Social diversity is something of an obsession these days. Among the hordes of sociologists and cultural soothsayers who fall over each other in their attempts to both create the perfectly-balanced society and 'educate' we ignorant masses on the benefits of such a thing, 'Diversity' is the slogan of choice. It is the key to Utopia. We should embrace 'difference' in all its forms because by doing so we will discover happiness and perfect accord and enrich ourselves in ways we never thought possible. That's the theory at least. The practice, as always, is a little more difficult.

We humans have ALWAYS been 'diversity-aware' and to suggest otherwise, as do 'the great and the good' who insist on leading us by the nose to their very particular (and imagined) Utopia whether we want to follow or not, is just plain patronizing. Ever since our ancestors tip-toed nervously over the distant hill to see what (or who) was on the other side we have girded our loins to expect the 'other'. Sometimes we embrace it; other times we challenge it to a fight. That is what this fascinating but infuriating rabble called humanity is all about, and a good thing too.

The trouble is that diversity-awareness has now become an industry, an industry that is compelled to do everything it can to justify its dubious existence. A cursory glance through my local paper will show any number of jobs offered by the local authority - ethnicity operatives, diversity-awareness officers, cultural coordinators - that owe their whole raison d'etre to a very peculiar obsession. What some of these jobs actually involve is anyone's guess.

Yet multiculturalism is indeed healthy and inevitable, especially nowadays in this world of global communication and travel. I would be lost without Indian food, rock and roll, Bordeaux wine, Eastern philosophy, good coffee and a whole lot more besides. None of these delights originated anywhere near my own little corner of Scotland yet here they are and glad I am because of it.

The same wheel that spun my way bringing all manner of influences to my tribe has, in turn, spun on, taking my tribe's influences with it. Fiddle music that once played around Scottish fires has long traveled west and south where it, for example, lay the foundations of country music in America, a music informed also by the Presbyterian attitudes, both good and bad, that traveled with those original Scottish fiddlers. Few corners of southern and eastern Africa were not witness to Scottish

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about The positive and negative aspects of diversity?
We want to hear your view. Write now!