This is peculiar not because it is popular—diversity is indeed a stepchild to pluralism—but because diversity has no inherent moral vaule to begin with. How does an amoral concept become the one the highest moral virtues a group can have?

I believe that a close association with fairness is the key to the rise of diversity as morality. Diversirty has masquereded as fairness, gained widespread acceptance, and discarded fairness to stand in its place. Hence we hear commencment speeches which laud not the academic achievements of educational facility, but the diversity of the students or faculty. We hear of seminaries praised not for their adherence to doctrine, but for their diversity of opinions, and so on.

What is ironic is that the entire diversity as morality movement is headed for an inevitable end. As I remaked to friend recently, in the near future the only things that will be truly diverse will be homogenous groups. All-male military schools will have to be created to diversify from the homogeneity of mixed-sex schools.

Perhaps the greatest danger presented when diversity becomes a moral virtue is that true virtues like fairness, justice, and integrity become overshadowed and are often cast aside. Make no mistake, it is not wrong to be diverse, but diversity does not equal being right.