Diversity

The phrase brings up many ideas (at least to me). To me it is one of the things that this country addressed - but not in the way that some people want to address it now. We agree that this country was built on a diverse group of people. Each group of people brought with it, elements of their own culture. As time marched on, some of those elements became more mainstream and a part of what we call American Society. Please note that I said those elements became part of the mainstream rather than we tried to change society to include those diverse elements as part of the American society. This has been a society of assimilation (kind of like the Borgs in Star Trek) where folks from other countries have come here and adapted our culture. Not unlike an American going to France, China or Brazil - they would be fools to whine that those countries aren't respecting, supporting and holding that American's values and views. Yet here we are, this great melting pot of a county and a certain segment of us seem to think that we need to bend and split rules, regulations, teaching methods, manner of dealing with people - based on the individual person. Why?

A school board in my state recently drafted a document regarding the protections that school children should expect when in school. This document included the following sentence (please note, it IS a sentence, only punctuated by commas) - "All students regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, gender, age, ethnicity, culture, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical ability, mental ability, physical attributes, ancestry, political party preference, family status or any other condition that makes students diverse or different are entitled to be free from student-to-student bullying and harassment while a student in the School District."


Now, I agree with the idea, but to me it is again PC gone overboard. My sentiments fall along the lines of what one board member said when he asked why the writer didn't just use the word "all". I thought the answer provided by the writer gives insight to how the PC crowd (mostly liberals) think - the document author stated, "It's a growing knowledge, that the interpetation of the word 'all' as it has been used in the constitution where it states that 'all men are created equal' has been changing. 'All' is a very inclusive term, but it is also a very vague term."

Huh? Is this like Bill Clinton asking what the meaning of the word 'is' is? You wanna find out what the word 'all' means, look it up in the fricking dictionary. Folks, there is no vagueness regarding the word 'all'. All means everyone and/or everything depending on what/who you are talking about. If you use the word 'all' you don't need to spell out all the differences, the diversities, it's covered by that one word 'all'.

If you are a citizen of this country you and your rights are the same as any other citizen of this country. You are free to do what our laws allow you to do, regardless of race, sex, religion, etc. It's illegal for me to deny service to someone based strictly on their race, etc. because under our laws that citizen is a member of 'all' and enjoys the same rights as any other 'all'. In our society, in most states, 'all' members of our society can marry one person of the opposite sex, 'all' members are not allowed to marry a member or the same sex or multiple partners of either sex. These rules apply to 'all'. 'All' members will receive a ticket and a fine (possibly jail time) for driving too fast in a car. Your ticket and punishment aren't based on your race, religion, sex, etc.

So am I off base here? Or is the PC crowd trying to poke it's head in where it doesn't belong? Does 'all' mean 'all'? Or do we need to spell out every nuance of every human being that is a citizen in our country? What about the one legged, near-sighted, bi-sexual, one-glass eyed pygmy who became a citizen in the U.S.? Do we need to make sure he is spelled out in various rules? Or does the word 'all' cover him too?

Your opinions and comments welcome.

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