Monoculture Believing in Diversity

For John, BLUF:  Hearing diverse opinions is fun.  Condemning divergent views, while fun, is not nearly as much fun, and it is an intellectual dead end.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Glimpse Into the Ideological Monoculture of Literary New York

Here is the sub-headline:

From Quillette, by Author Matthew Binder, 15 November 2018.

Here are two paragraphs:

Just weeks after arriving in the city, I attended a dinner party full of writers and industry folk.  The subject of conversation turned to America—and, in particular, how uniquely racist and evil it is.  The term “fascist” was bandied about casually—even in regard to centrist Democrats such as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.  One attendee described how much more tolerant Canada is, citing the example of a Toronto swimming pool accommodating religiously observant Muslim residents by sex-segregating swimmers at certain times.  Everyone at the table agreed that this was a wonderful thing.  The conversation then moved on to the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale—a dystopian science fiction tale that my dinner mates unanimously agreed represented a plausible future for American women.  Indeed, some indicated that we already were living this nightmare thanks to Donald Trump.

My efforts to play contrarian did not meet with success—especially when I suggested that encouraging the segregation of Muslim women might be seen in a very different light if the policy had been championed by, say, Mike Pence or Donald Trump.  When I cut to the chase and asked why no one at the table seemed to feel aggrieved for women suffering under Islamic oppression, voices were raised and, well, I may or may not have been asked to leave.  There were other experiences like this, and I learned to hold my tongue.

The Author has a novel which is soon to be published, but which was put down, along the journey, for being written by a "white male".  It is The Absolved

Lack of diversity of thought leads to a very stifled intellectual environment.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff