Diversity is just a word apparently
And the answer is … big government. If you’re wondering about the question, it could have been almost anything. And the answer could have come from almost any public figure. Actually it was COVID- 19 and UN Secretary- General António Guterres. And as usual it was wrong.
Guterres recently lamented that something called the international community was divided when the pandemic made it “more important than ever” to be united. Even the “than ever” bit is tiresomely predictable. Like asking a political activist whether the upcoming election is of historic importance, everything that’s happening now is the biggest ever because it’s what they’re saving us from.
There’s a displeasing element of vanity in this misreading of the situation by people who think in the face of this coronavirus, climate change or whatever they should totally reorganize the economy and international relations, as if coping with one major crisis were not sufficient to validate the self- regard even of the most conceited would- be Saviour of the Universal Human Race. But there’s also a displeasing element of sheer gibberish.
People like Guterres, and our prime minister, yammer on endlessly about the merits of diversity in principle. But they seem quite oblivious to its merits in practice. For instance, in coping with an unfamiliar disease causing unfamiliar economic, governmental and sociological as well as medical issues, might there not be merit in trying different approaches?
Well duh. In actual warfare, you want a variety of weapons, tactics and strategies to see what works. ( If the Allies had all been under French control in WWI we’d have lost. And thank goodness the British gave the Canadians leeway to devise the winning tactics pioneered at Vimy.) In business, you have different products in case something is better or worse than you thought or people don’t like what you expect them to, and different producers and retailers so resources flow away from those who can’t or won’t get it right toward those who do. Or alternatively government imposes uniformity and you get expensive milk or a Lada.
The virtues of diversity also justify freedom of speech and so on. At least as a practical matter; we also have them as a natural right.
Speaking of practical matters, does it need repeating that if we had been united in our diversity or whatever dumb slogan you want to use, we’d all have followed China’s lead via the WHO leash? As we did anyway to a regrettable extent including shipping the Communists vital medical gear while they lied about the disease and bought up PPE on the sly.
On the intensely practical theoretical side, the late Bertrand de Jouvenel believed in world government until he crossed the Swiss border barely ahead of the pursuing Nazis. Yes, reductio ad Hitlerem. But as lived experience not Godwin’s Law.
With COVID-19 specifically, a few countries did not join the herd of independent minds stampeding to total lockdown. Taiwan and Sweden kept elementary schools open. Which will be helpful in sifting through the tea leaves or ashes later and in managing our own dequarantining in the short run. And what about Matt Ridley’s urgent claim that vitamin D deficiency is a key marker of vulnerability, even a cause?
Surely someone should start testing it without waiting for a global consensus. Others should test other things in case it’s a dud or there’s something even better. Now is the worst time for everyone to be “united” in what they do or don’t.
So forget the regrettable media mantra “Experts say,” as though on all important matters there’s one sensible informed opinion held by urban sophisticates such as themselves, and lunacy espoused by buck- toothed MAGA deplorables. Experts were found on various sides of issues like closing borders, wearing masks etc., and sometimes the same experts as the situation unfolded.
I don’t mind a person changing their opinion in the face of new evidence. But I could do without the air of omniscience throughout, and very much mind people who keep insisting there’s only one way to do things. Like the New York Times saying the U. S. isn’t reducing its caseload when “most other countries” are and “the leading suspect, many experts say, is the uneven nature of the U. S. response.” Dang that diversity. We need a man on horseback for everyone to follow. Though not the current Duke of Orange, presumably.
To Guterres/ Times types, the real answer to every crisis is an increase in government power wielded by people like them. Our own PM has been singularly keen to dispense with the cumbersome diversity of the parliamentary legislative process throughout this crisis, most recently musing about skipping the budget lest it lead to tedious divisions about what to spend and how to tax.
Get with the program. Whatever it is today. Diversity is just this word.
THE VIRTUES OF DIVERSITY ALSO JUSTIFY FREEDOM OF SPEECH.