DONE IN BY DIVERSITY: THROWING ANN COULTER UNDER THE BUS, GOING FORWARD
Poor Ann Coulter. She is in such deep doo-doo with America.
First she assails the chief of staff of the United States Army, Gen. George Casey, during time of war. Not cool.
She takes Gen. Casey to task for affirming what she terms a 'lunatic cliche': "Our diversity . . . is a strength," following the Ft. Hood 'massacre of 13 Americans in which the suspect is a Muslim.'[1]
"Never in recorded history has diversity been anything but a problem," comes the throaty rebuke, citing numerous instances of cultural conflicts -- Northern Ireland, Canada, Israel, for example. Oh-kay. We know diversity can be a problem; but 'never in recorded history has diversity been anything but a problem'? Really? Never? Aren't we forgetting something?
There's a place called America -- the great exception to the Coulter dictum.
To state an obvious example of the dividends of diversity: Where would America be without the blacks? For starters, no gospel music, no Joplin ragtime, no Louie Armstrong jazz, no Ella Fitzgerald, no Duke Ellington or Count Basie. No Charlie Parker, no Monk, no Dizzy. No (Canadian) Oscar Peterson. No Herbie Hancock. No Bobbie McFerrin. No Joe Sample. And no white musicians who derived their inspiration from these virtuosi.
Can you imagine the NBA without Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neill, Kobe Bryant? Or football without Walter Payton, or baseball without Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays? Tennis without Arthur Ashe and the Williams sisters? Golf without Tiger Woods?
Diversity always and everywhere a problem? Tell it to all those white bomber crews in World War II requesting flawless fighter cover from the Tuskegee Airmen. Or to Dwight Eisenhower’s Army in Europe supplied with food, fuel and ammo by the Red Ball Express.
I could call a similar roll of honor for the Irish and other Europeans, Hispanics, Jews, Asians, Gays, yes, Muslims and . . . however else you slice up America. Although by twisted Coulter logic such categorizations are ‘superficial’ and, therefore, presumably not worthy of mention.
Au contraire, Cherie, everything extraordinary done by an American was done by someone belonging to a diverse part of the melting pot that is America. Every group has made its noteworthy contribution, surmounting its special challenges and drawing upon its unique resources in a country ever-growing in its support of diversity. The sum total adds up to a remarkable tally of human achievement.
How, then, is it ‘nonsense’ to celebrate diversity in America as a strength?
Dissing the contribution of our diverse cultures puts Coulter at odds with just about everyone in America. Poor Ann Coulter.
If "’diversity" is a difficulty to be overcome, not an advantage to be sought,’ how to overcome diversity in Coulter’s homogeneous wonderland? Deportation? Prisons? Concentration Camps? Extermination? Not far fetched for the fair Ms. Coulter, who once said "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity." Nice.
What would America look like without diversity? Would Timothy McVey make it into Coulter’s land of un-diversified purity? Or would such a land be populated only by blonde bitch-goddesses in Little Black Dresses and the homogenized men who worship them?
Poor Ann Coulter, most of all, because as an iconic proponent of American exceptionalism she fails to recognize that America is an, if not the exception to her prejudice that diversity is always and everywhere a problem.
This exception is what makes America exceptional.
[1] “AT THE END OF THE DAY, DIVERSITY JUMPED THE SHARK, HORRIFFICALLY” November 19, 2009