A letter to the Editor commenting on a article printed November 14 in the WSJ titled “The New Diversity” by Carol Hymowitz, Roger Clegg, General Counsel of the Center for Equal Opportunity, answers as follows; “When a company brags that it celebrates diversity, it almost always means that it takes, race, ethnicity and sex into who gets hired and promoted. This isn’t fighting discrimination. This is discrimination. When business say they are marketing to a diverse customer base; what they are saying is nonsense. You don’t have to be a member of a particular ethnic group in order to figure out how to sell to them. Just because you happen to belong to that group doesn’t mean you actually know anything about selling to them. Also, a company can’t discriminate against black applicants just because the customer base is white, and the same is true if the shoe is on the other foot.
Companies should just hire the best qualified people, without out regard to skin color, the country their ancestors came from, or their plumbing. And they should fire their vice-presidents for diversity and fire their diversity consultants.”
The President and CEO of the Associations for Americans for Civic Responsibility also answers to the same “The New Diversity” article by stating “a good “diversity practice” doesn’t adopt a mere numbers game of hiring certain minorities alone, but also QUAIFIED people from every segment of society, both native born and naturalized. Corporations that play the numbers game excluding highly qualified immigrants because of their accent, ancestry or appearance, interlinked with their national origins, should not claim to be good corporate citizens.”
Amen for colleges and any organization that excludes people of ability OF ANY RACE OR GENDER just because they have “quotas” to fill.
On 12/5/02, an article written by the conservative Linda Chavez, she sums it up by saying “No person should be denied opportunity because of skin color.” But she goes on to say “that colleges and universities have been trying to socially engineer their student enrollment to reflect some ideal racial balance at the expense of more qualified students.”
William Henry in his book “In Defense of Elitism” points out that when companies’ downsize the elimination comes from those who were lured to college thru diversity plans and on the mistaken premise that college would transfer them from mediocre to magisterial.
Myron Magnet in his 1993 book “The Dream and Nightmare” predicted the dumbing down of America by our leaders trying to be politically correct. There is no doubt that we are a diverse country which has always been an asset our growth and successes. But the quality of the product offered is what will sell, not the diversity of the workforce.
I leave you with this quote from Rebecca West “If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
3 comments:
To be sure, the world - or at least America - thrives because of diversity...variations in beliefs, ideas, sensibilities, and even sensitivities. The strongest culture is the one with the most complex weave of social fabric. Again: I give you, as example, America. It is indeed one of the most conservative impulses to understand that we must relish in diversity because we thrive for it.
However, when that notion is projected into the sphere of egalitarianism we find ourselves drifting toward social engineering, disproportionate favoring, and practice of being “more fair” to some than others. We are equal in opportunity at birth – but there equality stops. Let me say that again: we are not equal, and to believe otherwise is childish. We are not all entitled by birthright or human law to all that others have. I cannot play professional basketball – is that fair? You cannot give birth to a baby – is that fair?
Until people come to understand that we are, in fact, different from one another, they will not understand beauty and value of the gift of diversity. Instead, they will burden with their leveling notions of selfish, self-indulgent, and self-centered “fairness” under the guise of diversity. Which in the end intends to eliminate diversity. How paradoxical. The reality of freedom is a pesky thing to some folks.
I see that you all have no understanding of the word diversity. It means much more then race. It is not a black/white issue. You better believe that companies are preparing their companies to sell to everyone. So they want their companies to look like the world. Tjhey are hiring people that are qualified tio do the job. Not for quotas but because the world is not like America.ost of the world is people of color. Not Just black/white. You all need to get rid of you feelings and do some research. Caterpiller sells their goods to Africa, Europe, China, Korea and every part of the world that will buy it. They sure cannot find translators in just America. They have to have people from all over the world.
State Farm does not just sell insurance ion America. They sell it all over. They should hire qualified people from all over the world.
Look up the word diversity. I am certainly glad that major companies look for qualified pewople regardless to race, sex. religion, gender, religion, disability, national origin. Companies know that in order to have a proficient workforce they have to look all over the world. They certainly cannot find all of them in America. Merle have you looked at the educational system in America. Your bias is showing more and more.
I certainly hope the 2nd Anonymous wasn't referring to me, the 1st Anonymous when he/she wrote, “I see that you all have no understanding of the word diversity.” My very first sentence describes diversity as “variations in beliefs, ideas, sensibilities, and even sensitivities.” Hell, I didn’t even mention anything physical at all! You might want to try actually reading before responding.
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