Could you develop an intimate relationship with someone of a different race?
Do you think feminist perspectives should be an integral part of the higher education curriculum?
Your local government would like the answers to these questions -- and quite a few others.
Which local government might this be? Berkeley? Santa Monica? Manhattan? Nope. The political correctness inquisition has now spread far beyond the standard bastions of progressive thinking.
The questions above are being asked of city government employees in the conservative southern city of Durham, North Carolina. Everyone wants to be up-to-date, so the Durham City Council commissioned the New York City firm Diversitas to perform a "diversity audit." The cost of the audit is $68,950.
With the waste and corruption continually chronicled in these pages and elsewhere you might think that city officials across the U.S. would be focusing on financial audits. But no -- they've got more important things on their mind than mundane questions about the efficient and honest delivery of services to taxpayers.
The Durham City Council would also like to know if you think:
- "Men naturally score higher than women on math tests."
- "Some workers would be fired if they were not minorities."
- "The most qualified workers in my job seem to be male."
Durham City government employees who answered no to the two questions at the top of this page and yes to the three questions above may soon be looking for new employment.
The union that represents Durham City government employees doesn't object to the invasion of privacy that these questions represent, or the fact that they are completely irrelevant to the work performance of city government employees. The union also doesn't mind that responding to the "audit" consumes time that the employees would normally spend doing their jobs.
In fact, the president of the city workers union, Nathanette Mayo, thinks the survey is a great idea. "I think it's important to know what people are thinking," Mayo said.
Mayo thinks the survey may help to "weed out some of the people who are very narrow-minded."
(Source: Nando Net)
Quote of the Day!
The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., 1860
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