What has become of inclusivity and diversity?

One of the newest buzzwords out in all parts of society right now is ‘inclusivity’. It’s the latest of the virtue signalling trends that make people feel like they are ‘doing good’ and the word is thrown around by big brands, government agencies, small businesses, schools and anyone either side who want to be seen to be doing the right thing. 

So, let's have a look at what inclusion means and why it may be damaging to the very fabric of society, to your brand and even to your family. 

inclusive

adjective

in·​clu·​sive in-ˈklü-siv  -ziv

 : broad in orientation or scope

: including everyone

especially : allowing and accommodating people who have historically been excluded (as because of their race, gender, sexuality, or ability)

: of or relating to education in which students with disabilities are included with the general student population

Looking at the definition of inclusivity certainly reads as though it would be the best, most fairest way forwards. After all, who doesn’t want to be seen including people of all abilities, all races, all genders (of which apparently there are now over 60 varieties) and all beliefs? 

Surely anyone who didn’t promote inclusivity is a bad person, a racist, misogynist, anti so and so - well that's how the narrative goes if you don’t proclaim your inclusivity to all. 

‘Exclusive' has become a dirty word - it screams bigotry, judgement and lack of diversity, the latest word salad of the woke, tossed around by a vegan non binary university student at a climate action march on a hot Summers day. 

So, if being inclusive speaks to everyone, how do we speak to our specific community? How do we become a voice that is heard by the people we are trying to serve? And how do we define the people we don’t wish to serve? 

This new model of thinking is dangerous and whether we want to admit it or not, inclusivity opens the doors to sexual predators, criminals, liars, tyrants and the dark side of humanity. Being inclusive has no boundaries and without boundaries, etiquette is lost. 

Recently at one of my women's health retreats I asked the question ‘how do we make the World a better place, a place where love conquers all?’

Right on cue one of the women said ‘we make it more inclusive’

My reply was ‘the definition of inclusivity is to welcome everybody so if we welcome everyone into our World that means we welcome the criminals, the pedophiles, the predators and the tyrants. Is that what you want?’

The whole room erupted ‘No, we wouldn't include them!’

In other words you are exclusive. You can’t claim to be inclusive and then exclude some people. 

And this is my point. 

Being exclusive is important. Saying no to the people who you don’t want to serve is important. Saying no to people who might do you or your family harm is important. Saying no to people who do not uphold your beliefs or your values is important. Teaching our children to choose their friends carefully and not make friends with everyone simply because it looks virtuous is important. 

Being exclusive doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you a person who has thought deeply about what you stand for, what is right and wrong for you and what sort of environment you want to live in. 

If you are in business and you want to reach a wider audience you can do that by creating an alternative service, changing your price point, volunteering your time, applying for grants, reaching out to community services, making relations with specific corporations. 

But, if you are in business and you are trying to be inclusive, diversifying for the sake of appeasing the narrative and marketing to everyone and anyone, it’s simply not going to work. The reality of it is that the people who drive Subarus would never step into a Lamborghini shop. The people who fly first class would never take a Greyhound bus. The people who eat organic whole foods don’t buy into Happy Meals and the people who get seasick aren’t shopping for boats. 

In business and in friendships, the best thing you can do is find your people. Your people will speak your voice, their beliefs will resonate with you, their interests will align with yours and you will forge long term relationships that will allow you to grow as a person. 

The idea that by choosing a person to be on your team, in your friendship circle or in your business because of the colour of their skin, a certain ethnicity, or because they publicly announce their pronoun makes you a better person is completely absurd and illegitimate and anyone who believes this needs to seriously consider their own authenticity. Having a token queer friend or employee because it makes you look good doesn't make you inclusive - it makes you narcissistic.

People who choose individuals based on what a person is are acting out of fear and lack and are falling prey to what has become known as ‘the woke mob’. We are seeing this play out in big companies, government agencies and corporations who are hiring and firing not for skills or knowledge or professional attributes, but to tick a box that publicly shouts ‘we are good because we are flying the flag of diversity’. 

This very thinking does not create a culture of love and acceptance and inclusion because the ideology is based on hatred, division and revenge. 

We are seeing inclusion take over women's sport to the point that women are walking away because they physically can not compete with a biological male, we are seeing high school change room facilities open the doors to perverts in the name of gender equality, we are seeing entire government corporations being managed by people who aren’t skilled enough to fit the job but are given the task simply because they divert from the norm and we are seeing children be exposed to sexual exploits when they should still be exploring their own innocence. 

So how did this all happen in one generation? Under the guise of inclusivity, equality and diversity.

Claiming you are inclusive is one of the most prolific virtue signals of our time and while it is being used by well meaning people it is also being used to divide and destroy the foundation of what makes a community strong.

Having people of various genders, ethnicities, religions, ages and sexual orientations (yes it’s a thing) doesn’t stand you on moral high ground, although companies are not only doing it, they are shouting from the roof tops about their own righteousness and social character because of it. First of all, publicly stating that you employ people because of their sexual orientation is creepy and perverted and having such conversations with employees is a bold exploitation of consentual boundaries. 

Exclusivity on the other hand sets you apart from the masses. It makes your brand stand out and it gives you the freedom to express who you genuinely are. From a personal stand point, being exclusive means that you choose friends who are worthy, that you set a standard of expectations on the people you associate with and that you know who you are as an individual. 

We have seen the equity model play out in schools. Inclusivity denotes that every player wins a prize, that there are no celebratory wins for coming first and that students will get more recognition for being queer rather than being top of the class at performing a task or being the best in their chosen sport. 

What could possibly go wrong if we don’t celebrate the small wins, if we don’t put the player on a pedestal or if we don’t make champions out of the best performers? What could possibly go wrong if we choose someone because of their diversity instead of their skills and abilities?

As tribal beings we look to leaders to show the way. The leaders are the ones who we admire for their strength, their commitment and their stand out potential to succeed. We need people we can look up to, aspire to, mentor from. If there are no winners, there are no losers and if there is no differentiation then why would anyone ever put in any effort to excel? 

If no one strives for greatness then what will we become as a family, a society, a generation, a World? The non binary nature of having no winners or losers would mean that we have nothing to live for, nothing to hope for, no point of being here. 

If nobody loses and nobody can win and any one can be included equally in anything then we become like the fictional characters in the movie Wall-E. If you've never seen the movie check out the trailer and see just how close we are moving to this becoming our reality and how normal it may seem to you already with the grooming of societal beliefs.

We look around at today's men and we see a fragment of the male counterparts who were our grandfathers. Men have lost their masculinity in an attempt to seem less threatening and women have stepped into power roles in an attempt to be seen as equal. 

Last week I drove past a feminised man standing next to his car while his wife tried to tell him how to change a tyre. Neither of them knew what to do. Neither one was more capable than the other. The epitome of equal. Ironically, a rugged looking guy stopped to see if he could help and ended up changing the tyre for this family who had no-one in their unit who could solve a simple problem because no-one in the family had carved out the role that traditionally would have been his. 

Some of us are nurturers, healers, communicators, child bearers and others are leaders, providers, protectors and tyre changers. Equality does not lean into our strengths but renders everyone the same and we will become incapable and weak as a society. Show me a man who could fight for his country who has pronouns in front of his name and I will show you the end of civilisation. 

The truth is, there is no such thing as prosperous inclusivity. You can be more tolerant, more loving, more accepting of others but  without boundaries, without expectations, without omission humanity will become obsolete, such as the nature of devolution and such is the decay of antipathy.

So how do we overcome the ludicracy of the current narrative that is shouting at anyone who refuses to succumb to the woke mob? 

First of all we call it out for what it is. No person of sound mind wants to be employed or befriended based on their colour, creed or pronoun. Rational people want to be chosen for their skills, attributes and potential. Ticking the box of diversity doesn't add value or substance and anyone flying the rainbow flag looking for validation is unhinged.

Continue to be inclusive when it is appropriate but not because it is expected. Of course we make friends, employ people and engage with other community members regardless of their ethnicity, gender, age, religion or social status not because of it. We make relationships that resonate with us and we realise that not everybody is going to be a good match for us and that's okay too. We see people for who they are and not what they are and we realise that relationships are forged on common interests, trust and truth. 

We go forth as we always did, with love for all people who are good and true and ignore the expectations of the mentally deranged and observe the deterioration that will come from their extreme ideologies and made up genders, their pretend racism and their hate for traditions. 

We stand for the truth and recognise their lies and we teach our children how to identify the nonsense and how and when to stand up for what is right. We turn off the TV and the radio and lean into the richness of our ancestral ways and we remember the stories of generations gone by and realise that most of the garbage we are being fed has been completely made up to destroy us. 

And last of all, we make choices because they are the honourable choice to make. We make them quietly and with conviction, without obligation or coercion and certainly without ever seeking validation. We make choices that serve humanity, not a forced narrative, not an assumed necessity and we make those choices with our heart, with our gut and with a deep knowing that we are born with, a knowing that has been lost and a knowing that is being stripped with their grotesque emancipation of autonomy.

autonomy
noun
1.
the right or condition of self-government.
2.
(in Kantian moral philosophy) the capacity of an agent to act in accordance with objective morality rather than under the influence of desires.