Is Diversity a Strength, and Should Strength Be a Core Value?

What if diversity isn’t our strength? Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) says he scolded the president for saying something scatological about certain countries and their emigrants. “Diversity has always been our strength,” Graham allegedly said. By my very rough count, this makes Graham the bazillionth person to proclaim some variant of “diversity is strength.”

But is it true? I think the only close to right answer is, “It depends.” Specifically, it depends on which (often clichéd) analogy you want to hang your argument on. Diverse stock portfolios are more resilient. Diverse diets are healthier. But that doesn’t mean picking bad stocks will make you richer, nor that eating spoiled foods is good for you. I once heard the Reverend Jesse Jackson explain that racial integration of the NBA made it stronger and better. He was right. But would gender integration of the NBA have the same effect? Would diversifying professional basketball by height? Probably not. In other words, all of these analogies can only take you so far. Thomas Sowell once said, “The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455479/diversity-our-strength-it-true