On Sunday, the Washington Post’s ever-so-politically correct “ombudsman,” Deborah Howell, wrote this column:
“The Post needs more opinion writers and columnists who are of the female persuasion or are minorities. Overwhelmingly, Post columnists are white guys. Some are among the paper’s best columnists, but more diversity would make The Post a richer paper.
“Numerical equality is not what readers look for, but women and minorities want to see themselves well represented in the news and opinion pages of The Post. This is a remarkably diverse region, and that should be better reflected in columnist jobs.”
Howell went on to present a tedious list of the sex and ethnicity of every single Post columnist–although, of course, ethnicity meant only blacks and people with Spanish surnames, with everyone else being lumped together under “white.”
That prompted the award-winning blogger La Shawn Barber to fire off an e-mail to Howell saying, hey, if you want “diversity,” why don’t you hire me?
“More women and minorities – that’s noble but very predictable. Might I add a third category? Why not add more conservative writers to the roster? If you want diversity of opinion, as your column title indicates, it will require the paper to publish pieces written from a non-liberal worldview, one that differs from the view of the current editorial board and stable of writers…..
“And the Post can begin with my voice. First, I’m black. BAM! Second, I’m a woman. BOOM! Best of all, I’m a conservative. ZING! By hiring me as an op-ed writer, the good liberals folks at the Post would kill three diversity birds with one proverbial stone. How cool is that?
“Ms. Howell, the Washington Post needs diversity of thought, ideology and worldview, not just of race or sex. Skin deep-only differences aren’t very interesting to anyone but liberals. The real test of tolerance is how well you tolerate differences of viewpoint.
“I can’t speak for anyone else, but I care more about reading articles written by someone whose opinions and values – not race or sex – are similar to my own.”
So–do you think the Post will be offereing La Shawn an opinion-writing job anytime soon? Maybe when the porkers strap on jet fuselages. Howell’s response so far has consisted of an e-mail to La Shawn promising to “pass” her “name” on to the Post’s op-ed editor.