IS CULTURAL DIVERSITY BENEFICIAL TO SOCIETY?

Globalization and the internet have made the world a much smaller place, with increased opportunities for social interactions and cross-cultural influences.  It is highly debatable whether this is a positive or negative development for the world.  In particular, we wonder whether the net impact of the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of most global cities is one of enrichment and enhancement, or one of increasing conflict and disharmony.

Cultural diversity brings together people from varied backgrounds with different religious and social traditions and articulating a wide range of ideas and world-views.

POSITIVE VIEW

1.  Diversity enriches collective life experience, promotes cross-cultural understanding, fosters mutual respect and promotes personal growth for each member of that society.  As what John Stuart Mill intimated: “It is hardly possible to overstate the value, for the improvement of human beings, of things which bring them into contact with persons dissimilar to themselves”.

2. Diversity increases the chance of people developing  the creative skills needed in today's increasingly global marketplace.  The competitive interaction of ideas from different sources with a wide spectrum of perspectives is likely to lead to the creative generation of innovative thinking.

3.  Society is likely to reap greater economic benefits through the immigration of talented individuals who are naturally attracted to culturally-diverse places that value tolerance and openness to new ideas. Such enhancement of creative capital lead to higher rates of business formation and job generation in high technology industries; eventually driving productivity and economic growth.

NEGATIVE VIEW

1.  Cultural diversity led to the eruption of "political correctness" which forbids the expression of particular thoughts, words, phrases, ideas and their resultant behaviors that may cause offense to certain racial, ethnic, religious, social or political groups.  The endorsement of political correctness developed a hair-trigger sensitivity to even far-fetched interpretations of possible transgressions and the wide-spread acceptance of punitive and apparently out-of-proportion punishments and persecutions. Death threats, violence, rioting and acts of terrorism against transgressors are all considered understandable and condemned to a far lower degree than the condemnation reserved for the enemies of political correctness themselves!

2.  This has led to a virtual relinquishment of freedom of choice and speech, willingly submitting to the tyranny of the mob for fear of punishment and social ostracism.  In effect, everyday speech is ruled by the little lies of cumbersome euphemisms since speaking the truth is frowned upon.

3.  In effect, this has become a global totalitarianism whose common ideology is one of "trying to please everyone at all costs".  Since anything unpopular is considered taboo, truth is now redefined as popularity.  This inevitably leads to the social decline of humanity.

THE SOLUTION

The first priority is to understand the true value of cultural diversity. Diversity for its own sake is not to be treasured. Its importance lies in the fact that it allows us to evaluate different values, beliefs and lifestyles against each other in a form of political dialogue. The present strategies of respect and tolerance for all beliefs and practices; and the postmodern attitude of 'all views are equally valid" do not constitute such a dialogue.

We must remember that what we need is a healthy debate among different cultures in the search for more universal values and beliefs. Only then can we have true mutual understanding and live harmoniously in a common brotherhood of Man.