Tip-Off #122 - The answer next door
"People refuse to be defined by the differences that are socially ascribed to them." - Les Black, Urban and Community Research, University of London. [1]
In a speech, Apple's Vice President of Diversity, a black woman and 20-year Apple veteran, argued that a group of "white, blue-eyed blonde men" could be diverse because they bring different life experiences and perspectives to the workplace: diversity is the human experience. It shouldn’t be exclusively associated with people of color, women, or the LGBTQ community. Her comments sparked derision. She apologized, stating that what she said was not what she meant, even though it was. Apple asserted that she did not face termination and left on her own; she had little choice.
We've heard many stories like this, most recently, about the difficulty with the three university presidents regarding Israel and Hamas. It is easy to blame both sides for bias and oversimplification. A common example is the use of the Roman Empire to warn us that we are declining and decaying at an alarming rate. We're acting just like those Romans. Each speaker picks out a particular element in Roman life that they consider the dominant cause, and this issue always happens to agree with their own diagnosis of American weakness. Edward Gibbon, a renowned historian of the Roman Empire, dedicated his life to studying its decline and fall. He rejected any single explanation, although drawn to the moral malaise of the ruling class. Gibbon inspired a more critical and nuanced approach to the study of History.
Meanwhile. . . "It's the economy, stupid!" "It's the liberals." "It's globalization.” “It’s Donald Trump." Single-factor analyses offer a clear target. We prefer a direct explanation for what has gone wrong and a no-nonsense formula for fixing it. Sophisticates, no less than the “deplorables,” want a message that is also a massage.
Compassion does not have to be agreeable. It can suggest a sympathetic understanding of others' lack of agreeableness. Talk of tolerance and free speech frames solutions to our differences in remedial policies and programs. But as one theorist puts it, "I eventually realized that only through a careful examination of everyday experiences and practices, or the things that people do and say simply to get along, will any understanding of the negotiation or navigation of diversity be possible." More than DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), we need Respect, Care, and Dialogue.
I had no use for MAGA enthusiasts until one of them moved next door. Now, we have to get along. We both face the same irritations: a narrow shared driveway, the timing of noisy lawn care, pet waste left uncleaned, or garbage left outside for too long. No way was I about to “love my neighbor.” What ended up happening was learning to live next door when you don’t love your neighbor. A big name for this might be: "solidarity without reconciliation."
Rather than dwelling on what doesn't work, we could focus on what does work and how we got there. We know what divides us; we could learn more from what unites us. A key to successful democracy is as close as our neighbor's front porch.
This is quaint and recalls an earlier day, but it is not naive. There are new ways of getting together. Instead of the usual moaning about technology taking over our lives—doomsday is the "Singularity," expected to happen in 2045—we can use it to more significant advantage. Zoom is only the beginning, and social media, even TikTok, is better than the maneuverings of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and the Chinese. At the same time, the Surgeon General has issued an Advisory flagging loneliness and isolation as a major public health crisis aggravated by hours on the computer: people are yearning for "touch" and physical contact. [2]
Here is one matrix of new "best practices": the twin challenges of smarter computer use, facilitated in community computer labs attractive to the young and the elderly; and how more "touching" and face-to-face contact can make sense. [3] Remedial politics and regulation are necessary, but more is needed. Nobody can figure this out for us, at least not from the top.
More than "positive thinking," history shows that good things that are unlikely are not impossible. They take a while longer. It helps if our personal history indicates just that. Whatever this suggests for a philosophy of history, I am thinking of everyday veracity. That’s just the way it is.
Notes and reading
[1] The Art of Listening - Les Back (2007), 167. Sociologist (Glasgow), Centre for Urban and Community Research Director, University of London.
[2] Progress is always a two-edged sword. Consider the development of agriculture 12,000 years ago. That pivotal advance included soil depletion, an increase in malnutrition, the spread of disease due to denser populations, and social inequality. And so it goes. This duality is not unique to the modern era or technology like AI but is a consistent theme throughout human history.
[3] "Touch"—Irshad Manji, author and educator, founder of the Moral Courage College. "In the AI era, more and more customers, sales prospects, and employees will put a premium on the human touch." https://www.moralcourage.com/leadership-in-the-AI-era Manji and the Moral Courage College are known for making DEI training more than another performative exercise. - See Manji’s Don't Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times (2019). Interlocutor: "Lily," a fantastic pet dog, blind and fearless.
“as one theorist puts it, I eventually realized…”- Deep Equality in an Era of Religious Diversity - Lori G. Beaman (2017). The micro-processes that make up everyday negotiations of difference and their social and political ramifications. Beaman is a theorist to watch in coming years. She is now the Canada Research Chair in Religious Diversity and Social Change, Professor in Classics and Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa, and the Principal Investigator of the Religion and Diversity Project, a thirty-seven-member international research team focusing on religion and diversity.
Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea - Leah Hunt-Hendrix & Astra Taylor (2024). Hunt-Hendrix co-founded Solidaire, a network of philanthropists funding social movements focusing on racial and economic justice. She is a Board member of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Taylor is a Canadian-American documentary filmmaker, writer, activist, and musician. She is a fellow of the Shuttleworth Foundation, challenging predatory practices around debt.
"Co-Intelligence" Review: Learning to Live With AI" - Frank Rose, Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2024). Rose is the awards director at Columbia University's Digital Storytelling Lab.
Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration - Teresa Bejan, Oxford (2019). Includes powerful lessons from a neglected American hero. Roger Williams.
The Ordeal of Civility and No Offense: Civil Religion and Protestant Taste - John Murray Cuddihy (1974, 1978). The profanation of our "sacred particularities": "Coarseness, revealing something; vulgarity concealing something." - E.M. Forster.
The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves - Alexandra Hudson (2023). Hudson is a writer, storyteller, and the founder of Civic Renaissance, a platform and learning community dedicated to “reviving the wisdom of the past to help us lead richer lives in the present." https://www.civic-renaissance.com/
“Insight Theory”—about Bernard Lonergan, chapter 3 in Transforming Conflict through Insight by Kenneth R. Melchin and Cheryl A. Picard (2008). Lonergan was a Canadian Jesuit priest and philosopher whose ideas influenced fields beyond theology, including sociology, economics, mathematics, science, and history.
Front Porch Republic -FDR fosters dialogue among dissenting conservatives and liberals. https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2009/03/front-porch-republic/