Diversity = Intolerance – OpEd
Old-fashioned bigots are honest: they don’t mince words or try to disguise their bigotry. Today’s bigots are dishonest: they talk endlessly about the virtues of “diversity and inclusion,” yet are just as intolerant as the bigots of old. Indeed, the record shows that diversity is code for intolerance.
Oregon’s Hillsboro School District has censored Santa (not just Jesus) from the schools. But instead of telling the truth—it wants to limit the free speech rights of Christians at Christmastime—it says it is practicing diversity. So it has instructed employees that they must be careful when decorating their doors: nothing religious will be tolerated. Moreover, even non-religious figures, such as Santa, are forbidden.
Why is Santa so controversial? They don’t come right out and say it, so I will: Santa reminds people of Christmas, and Christmas reminds people of Christ. There’s the rub.
School authorities say that when employees decorated their doors in years past, it made some people feel “uncomfortable.” But Hanukkah begins on Christmas Eve this year, and surely there is some super-sensitive soul who feels “uncomfortable” about Hanukkah symbols, yet there is no word about censoring them (at least for now).
After telling employees to “refrain” from using Santa to decorate their doors—in the name of being “respectful and sensitive to diverse perspectives and beliefs”—school officials then lied to the community, saying, “We [are] NOT banning Santa.” But that is exactly what they did. This is why old-fashioned bigots are so endearing: they don’t lie.
The Utah Cultural Celebration Center, located in West Valley City, is home tonight to a “Trees of Diversity” exhibit. It does not say what Diversity Trees look like, or why they are being substituted for Christmas trees. However, given that Diversity = Intolerance these days—especially at this time of the year—it hardly matters what they say. We get the point.
Proof that diversity is code for intolerance can also be gleaned by considering which holiday is being bashed on TV. If December is Diversity month, then why are not all religious and secular holidays treated with the same degree of disdain that Christmas is?
Last night, “Family Guy” on Fox featured a discussion about Jesus’ penis. Why is it that Muhammad’s penis is never a topic of conversation on this show? The birth of Jesus was mocked on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” but there was no ridicule of Hanukkah. Again, where’s the diversity in singling out Christianity?
The only good news is that fewer and fewer Americans are being fooled by these dishonest diversity games. What’s really going on is censorship, pure and simple.