# Is a homogeneous society a better, healthier option in the modern age? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 14, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066 "2026-09-14T19:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/21 "2026-09-15T12:52:20Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I just looked it up – Canada is the most diverse Western country! And for that I heartily congratulate you!! 💯 So, what gives? What’s the difference? It may be because the United States was built on violence and oppression. First, we wiped out millions of native Americans, then we built a work force through kidnapping, oppression, and slavery. Add to that the “wild west mentality” we have that promotes a society saturated with hundreds of millions of weapons that, in many cases, are untracked and, voila, here we are. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/22 "2026-09-15T13:00:09Z")
I’m in the US, not Canada. The US is a LOT more religious, and that seems to lead to a lot of brutality – the states that still have the death penalty, for example, tend to be the bible belt states. Also, we had white supremacy as a core value at our founding, and fought a war over it. That legacy continues to do harm, with our lack of a safety net directly tied to the majority wanting to make sure that “those people” don’t get anything for free. I believe, but I don’t have any cites, that a social safety net can make people feel like we’re all in this together, helping each other when we’re down. The US doesn’t do that anywhere near as much as other countries. Also, I think that right wing media in general is a much stronger force here, and it has been stoking divisiveness since the early 90s, demonizing the other side. When I was first becoming politically aware in the 80s, Democrats and Republicans both worked together, crossed the aisle. There was general agreement on facts, etc. Plus, money is completely polluting our politics. It’s hard to get someone to believe in something like climate change, universal healthcare, etc., when their paycheck depends on them not believing it (that phrase is paraphrased/stolen from someone much smarter than me). ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/23 "2026-09-15T13:03:28Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > The US is a LOT more religious, and that seems to lead to a lot of brutality – the states that still have the death penalty, for example, tend to be the bible belt states. Oh, yes! I was having an IRL discussion about this with a couple of radical religious right types, and I made the mistake of saying, “I think our fanatical religous right is Christianity’s version of the Talaban.” Oh, boy, the looks I got made me happy we were in a public place and not some isolated place where they could do me in. LOL ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/24 "2026-09-15T13:22:47Z")
Today I learned. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/25 "2026-09-15T13:33:37Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Unit 731 was not the product of a healthy society. True, but their society learned and it grew beyond it. They are a people of peace now, not an imperialistic people of war. Ironically, we have become the nation that is threatening other nations and attacking them. As I said, however, we can all pick out individual things to criticize in order to try to prove our point, but I think the ultimate jury, history, is not yet ready to render its verdict. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/26 "2026-09-15T13:49:27Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > They have one of the highest suicide rates on the planet; including among those children. > > And we have the highest murder rate among first world nations. Ours is 6 per 100,000, but Japan’s is under 1. Hey, if you are truly screwed up, it is much more honorable to kill yourself than some innocent person. Look, we could go back and forth on this all day long, but individual isolated statistics don’t prove anything. Time will tell the story, but I doubt any of us will be around to see how the final chapter is written. Children are killing themselves rather than go back to those well-ordered classrooms you’re praising. I’d rather have a little disorder and live kids. YMMV. > [@Jasmine](#): > > > [@RitterSport](#): > > > > just looked it up – Canada is the most diverse Western country! > > And for that I heartily congratulate you!! 💯 > > So, what gives? What’s the difference? It may be because the United States was built on violence and oppression. The difference pretty obviously isn’t diversity. Much of that violence and oppression in the USA has been attempts to suppress diversity. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/27 "2026-09-15T13:49:57Z")
My sense is that multi-cultural societies (less homogeneous ones) are healthier and stronger, especially ones that welcome outsiders. For one thing, the world is heterogeneous, so it’s easier to work with others if your society is more open. Also, there are good, smart, talented people everywhere and you want your country to be the one they aspire to live in. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/28 "2026-09-15T14:00:16Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’d rather have a little disorder and live kids. YMMV. A “little” disorder? We’re slaughtering our children while they are sitting in classrooms in school, so your comment lacks the righteous nobility that was obviously intended. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/29 "2026-09-15T14:18:17Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Much of that violence and oppression in the USA has been attempts to suppress diversity. I think a lot of it comes from libertarian style thinking as well. MAGA claims to be conservative, but IMHO a large part of it is libertarian. That is, the whole line of thinking that doing bad things is OK as long as 1) It’s private citizens doing it and not the government and 2) It’s our private citizens doing it, and not those other ones. The 2nd part is, IMHO, why a homogeneous society is not a good thing. The assholes from the majority group start thinking it’s ok to take the law into their own hands (whether with street violence like Kyle Rittenhouse or by creating businesses so large that the government answers to them rather than the other way around, like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, etc.), and we get the terrible results that we see in the era of Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/30 "2026-09-15T14:29:06Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > We’re slaughtering our children while they are sitting in classrooms in school That’s a US thing, not a diversity thing. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/31 "2026-09-15T14:32:43Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > True, but their society learned and it grew beyond it. But they were _no less homogenous_ when they were genocidaires and human vivisectionists. So what’s homogeneity got to do with it? > [@Jasmine](#): > > They are a people of peace now You’re looking at a snapshot and thinking it’s the whole movie. > [@Jasmine](#): > > I think the ultimate jury, history, is not yet ready to render its verdict. Kind of _my_ point, in fact. Or more accurately: history has no end. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/32 "2026-09-15T14:37:34Z")
If you honestly think Canadians did not mistreat, murder and take First Nations land, I don’t know what to tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/33 "2026-09-15T14:40:26Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > That’s a US thing, not a diversity thing. I didn’t say it was. I was responding to a comment designed to convince me that our society is superior to Japan’s because fewer children commit suicide. The idea is that it is rather a shaky point to make because we are slaughtering our own and making absolutely no attempt at creating laws and controls designed to address that. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/34 "2026-09-15T14:43:27Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I was responding to a comment designed to convince me that our society is superior to Japan’s because fewer children commit suicide. Are you comparing the US and Japan, or are you comparing homogeneous and heterogeneous? Because there are plenty of heterogeneous societies that don’t kill their kids, either through suicide or gun violence. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/35 "2026-09-15T14:46:48Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I was responding to a comment designed to convince me that our society is superior to Japan’s because fewer children commit suicide. Interesting take on that comment… ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/36 "2026-09-15T14:47:18Z")
If I accepted the premise of the OP – and I’m not saying I do – I think it would be extraordinarily difficult to ascribe causality. Homogeneity and heterogeneity in a wildly complicated system (eg, societies with high populations) are but one of a nearly infinite number of variables. I would think a robust multiple regression analysis could point us toward _directionality,_ but it would be very difficult to get beyond that. IOW: if I accepted the premise, I think it would address _correlation._ I _do not_ think it would speak coherently toward _causation._ ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/37 "2026-09-15T14:50:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > You’re looking at a snapshot and thinking it’s the whole movie. I think most posters in this thread are doing the same thing, to be honest. As I said in this thread, that proves nothing definitively other than many societies have done very bad things at one point or another in their history. Obviously (to me mind you), diverse societies that can live in harmony through understanding, empathy, respect, and mutual cooperation represents the ultimate victory in human social evolution. I honestly believe that is the only way we are going to expand to the stars and ensure the survival of our civilization, and that is as one unified race of people. I just don’t see and have ever seen throughout human history any sign that this is going to happen. An individual homogeneous society, however, represent the next best thing to me. That’s pretty much it. If you have a lot more faith in the human race than I do, then I envy you because yours is a much happier viewpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/38 "2026-09-15T14:52:22Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I’ve come to believe that a homogeneous society, like that in Japan, is much healthier than a society consisting of many different value systems and behavior. That’s not homogeneity; that’s consensus. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/39 "2026-09-15T14:53:56Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > That’s not homogeneity; that’s consensus. Well, it’s far more likely that you will have the latter if you have the former. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066/40 "2026-09-15T15:08:16Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > I think most posters in this thread are doing the same thing, to be honest. I very consciously am not - I haven’t said “Japan was just the worst in WWII, therefore homogeneity BAD!”. I think homogeneity is _irrelevant_ and it’s how a society is structured independent of number of cultures it supports, that determines its character. > [@Jasmine](#): > > many societies have done very bad things at one point or another in their history. All bad things are not equally bad, and not all bad things are absolutely evil in the way Unit 731 was. > [@Jasmine](#): > > If you have a lot more faith in the human race than I do, Ha ha ha ha! No. Not at all. I think the majority of human beings are _at best_ pettily selfish, wilfully ignorant, dully uncreative and boringly venal. I just don’t think that actually goes away when they only see copies of themselves around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-homogeneous-society-a-better-healthier-option-in-the-modern-age/1033066.md?page=3)