Friday, August 31, 2018

Diversity and Division

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In recent reading about the history of the state of New Hampshire, I came across this very strange article in the New York Times - 'How Do You Diversify A Whole State?’ (online here). New England appears to be the ‘whitest’ region of the United States, and this is causing some people concern. I am not totally sure that is a ‘problem’ to be ‘fixed’. Those ‘white’ people will themselves be of a multiplicity of nationalities - Scotch-Irish, Irish, Scottish, English, French, Dutch, German, Swedish, etc. I have no time for racism - we are all one human race (see Acts 17:26) - but the article got me thinking. Your understanding of ‘diversity’ depends upon your understanding of ‘difference’.

Today, diversity seems to be measured by biology - that is, ethnicity and gender, as well as sexual orientation - sometimes called immutable characteristics. I’m not getting into the details of those, because some are now claimed to be ‘fluid’ things, but they appear to be the social fault lines by which ‘diversity’ is measured in Western societies generally. However, ‘age’ doesn’t seem to register much and that’s a pretty immutable thing. ‘Old white men’ are fair game in the diversity wars. Maybe I’m feeling that at 46 years old.

On reflection, my relatively sheltered childhood was in its own wee way surprisingly diverse, based on our very local definition of social differences. People are tribal and we group and divide all the time.

Growing up here on the Ards Peninsula, seldom venturing more than a few miles from home, diversity was getting people from two neighbouring - yet multi-generationally bitter rival - villages to co-operate. The only difference the people had was that they came from different places, they were the same in every other way. But bringing them together was a huge social achievement. For example, Portavogie v Ballyhalbert football matches were bloodbaths. Ballyhalbert wore red and Portavogie wore blue. People in each village were forbidden to paint their front doors in the other village’s colour. Marrying across the two villages was rare and maybe even socially unacceptable, as was moving house from one to the other. All of these stories have been passed down to me by my parents’ generation, it’s a bit mellower nowadays. There’s still huge rivalry between neighbouring schools.

To take things up a level, intra-Protestant co-operation was our next ‘diversity’. Getting the Brethren people to turn up at a Methodist or Church of Ireland event was - and maybe still is - unthinkable. Free Presbyterians and Non-Subscribing Presbyterians are ideologically and theologically worlds apart. ‘Protestant’ is a broad but sometimes useless term - the chaos of the many denominations within is almost unfathomable. Elim and Baptist people would be keeping an eye on each other. Maybe not so much as individuals, but certainly as organisations. 

Up another level to the yet broader Northern Ireland context - in religious terms Protestant and (Roman) Catholic co-operation is another ‘diversity’. Or in political terms, Nationalist and Unionist co-operation. Most individuals are neighbourly to one another, as our family always was, but there are still valid social differences to be acknowledged. So ‘cross-community' is another well-known ‘diversity’, and one which Northern Ireland society carefully monitors in employment practice, policing, etc.

Up again, this time to the ’national’ level of the UK and British Isles, we have 5 ‘Home Nations’. That in itself is yet another ‘diversity’, as of course are the cross-border issues on the island of Ireland. Ireland’s inability to come to terms with the cultural diversities on the island are a large part of our historic problems.

You could go on and on with this. Once you firstly ‘divide' people into groups, along whatever lines you decide matter, then ‘diversity’ has its arena.

We all come from and belong to ‘tribes’. But ultimately maybe we’re all individuals and the only diversity that should matter is diversity of thought and ideas, and that by working together we can pool our strengths and talents and make the world a better and slightly more unified place - no matter what our 'immutable characteristics' might be.

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