| I think there is a delicate balance between understanding and valuing, between
difference and diversity. Without understanding the difference, these
discussions collapse into anarchy. (Look no further than the DIGITAL Notes
conference if you don't believe me 8^(
I think our SERPed colleague Jack Cahalan made a good but unappreciated point
on this topic a year ago. He drew a distinction between recognizing,
understanding, and valuing differences. Most people have cultural filters in
place which prevent them from even recognizing difference. To cite a personal
example, while the four little letters J O N G ought to be simple enough to
write down, a very large percentage of all service people my family deals with
have always filtered my name into Anglo-Saxon, usually "John." I can see them
write down J O and falter. They don't even recognize that my name might not
be English.
Once you recognize that some people are different, the next step is to
understand difference. Again citing personal example, Chinese are said to be
quiet and unassertive. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I often get that way
myself. A more abstract example might be a member of a culture that doesn't
like being touched, or someone from a culture where touching is expected.
If you touch someone and they react negatively, perhaps it's a cultural
difference and not some sort of character flaw.
The hardest thing is to value a difference. This is where we tend to founder,
I think, because we think of irrelevant examples. (Jack's example was, "I
understand that Saddam Hussein is different from me, but I do not value his
difference." I seem to recall that comment drew a lot of reaction.)
There is also the distinction between difference and diversity. I think
"diversity" suggests a range of personality and cultural types, while
"difference" leaves too many openings.
Within the narrow confines of the business world, we can perhaps achieve a
valuation of diversity; and within the narrow confines of
different thinking styles, diversity is valuable. The team making a decision
or drawing up plans ought not to be made up entirely of detail-oriented
technical people, or visionary dreamers, or charismatic leaders; there ought
to be a mix of all types.
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| I admit that I am sometimes baffled by how other people perceive
Valuing of Diversity (Differences). Its difficult for me to explain
what I think of when I hear "VoD". Since I consider myself to be a fair
and honest person who does not judge others based on perceived differences,
I have a hard time coimprehending why anyone would?
I perceive VoD as a tool that helps people overcome their personal
filters and to work along with their peers despite differences.
The one thing that I have a very strong (negative) reaction too are
hate groups, and I seriously doubt that I could work professionally with
someone who is a racist, hate monger. Especially if said person was
expousing his hatred in work. This is an area I would be interested in
hearing how DEC handles. Hoe would DEC handle a situation where a
known KKK member was working for them and said member was rather vocal
in his 'beliefs'. Now this person could say that he is merely stating
his beliefs and that he should be included in VoD. Would VoD allow
such hatred?
I understand the differences of 'Hate Groups' such as the KKK, WAR
(White Aryan Race), Skinheads, etc. But I will not, under any
circumstances tolerate or value their difference. "Hate Groups"
foster hatred and intolerance and I feel that my 'valuing' their
difference would make it appear as though I approve of their beliefs.
However, I must be careful because I realize that people can use my
same logic and turn around and say the same thing about the gay
community (in the sense that 'valuing' somehow equals approval of).
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