My Diversity Speech, Again

A recent article in the New York Times went on about how Microsoft and Google are gearing up for a battle and how talent will be the key. It cites the examples of GM losing to the Japanese auto makers, Sears stomping Montgomery Wards, and the individuals who guided each to success or failure in changing times. I like to think of things in these terms but on a bigger scale. The USA has seen so much success because of the diverse people who have come here looking for a better life.

This country was built on the backs of immigrants. From the Chinese out west who worked on the railroads, to the Germans and Scandinavians and Poles who farmed the midwest, to the Italians and Irish out east who worked the docks and factories, to the slaves who were brought here against their will to work the plantations in the south, we owe the first 200 years to these people. And now we want to shut the next wave out. The illegal immigrants who make 1,000 calorie Chipotle burritos for office workers, the Africans who clean up the 200 calorie shitlogs left behind by those office workers, the Indians and Chinese who teach our college students because we don't produce enough scientists, the Central Americans who work in construction - these people, whether here legally or not, are filling the roles that most Americans do not want to fill. They do it willingly and for less pay, and everyone wins.

America is strong because we have the best, hardest working, most diverse people. It is necessary for our prosperity that we continue to import the people who want to live here. We do not procreate enough to replace our native population and we do not turn out enough world beating engineers and scientists any more. But we don't need to, we just assimilate the best from other cultures into our culture. Like Google hiring the best software engineers away from Microsoft, we hire the best people away from other countries as we always have since 1776.

The Amish peoples in the eastern US have had problems with genetic diseases. Some people think it is from inbreeding, but more accurately it should be attributed to the small size of their reproductive gene pool. There simply is not enough diversity in their population after so many years of isolation. Everyone is carrying the same sets of genes around, increasing the chances that two with genes for a particular disorder will procreate and thus proliferate the disorder. With diversity in the gene pool, the more dominant, favorable genes will prevent the undesireable ones from winning out. Diversity ensures that a population will be strong and healthy.

Similarly, with a company like GM we see that after years of sitting on the top of the heap doing things the GM way, the company has rendered itself incapable of designing anything with original styling and innovative features, let alone employing modern techniques of quality management. The bean counters at the top are the main culprit because they simply don't see beyond the accounting. GM is a company in need of some fresh new talent, from both Japan and Korea but also even from non-automotive American companies who understand style and efficiency and modern trends. GM needs diversity.

When I hear or read about the efforts to limit diversity by closing our borders, deporting illegal immigrants, ignoring what our allies tell us, outlawing gay marriage with consitutional amendments, and declaring an official language, I worry that we are moving down a path to self defeat. Fortunately most of these efforts have failed, but there is a cloud of closed-minded thinking sweeping over the country. When something like 9/11 happens there is a temptation to scapegoat people of another ethnicity. We want to throw up barriers to shut the bad guys out, but instead we are closing ourselves out from the rest of the world. In World War II, we were reluctant to get involved but eventually we stood with the world and took the problem head on. America is great for its diversity, and we can't let that go.