DIVERSITY vs POLARISATION 30/07/21
Diversity is the condition of inclusiveness, of different people from various ethnicities and social backgrounds that form the organisation of society.
However, the condition exists as a result of foreign invasion by Colonialists on a mission to expand the market for capitalism. Before their arrival, the people among the natives and aborigines had established their own societies with hierarchical structures, religion and kinship ties.
On arrival, the colonialists raped, confiscated land and decimated the people, their homes and families. And the colonists assimilated new culture and indoctrinated language and religion. They introduced alcohol, guns and diseases that devastated a proportion of the local population.
And the people were immediately placed in a disadvantaged learning a new culture and language. They were excluded and discriminated on the basis of their differences; ethnicity, culture, gender and status.
Their exclusion deprived them from access to wealth and resources of society necessary for their survival. As a result, these folks' were forced to endure substandard conditions of living, which in turn formed the infrastructure upholding the lifestyles of their colonisers.
Therefore, the colonial organisation of the means of survival or the economy was sustained by forceful labour and substandard living conditions. Known as the underclass, they uphold the social structure prompting the lifestyle of their colonisers.
And the impoverishment of the colonised endure struggles and inequalities to maintain their subordinated role in the structure of the economy. At the same time, the social relations of struggles are associated with inequalities, race and gender discrimination, economic status, Poverty and related trends of health epidemics, assimilated education, poor housing; the works! We are still enduring institutionalised racism and disadvantages today.
Diversity is the inclusion of different ethnic, cultural and gender groups; those who were discriminated against and disadvantaged from access have a chance to the means of survival and participate in the activities of their society. It is transformation of social roles from subordinated substandard conditions to share in the wealth and resources of society.
It is the elevation of social conditions of the underclass transcended into being. Folks became aware of their human, civil, democratic and economic rights; shifted the whole paradigm upward to be inclusive.
They claim their right as equal under the law, treatment as second rated citizens is therefore unlawful. Thus inclusiveness is Equality of status and Equity of the means to be equal including subsistence.
The hierarchy occupied by individuals gives way to shared values of Equality /Equity etc., the basis of their community. At this level of engagement, individuals are not polarised by their ethnicity, or culture, gender and religion, or stereotyped by social roles. Instead, inclusive members and citizens participate in the activities of their society.
I'm not sure if A.I. had a hand in flattening the social structure by replacing social roles with digital entities, but it's a useful tool for advancement of progress.
However, this is where Diversity hits an obstacle. The proud old guards are not ready to be equal among other humans. They still consider themselves as superior and are reluctant to share values and resources with other humans. They insist on maintaining the dominant position in the social structure prompted by the availability of second rated non-European humans.
So here we have a framework of equality bound by shared and common values of communities. At the same time, individuals are single out on their stereotypical social roles of ethnicity, their gender and sexual orientation; considered as different from them. They are in fact polarised in the organisation, which is structured on their old social roles of second rated humans.
Why should we debate whether humans should have a right to be equal irrespective of difference; ethnicity, culture, gender, belief? A human right is a principle, and such principles are not defined by a majority or by a dominant culture.
We are lucky if we survive the devastation of our world by Climate Change offset by Capitalism and promoted by colonisation. Yet some colonisers are not sorry but proud of where it's taken us - over the cliff.
We could attempt to deconstruct social roles and stereotypes. We could continue to follow the law and may be wait until the colonisers are themselves colonised by their own mission.
The trouble is, in a hundred or so years, we might not be annihilated by Climate Change per se, but we might be by the events leading up to it. Such events as fear, panic, psycho darkness, are evidential of current economic organisation; imagine what it would be like then!
That is why Diversity is a strategy for survival. While some refuse to live successfully according to our differences, I don't think there is a pure people who have successfully survived by their own in the modern. Human is stronger in diversity and survival is possible at least for the sake of future generations…
And since space travel is now available, I'm sure the colonisers are in their element to move up and higher, leaving us ordinary humans to salvage and enjoy what's left of our natural world.