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We lump diversity and inclusivity together in our common discourse about identity and social acceptance to the point we now treat the two terms as having almost the same meaning, inclusive practices are even listed as one of the dictionary definitions for diversity. They are certainly connected but more in a Yin-Yang interaction of opposites sort of way. When you look at their core meaning they are in fact opposing and counter-cancelling concepts.
To be inclusive is to draw disparate and disconnected entities into a unified whole, to combine many into one. To diversify is to separate and make distinct individual entities, to clarify how many different ‘many’s there are. As with all comparative descriptive paradigms you can’t really have the one without the other. You can’t have tall without short, bright without dark, rich without poor, hot without cold…..
Eleven degrees Celsius exists as a temperature but we don’t brand it as being ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ without a point of comparison. Contrasted with thirty degrees it would be considered cold, with minus twenty degrees it would be hot making it balmy for late fall but chilly for midsummer. Someone who is 6’3” would be ‘tall’ surrounded with average people in an elevator but ‘short’ standing next to professional basketball players. Having…