As everyone knows, diversity is all the rage on college campuses. Indeed, to hear some people tell it, diversity is more important than education itself. Now, the most obvious question on the face of this earth is following: How did it come to pass that diversity became more important than education at, of all places, colleges and universities. This ought to be an oxymoron: rather like saying that the point of going swimming is to stay dry or that one is fasting in order to feel full or that one is buying useless things in order to practice spending money.
As is so often the case in life, a good thing seems to have gone awry. Diversity? Fine. But it should not be placed above education. It has become to be this way owing to the rhetorical force of the charge of racism. If you can call my mom a slut, I can perhaps do you one better. I can’t. But I am sure that someone can. But if a minority, especially a black, calls a white person a racist: well, there is next to nothing that the white can do to diffuse the charge. And therein lies the problem.
The expression “You are a racist” has pretty much become a peformative utterance. That is, one makes it so simply by saying that it is so. Accordingly, the need for evidence in support of the charge has been rendered utterly irrelevant. Needless to say, that is a problem.
Here, too, one can more or less see how the charge of racism came to have this force. It is not altogether unreasonable to think that blacks (by and large) might be more in tune with whether or not a piece of behavior is racist than whites. But from this, what does not follow is that the charge of racism needs no evidence in support of it. The truth, if it is a truth, that a black is more apt to be in tune with whether or not a piece of behavior is racist is very much compatible with another truth, namely that the black needs to marshal evidence in support of his claim that he is made. And this is how it should be.
After all, the charge of racism is pretty serious charge. Thus, a person who makes it should most certainly have to marshal some considerations in support of the claim.
But of course this is not what happened.
What happened instead is that whites became more interested in appeasing blacks than holding blacks responsible for their claims. And blacks returned the compliment, as it were, by exploiting this attitude on the part of whites who, in turn, excepted this exploitation in the name of achieving a world void of racism in the future.
Alas, the problem was that accepting this exploitation gave blacks extraordinary power, precisely because accountability for making the charge of racism was entirely jettisoned. Although accountability was jettisoned, the charge of racism itself never lost any of its sting, or at least very little of it.
So diversity is an outgrowth of the power of blacks to make the charge of racism, which essential retains its sting, without having to be accountable in any way whatsoever.
But I am now about to reveal a very cynical side. While I do not believe that power necessary corrupts, there is some force to Marx’s point that power tends to corrupt.
Here is a very nasty way of putting my cynical thinking: Not much has changed on college campuses except that there are more blacks making the charge of racism. What we have not seen is more blacks pursing every field of intellectual endeavor. No, no, no! We do not see more blacks in math and the sciences or the arts as such. Why? Because those fields are racists. Or if not that, then blacks who have such intellectual interests are themselves a victim of racist ideology. And just as no white wants to be a racist, no black wants to be a victim of a racist ideology. Let me be anything but that ! ! !
So diversity has proven to be a disaster—and on two accounts. One reason is that in the end blacks are really taking advantage of the entire intellectual landscape. Why, I am much more likely to get a white majoring in Black Studies than a black majoring in philosophy or Shakespearian literature.
The other reason for the failure of diversity is that there is precious little mingling between blacks and non-blacks. It is a simple truth that on just about any university campus, segregation between racial groups abounds. I have always joked about the irony of this. For the old George Wallace, who at an earlier stage in his life resisted segregation, would pretty much able to certify the typical college campus these days as racially segregated. (Wallace changed and earned the admiration, respect, and votes of blacks. And we should never lose sight of this truth.)
But why is there so little mingling between blacks and non-blacks? Well, the answer goes back to the reality that the charge of racism has become a performative utterance. I would not associate with anyone who could—no matter I did and regardless of the goodwill that I brought to the moment—sully my character at will.
I think that it is no accident that most white students associate with one another rather than with blacks. It is not about being racist, as many would suppose. Quite the contrary, it is about not wanting to be defenseless in the face of a very negative charge that blacks can make at will. Only a fool would put herself or himself in that sort of situation. And it is most unfortunate that blacks delight in having this power with respect to the charge of racism. Worse, it is most unfortunate that blacks abuse it. For the abuse of this power undermines the very idea of racial acceptance.
Genuine diversity on college campuses will take place only when accountability is an ineliminable part of the charge of racism. Alas, I do not see that happening for some time to come. And one reason for that is that we have begun to use other words in a similar vein. Thus, it is nothing nowadays for people to utter “I am offended” without being able to make a plausible case that something offensive took place. And this plays into the hands of making the charge of racism without being accountable.
Unfortunately, there is a more ominous point that flows from these considerations, namely that moral progress is on the decline. For moral progress in the absence of accountability is an entirely incongruous state of affairs.
