I believe it was Austin Powers’ father Nigel who once remarked, “There are only two things I can’t stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures… and the Dutch.”
That movie came out while I was in college, and the joke struck a chord. Having been educated in proudly ‘progressive’ institutions, I grew up hearing a lot about tolerance. My secondary school, for example, hosted a semi-annual ‘Diversity Day’, where the student body took part in workshops designed to expose us to different cultures and points of view. Of course, there’s nothing more cynical than a bunch of sixteen year-olds weaned on Nirvana. We rolled our eyes (audibly at times) but enjoyed the break from homework. Looking back, ‘Interdisciplinary Day’ would have probably been a better billing, as the diversity of perspective didn’t extend far beyond the school’s pre-existing ideological commitments. Still, I give them credit. They were trying to do something new, and their efforts certainly got my peers and I thinking.
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