As a nation with a long history of offenses against women and people of color, we are rightfully proud to see Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in contention for the White House, but before we pull a muscle patting ourselves on the back, I’d like to point out that we are falling behind on a more important type of diversity.

Susan Jacoby expressed the issue perfectly in her April 20, 2008, LA Times editorial Talking to Ourselves.  She presents the dangers arising from “…the public’s increasing reluctance to give a fair hearing – or any hearing at all – to opposing points of view.” Have we made progress against racism and sexism by learning to dismiss everyone else’s ideas equally?

Regrettably, old prejudices and superstitions persist, but today’s widespread closed-mindedness is an even greater threat. As a businessperson, I saw firsthand the value of an open mind. At Kinko’s, “In Ideas We Trust” was one of our mottos. We welcomed debate and dissent, believing continuous education a necessity for long-term success.  The company established a series of “Commitments to Communication” to remind coworkers that respect for one another creates daily opportunities to learn and grow. Arrogance, on the other hand, diminishes companies, nations, and individuals.

Today people commonly choose news media that support their entrenched political beliefs, and the trend extends to more trivial pursuits as well. Hobbyists choose magazines or websites devoted wholly to their own narrow specialization: a specific camera model or electric train brand.  Millions of Americans spend evening after evening online, learning more and more about less and less, until we reach a point where the only people we want to talk to already know anything we could tell them, and vice versa. Sadly, as technology has made the world increasingly smaller, we have chosen to make ourselves smaller too.

I believe the real insight on diversity comes when you recognize that every living being is a unique individual. Once you make that mental leap, diversity of ideas takes its rightful place as the most valuable human resource.  I’m proud that an African American man, a woman, and a Viet Nam Veteran are contenders for the American presidency.  I’m more proud that they bring with them ideas on healthcare, education, security, economics, etc. I hope we the people will make an effort over the coming months to better understand and evaluate these ideas.