February 19, 2005

Derb on the Diversity Industry

John Derbyshire, science writer and blogger extraordinaire, has this take on the Summers controversy:

I think it's worse that you say, and Larry Summers is in deep doo-doo. He pretty much laid out the entire case against the "diversity" racket. He even included the most telling argument of all, the one that says: "Look, if, as you claim, there is this pool of super-talented people who are being passed over because of 'discrimination,' then why doesn't some academic entrepreneur sweep them all up and create a super-department out of them?" These things must not be said. Once you open these doors, there is no telling where thought will lead you. The diversity business is huge -- just look at its glossy magazine, DIVERSITY INC. It will not be mocked. Summers is toast.

Cynical, but it's true there are material as well as ideological stakes here.

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