As we have had occasion to observe in

the past, one of the

unacknowledged and paradoxical side effects of the campaign for

diversity is an increasingly severe effort to enforce strict

conformity on any contentious issue. We say that this is

paradoxical, but in fact it follows clearly from the emotional

wellspring of the campaign for diversity, “affirmative action,”

etc.—namely the conviction that one is fighting for the

imposition of virtue while one’s opponents are benighted

troglodytes ensnared by brutal self-interest. This has been a

familiar scenario from time immemorial, and especially since the

French Revolution when, inspired by the hothouse theories of

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, insurrectionists like Robespierre, St.

Just, and “Gracchus” Babeuf huddled under the banner of virtue

while pursuing their murderous course.

The arrogance of virtue is not always murderous, but it is always

coercive and repellent. American universities have furnished many

splendid examples of the genre, but Americans have no monopoly on

this sort of politically correct depredation. Consider the recent

news, reported last month by The Jerusalem Post, that the

British Musicians Union, representing thirty thousand members,

has proposed banning Israeli musicians from appearing in Britain

and British musicians from appearing in Israel until Israel

withdraws from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (Let’s see, why

is Israel in those locations? Could it have anything to do with

the fact that Israel has, from the day after it declared

independence in 1948, been repeatedly attacked by Arab League

nations, many of which deny its right to exist?)

The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Paris declared that the proposed

ban “would violate the anti-discrimination provisions of

the European Union.” No doubt that is true. But one need not

appeal to Big Brother in Brussels to oppose this ludicrous plan.

Does it have a chance of passing? It is hard to say.

Until the end of the 1950s,

as The Jerusalem Post reports, the union

banned American musicians from performing in Britain,

ostensibly because Americans would be taking work from British

musicians. (The ban was rescinded only when

the American Federation of Musicians

countered by prohibiting British artists from performing in the

U.S.) Fired this time by misplaced righteousness, who knows

what the British Musicians Union will do. One cheering sign is

that The Guardian, a notoriously left-wing, anti-Israeli

(and anti-American) paper, described the union as

“a left-wing, doctrinaire organization as

secretive and tight-lipped as the KGB.” If even The Guardian

finds the British Musicians Union beyond the pale, there are

grounds for hope.