CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NPR’s Michele Norris teamed up on the Monday edition of The Late Show to lament, in Colbert’s word’s, the “resistance to diversity programs” and falsely accuse that opposition of not wanting to teach history in schools.
Colbert declared that we are in “a time when there’s a lot of resistance to diversity programs and that’s turned into a bit of a political cudgel and there’s also a resistance to teaching in our schools, American history and American racial history.”
There is not. There’s resistance to teaching politicized and inaccurate far-left narratives pretending to be honest racial history, but Norris tried to explain it as an attempt to not confront the past, “Well, on the teaching of history, I think they get wrong the idea that we can outrun our history. I don’t think we can. I don’t think we should.”
Moving on to ideas of diversity, Norris echoed Colbert, “I think diversity is sort of a word that’s become weaponized in some ways and what people get wrong is that diversity is not an ugly thing.”
Norris explained that, “Diversity is one of the beautiful things about America. That when you– thank you. That when you create diversity, you don’t have to lower standards. It’s about widening the aperture, not lowering the standards. I’m going to say that one more time. To create a diverse base, you don’t have to lower standards. You just look for a larger pool because talent is equally distributed. Opportunity isn’t.”
Expanding opportunity is one thing, but it is not what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion adherents mean. Their goal is not just to expand the talent pool and let that expanded pool’s talents speak for themselves, but to pick people solely based on identity politics.
Here is a transcript for the January 29-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
1/30/2024
12:31 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: At a time when there’s a lot of resistance to diversity programs–
MICHELE NORRIS: Yeah.
COLBERT: — and that’s turned into a bit of a political cudgel and there’s also a resistance to teaching in our schools, American history and American racial history. What do you think people get wrong about race and identity in America?
NORRIS: Well, on the teaching of history, I think they get wrong the idea that we can outrun our history. I don’t think we can. I don’t think we should. I think diversity is sort of a word that’s become weaponized in some ways and what people get wrong is that diversity is not an ugly thing.
Diversity is one of the beautiful things about America. That when you– thank you. That when you create diversity, you don’t have to lower standards. It’s about widening the aperture, not lowering the standards. I’m going to say that one more time. To create a diverse base, you don’t have to lower standards. You just look for a larger pool because talent is equally distributed. Opportunity isn’t.