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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW $60K grant aids oak restoration, bird habitat ... Stouts fire at 15,100 acres, 5 percent contained ... Signups for fall OLLI classes accepted through Friday ... $60K grant aids oak restoration, bird habitat ... Stouts fire at 15,100 acres, 5 percent contained ... Signups for fall OLLI classes accepted through Friday ... RELOCATIONS Herb Rothschild Jr.: Embracing differences Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jun. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Jun. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News This is my second column on the challenges and rewards of living with diversity. Last week, I mentioned an instance of diversity — straights and LGBT people living in harmony — that for my readers asks very little adjustment of attitudes and behavior. I then mentioned the situation in France, where large numbers of residents from Muslim countries live amidst an overwhelmingly secular and libertarian native population. There, the interface is far more stressful for people on both sides of that cultural divide. Using these examples, I established a spectrum of the challenges diversity poses, ranging from some modest adjustment of our mindsets to acceptance of a radical relativism of values, which I regard as a serious mistake. Before I explore further the complexity of this subject, I want to be sure you understand what I mean by diversity. Diversity isn’t variety. We’re not talking about, say, different colors of hair. If different skin colors were of no more import than different hair colors, making racial diversity work would pose neither challenges nor rewards. But varieties of skin color in the U.S. and elsewhere have given rise to disparate individual and collective experiences, which in turn have produced meaningful differences in attitudes, perspectives, and behavior. With race, we’re dealing with an abiding dissonance. Diversity is about encountering others, not in their sameness, but in their differences. True, in fundamental ways we’re all the same, and remembering that truth helps prevent the worst responses when we encounter diverse others. But an appeal to our common humanity will not make domesticate diversity. Nor should we wish it. How can we grow if nothing challenges our settled ways of thinking and acting? But we shouldn’t abandon our settled ways just because we encounter people who think and act differently. Indeed, the encounters cannot be mutually enriching if we have no confidence whatsoever in our own cultures and their core values. I’m deeply grateful that my diverse experiences have changed me from the racist New Orleans teenager I was, but I wouldn’t wish the manners and mores expressed in so much of ghetto rap to replace those I was raised with. We can’t avoid these challenges by adopting a live-and-let-live attitude. There must be significant uniformity of conduct in schools, in workplaces, and especially in our legal regimes. The rules can and should change over time as people who didn’t originally have any say in the rule-making assert their claims. Nonetheless, not every understanding and behavior can be accommodated. Take, for example, child marriages or female genital mutilation. They are illegal in the U.S. We don’t make exceptions. It’s worth imagining how you would defend these laws if challenged by people from cultures where these are accepted practices. Conversely, what would you say to someone from Saudi Arabia, who, tired of hearing his culture criticized for not giving equal rights to women, asked you to explain why the U.S. extends legal protection to the mass production and consumption of pornographic films displaying the humiliation and brutalization of women? Implicit in these examples is the Western elevation of the autonomous and isolated individual over the culturally embedded member of society. This difference may be the most sweeping and challenging form of diversity we face. Must we choose between the personal anxiety that haunts Western culture and the social oppression that plagues most non-Western cultures? I hope not. Time will tell, if we’re willing to take the time. Alternatively, we can wage culture wars along with all the other wars we wage. Herb Rothschild Jr. is chairman of the board of Peace House. DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Jun. 6, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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