Why can't the shared culture be a mutual commitment to high-quality work?
Let me put it another way: do you want to spend all day hearing about my toddler? If not--well that's how I feel about everything you're interested in. So let's just all do our work and leave our personal lives at home.
> Why can't the shared culture be a mutual commitment to high-quality work?
Because that's not how human beings bond. We don't bond over a single facet of our lives; we bond as a community. The modern world, in which we live different places, believe different things and pursue different jobs, is poison for any sense of community.
A group of middle-class white guys will bond more quickly and easily than a group that mixes white guys and low-income black women.
So where do you draw the line? It's clearly not OK, even in the name of "cohesion", to encourage a culture that excludes people of different income levels or ethnicities.
