Diversity

Diversity: the condition of having or being composed of differing elements; the inclusion of different types of people in a group (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

It’s so ironic how this concept contradicts itself. It encourages inclusion, but the definition itself recognizes the segregation of people. I think that the concept doesn’t tackle the root of the problem, in spite of its good intentions. Classifying people in boxes will inevitable have the consequence of discrimination. It’s funny how often you find people fighting for the rights of minorities, but at the same time discriminate the ones that think differently to them. How they say that we are all the same, but they call pigs the ones who don’t share their same morality.  Black, White, Gay, Women, Fat, Poor are just examples of people’s labels; but Racist, Pig, Corrupt, Arrogant, Intolerant, Criminal, etc. are also labels. They come from the same self-righteous mind-set of assigning the value of a person according to how they act or think. Of rejecting anyone who doesn’t agree with the same ideas, thinking that they deserve it. And as long as we keep on judging the value of a person on external factors there will always be discrimination.

The value of a person should reside in their personhood itself, not in their decisions, preferences, ideas or actions. Just look at an evident example, of how people are treated in jails, like if they weren’t persons of value anymore. Yes, it is true that they made bad decisions and that is why they ended up there in the first place, but taking away their dignity as a result of their actions is exactly the same thing as other minorities experience. We see many people marching for the rights of women, bullied children and different sexual orientations, but we don’t see anyone marching for the rights of drug addicts and corrupt politicians. I’m not saying that what they do is correct, but labelling them as “criminals” is putting yourself in the same selfish position of self-righteous, like if you were to judge their value as human beings. That is exactly the root of hate crimes.

So instead of hanging a rainbow flag to support the different classifications of people, I would rather hang a white flag to support the idea that there is no difference in people and we are equally valuable. Because in a world in which there are no labels there is no room for discrimination. I wonder, if people would stop looking at labels and start seeing everyone as human beings there would be more room for love, forgiveness and mutual support. Because the value of a human is of “human being”, not of “human doing”.