As we have had occasion to observe in
the past, one of the
unacknowledged and paradoxical side effects of the campaign for
diversity is an increasingly severe effort to enforce strict
conformity on any contentious issue. We say that this is
paradoxical, but in fact it follows clearly from the emotional
wellspring of the campaign for diversity, “affirmative action,”
etc.—namely the conviction that one is fighting for the
imposition of virtue while one’s opponents are benighted
troglodytes ensnared by brutal self-interest. This has been a
familiar scenario from time immemorial, and especially since the
French Revolution when, inspired by the hothouse theories of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, insurrectionists like Robespierre, St.
Just, and “Gracchus” Babeuf huddled under the banner of virtue
while pursuing their murderous course.
The arrogance of virtue is not always murderous, but it is always
coercive and repellent. American universities have furnished many
splendid examples of the genre, but Americans have no monopoly on
this sort of politically correct depredation. Consider the recent
news, reported last month by The Jerusalem Post, that the
British Musicians Union, representing thirty thousand members,
has proposed banning Israeli musicians from appearing in Britain
and British musicians from appearing in Israel until Israel
withdraws from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Let’s see, why
is Israel in those locations? Could it have anything to do with
the fact that Israel has, from the day after it declared
independence in 1948, been repeatedly attacked by Arab League
nations, many of which deny its right to exist?)
The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris declared that the proposed
ban “would violate the anti-discrimination provisions of
the European Union.” No doubt that is true. But one need not
appeal to Big Brother in Brussels to oppose this ludicrous plan.
Does it have a chance of passing? It is hard to say.
Until the end of the 1950s,
as The Jerusalem Post reports, the union
banned American musicians from performing in Britain,
ostensibly because Americans would be taking work from British
musicians. (The ban was rescinded only when
the American Federation of Musicians
countered by prohibiting British artists from performing in the
U.S.) Fired this time by misplaced righteousness, who knows
what the British Musicians Union will do. One cheering sign is
that The Guardian, a notoriously left-wing, anti-Israeli
(and anti-American) paper, described the union as
“a left-wing, doctrinaire organization as
secretive and tight-lipped as the KGB.” If even The Guardian
finds the British Musicians Union beyond the pale, there are
grounds for hope.