Queens University in Kingston, ON is coming under criticism for hiring six "dialogue facilitators" to roam its campus and intervene in student conversations in order to promote “diversity” and deal with what they deem to be any “offensive" material.
The six graduate students from diverse backgrounds have been hired to encourage discussion on race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and other social issues, as well as step-in when they hear conversations that could be deemed "offensive." Each facilitator went through an 11-day training course to prepare them for their roles and have been granted free room and board as well as a yearly stipend as payment.
The phrase "in order to promote 'diversity'" reminds me of a something Jim Kalb wrote in his new book, The Tyranny of Liberalism:
The fate of liberalism is displayed in the fate of words like "diversity" and "tolerance." Contemporary liberalism honors diversity and tolerance above everything else, but its diversity excludes and suppresses people with a traditional understanding of normality, and its tolerance requires speech codes, quotas, and compulsory training in correct opinions and attitudes.
... substantive tolerance requires pervasive administrative control of human relationships. (p.92)
Queens University is apparently determined to prove Jim Kalb 100 per cent correct.
If you're interested in Jim Kalb's new book, there's a good, brief review over at the Conservative Book Club, an interview with the author at the publisher's site, and it's also available via Amazon.
Hat tip: Pilgrimage to Montsalvat
Meanwhile, the student council at another Canadian University has decided to stop fundraising for cystic fibrosis research ... in the name of diversity.
ReplyDeleteThe student council was concerned that the disease mostly affected white males and that the fundraising wasn't therefore inclusive.
If you are interested in Jim Kalb - you might also appreciate this essay at TAKI-MAG (http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_tyranny_of_tolerance/ )
ReplyDeleteThe limitations of the liberal virtue of "tolerance" can be seen in the hostile and irrational reaction to anyone opposing the Homosexualist agenda (e.g. the "health ambassadors" discussed here ( http://cumecclesia.blogspot.com/2008/11/down-right-evil-new-heresy-of.html)
"Each facilitator went through an 11-day training course to prepare them for their roles and have been granted free room and board as well as a yearly stipend as payment."
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that their training includes some self-defense, for sooner or later they're going to need it, should they interrupt conversations which they find offensive.
emarel