Fox News host Tucker Carlson sees absolutely no benefit to diversity.
The opinionated host on Friday questioned how diversity strengthens the U.S. while also suggesting that diversity weakens the workplace, marriages and the military.
“How precisely is diversity our strength?” Carlson asked.
“Since you’ve made this our new national motto, please be specific as you explain it,” he said. “Can you think, for example, of other institutions, such as, I don’t know, marriage or military units, in which the less people have in common the more cohesive they are?”
Carlson asked, “Do you get along better with your neighbors or your co-workers if you can’t understand each other or share no common values?”
Carlson is apparently ignoring the many benefits of diversity: Studies show that diverse groups are more innovative and creative, diverse groups encourage people to think on a global level, and diversity makes America’s workforce and militaries more competitive.
In the military, diversity is especially valuable.
A 2017 analysis on diversity in the armed services noted that racial and gender diversity is “associated with better creative problem solving, innovation and improved decisionmaking.”
“Those who argue for diversity initiatives in the military argue that a more diverse force has the potential to be more efficient and flexible, able to meet a broader set of challenges,” the analysis says.
Carl Forsling, a retired Marine and senior columnist for Task and Purpose, saw the benefits of a diverse military firsthand.
“In the military, we sometimes add tactical necessity to the mix — the Marine Lioness program is an example,” Forsling wrote in 2015, referencing a program that used female Marines to collect intel from local Iraqi women.
“Additionally,” Forsling continued, “in a military operating in far-flung reaches of the world, having diverse backgrounds often leads to units having individuals conversant in the culture or language of an area of operations.”
While Carlson is no stranger to attacks on liberal values ― this definitely is not his first rant against diversity ― many people are still confused about why he doesn’t see its benefits, especially in the military.
On Twitter, British politician Oliver Cooper pointed out that diversity was essentially one of America’s national mottos: “E pluribus unum,” “Out of many, one.”