Diversity is like many things in life: if you do not exercise it in careful moderation, then you’re going to have a bad time.

To demonstrate this point, imagine you are cooking spaghetti bolognese and looking to add some herbs as a finishing touch. You could either:

• add none;

• use the tried and true combination of basil and oregano; or

• be innovative and come up with your own combination of a few herbs, which may or may not include oregano and basil.

Alternatively, for those of the left, it would be remiss of me not mention that you could also choose to:

• celebrate the diversity of your pantry;

• indiscriminately chuck every one of the 20 or so herbs you have in your pantry into the dish, along with some cardamom seeds and cloves for good measure;

• convince yourself that this will be the best spaghetti bolognese the world has ever seen because of its diversity;

• if people question why you would want to put so many seemingly incompatible and different herbs and spices into the one dish – all at the same time without any method – tell them that they are anti-diversity and bigoted;

• convince yourself again that this will indeed be the best spaghetti bolognese the world has ever seen because of its diversity;

• when the dish inevitably tastes like garbage and people complain, tell them that they are anti-diversity, bigoted, herbist and spicist. If necessary, pull out a single herb and make someone taste it in isolation to support your point; and

• refuse to accept that the dish tastes like garbage and tell anyone that disagrees that it has nothing to do with either you or any particular herb or spice – and that people complaining should undertake herb and spice diversity training delivered by one of your friends.

While this example sounds rather extreme, it’s precisely what Western societies, including our own, have done with their immigration policies and their inevitable fallout.

If you happen to live in Melbourne, then there’s a very good chance that you’ve witnessed the impact of Australia’s immigration diversity policy first hand – the most recent notable example of which occurred just before Christmas last year:

A MAN was bashed and whipped with a belt during a vicious brawl on St Kilda beach, in Melbourne’s southeast.

Two tradies working on the St Kilda beach surf club knocked off work when a gang began destroying temporary fencing after a brawl erupted on the beach.

The men started yelling for them to stop, and the gang turned on them, punching and kicking the men until they blacked out.

One of the tradies Andrew, told Ten Eyewitness News he was whipped with a belt while his workmate Nathan, was bashed by a dozen men of African appearance.

It is believed the gang had been terrorising beachgoers for hours, stealing their phones, bikes and other possessions. Police were called to the scene but the gang would disperse before meeting up again to continue harassing people.

Incredibly, the police had the nerve to respond with this:

Police say the fight broke out on Jacka Boulevard in the seaside suburb about 7.30pm on Monday after a verbal altercation. Detective Acting Inspector Damien Jackson said it appeared to be a case of “mistaken identity.” 

[TMR: did Jackson learn this line in Victorian detective school? Seriously, two tradies get beaten to a pulp and this ‘detective’ flippantly says it appears to be mistaken identity. And so what if it was? How is it relevant? How does it justify anything?].

Witness “Brad” told radio station 3AW that two groups of teenagers of African appearance were pushing and shoving each other on the beach before the fight erupted. However according to Inspector Jackson “there were multiple nationalities involved.” Witness Laura said she saw African, Islander and caucasian youths.

[TMR: again, what does this have to do with the people that viciously and cowardly attacked the two tradies? Then again, I suppose there were ‘multiple nationalities’ involved if you include the victims. Pardon me].

[TMR: PS: notice how Brad’s name is in quotations, while Laura’s isn’t? Don’t you just love The Age?].

The police then made this promise:

Police have appealed for the brawlers to hand themselves in and promised they would be caught. “I want to provide some reassurance to the community that what occurred last night was not acceptable,” Inspector Jason Kelly said. “The matter will be fully investigated and those responsible will be identified.

“It’s the start of summer and this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.” Detectives were examining CCTV footage, he said.

Despite the reassurances given, it’s now been over a month and there have still been no details of any arrests over this matter or any update.

How can anybody take the Victorian police seriously?

Does anybody think that this problem will get better any time soon?

Victoria’s state government (including the Liberal one before the Andrews Labor government) should be utterly ashamed of itself for allowing this lawlessness to arise, fester and continue unabated. Amanda Vanstone (of the Howard Liberal federal government) should be equally ashamed for sowing the seeds.

As for The Age, with headlines and stories such as these, I’ll leave you to make up your own mind:

• Little trust in Australian police shown by people born in South Sudan: poll

• Crime is up in Dandenong but can the Apex gang be blamed?

• Young South Sudanese ‘constantly stopped’ by police, as community grapples with Apex stigma

Perhaps we all need some more diversity training?