In part one, we considered a possible solution to the real loss which we faced from long lines and long waits.  (And note that this does not include the stress which we experience from long lines and long waits because of somebody else’s failure at her / his job.)  We jump to another subject in this part. 

We have an ongoing discussion—some would say battle—in this country about (a) which are our values and (b) how and how often those values should be taught to people.  Our discussion is not some yawn-spawning indulgence into an abstraction.  There are real consequences:  the rights of victims versus the rights of victimizers, as with identity theft;  language immersion or bilingual education;  pure democracy or representative democracy;  laissez-faire capitalism, regulated capitalism or state capitalism. 

But recall from past writings that the larger the population, the more diverse the population naturally would become.  Diversity would mean that values naturally would diverge.  If we encouraged individual Americans to be critical thinkers and skeptics, we would see many subcultures created, just as many branches of Protestantism came to be after the authority of the Pope and clergy, in the interpretation of faith, no longer bound people.  However, is diversity of values a good thing? 

Yes and no.  Because it is within human nature to take any good thing to the extreme, to a point at which, while we cannot live without the good thing, we misuse and abuse the good thing.  Examples?  Dynamite.  Cars.  Airplanes.  Guns.  Atomic fission.  The Internet.  Cell phones.  Credit cards.  Free speech.  Commercials.  Political campaigns.  Rights of the mentally ill.  Rights of parents versus grandparents.  Rights against search and seizure.  Said another way, we are idealists who, in the pursuit of ideals, create dysfunctional results.  We are extremists, and the only thing keeping us somewhat sane is diversity.   Why?  Diversity means that we are unable to compel people to embrace extreme ideals. 

But somebody would say, “That begs the question.  If we are extremists in the pursuit of our ideals, can we not be extreme in the pursuit of diversity, thereby creating a dysfunctional diversity?”  More in the next part.

July 19, 2007