Why Inclusion Matters in the Face of Extremism

Assessing your work and social interactions for diversity is an interesting exercise. In the last two weeks, how many people have you interacted with who look, sound and think differently to you? By interact, we’re talking more than just ‘How’s it going Abdi? Hey, my laptop is doing that thing again where it…*drifts off into boring IT talk*’. If you are white and you KNOW your white colleagues better than your non white colleagues, e.g. their children’s names, what they do in the weekend, what stresses them out and what makes them smile, there is a good chance you are sub consciously excluding people who are different to you. If you are male and your meetings are mostly with other men or you mentor, coach or network with mostly men, there is a good chance your affinity bias is driving you instinctively towards others who look and sound like you. The same can of course be said about minority groups and women (who, incidentally, are NOT a minority group!), however the power and privilege structures are different so the outcomes of such interactions don’t contribute as significantly to an unequitable status quo.

It’s important to remember that the largely safe and knowledgeable world we live in is relatively new. As humans, we are biologically driven to seek out threat. Our external threat system is designed to help our ancestors survive lions, enemy tribes, poisonous foods etc. Our eyes focus in on an angry looking dog/precariously balanced scaffolding pole/aggressive email from a line manager; our hypothalamus sends a signal to pituitary gland which stimulates our adrenals, cue a hefty dose of cortisol and the diversion of blood from our organs to our limbs – fight, flight or freeze mode. We are designed to be hyper vigilant to keep us alive and historically, as those from our own tribe/clan were less likely to kill us, our ancestors were alert to those who looked different as they carried greater risk of hurting us or taking precious resources. It was a dog eat dog world. We now live in a scientifically driven era, we can seek answers to questions in the time it takes to reach into our pockets and we no longer drown people to prove they weren’t witches.

Our brains receive 11 million bits of information per second but can only attend to about 50. That leaves a whole lot of data to be categorised, interpreted and marked as ‘not as important’; to do so, we need to apply bias and stereotypes to make quick sub conscious decisions. Gaps need to be filled where there isn’t enough information, so we rely on previous exposures to relevant information – our own experiences, the media, music, books, the words of influential people (our parents, teachers…Trump….) It’s why American police officers are more likely to shoot a black person than a white person in an online simulation; the media narrative combined with strong stereotyping creates an association in the brain between ‘black person’ and ‘gun’. Which is wildly unfair as we know this then creates a cycle; biased reporting in the media, biased decision making by law enforcement and biased beliefs and behaviours by all ethnicities as they succumb to the influence of stereotyping. Throw all the other implicit biases into the mix and we’re looking at the odds being stacked against minority groups from early childhood; bias in the education system, bias in healthcare, bias in recruitment, bias in promotion, bias in the judiciary system etc. It’s not our ‘fault’ as such, but we have a responsibility to help our biology catch up to modern day living. With new understandings about neuroscience and neuroplasticity, we know we can change the way we think and respond. Mindfulness also plays a part in managing how we attend to information. Our fear orientated decision making is designed to keep us alive in that ancestral dog eat dog world. We no longer need to operate in such a way.

What does this have to do with terrorism, particularly of the right wing variety? It stands to reason that someone who picks up a gun and kills multiple people due to their religion, political stance, sexuality or skin colour, probably hasn’t really spent much time getting to know people from their target demographic. Therefore, connecting with people who look, sound and think differently to ourselves is vital in overcoming our innate fear response. Additionally, if there is a culture, either in a business or in a community, of making comments about minority groups (or women) which creates an ‘us and them’ paradigm, it quietly substantiates the thinking of those at the hateful peak of the below pyramid who believe they deserve more – more space/land, more people who think or look like them, more power, more respect. On the right wing side, it would seem there is a belief such adherents are entitled to more and taking life or land from those who are different will deliver the world they indignantly believe they deserve.

In New Zealand, I’ve heard the same people who are now devastated about the mosque terrorist attack use the term ‘towelheads’ to describe Muslims (wrong religion ironically), I’ve seen jokes being sent around (clearly older people – it’s so 90’s to send email jokes…) about women, LGBT people, Muslims, Asians, black people. I’ve heard of clients asking for anyone but a female lawyer at a law firm – a request which is acquiesced to by the firm. I’ve heard about a senior legal counsel in a government department making sexist jokes about the length of women’s skirts in comparison to ideal length legal cases. And beyond all this, I hear regular mutterings about Asian drivers, overseas property investors, ‘their type’ (in reference to anyone not Pākehā/white European) and comments about te reo Māori being overdone, indignancy about the place names on the news being ‘changed to suit the Māoris’ and so on and so forth. But for the most part, I hear and see the most incredibly kind and humble people here in New Zealand, people who would, once they know someone, give them the shirt off their back. That’s why it’s so important that in our businesses and schools, we embrace diversity and inclusion as more than just buzz words. We need to reach out and connect with different people and get to know them BEFORE there is a huge tragedy, before an extremist’s racism forces us to look honestly in our cultural mirror or before the tables are turned and a minority group extremist (whether political, state sanctioned, school yard or homegrown) creates careless carnage on our streets. There is a curiosity as to how we might be responding if the Christchurch terror attack had been carried out by a radicalised Isis extremist – would we still be reaching out to those same refugee/migrant families on our streets? 

True inclusion and equity starts in our offices and meeting rooms. If our boards, executive teams, shortlists, are all white, all male (or maybe include a token female…), all heterosexual, not only are we missing the significant business opportunities diversity brings, but in a way, our companies are sub consciously and subtly contributing to a society in which we keep the fires of exclusion and privilege alive. If our social calendar only includes people who reflect the way we look, sound and think, we’re missing the valuable input of diversity which neurologically alters the way we apply implicit stereotypes to people, and additionally, doesn’t support the notion of a truly integrated community in which we welcome difference.

Being nice isn’t enough anymore. We need to be allies and advocates; apply critical thinking and empathy to the worlds of people who are different to us, reach out and genuinely get to know those who look, sound and think differently to us, and above all, lay challenge at the feet of those who persist with a fear driven and angry or mocking response to otherness. Our willingness to stand up to unconscious bias and (often conscious) bullying will significantly influence the lives of less privileged and minority group people, as well as preventing our friends and colleagues from unwittingly contributing to a world in which extremism and hatred can foster. When the sadness fades away and the flowers have dried up after each hate based crime across the world, what will each of us do differently? Let’s stop being so nice, stop sitting on the fence, stop just ‘tolerating’; let’s be allies and advocates for a safe, welcoming and truly inclusive world instead.

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For more on inclusion and wellbeing or to book a call to talk about anything from mental health to nutrition, stress, bullying or even the impact of pornography, visit Flipside Consulting.