axshully, the _source_ of the distraction would be what michaels calls neoliberalism. the people who advance the diversity discourse michaels derides are just mindless dupes of a system which operates behind their backs. michaels, quite obviously, has magically escaped such a fate.
hmmm. that's actually interesting when you think about it.
how do you suppose that happens? that someone escapes being a dupe of ideology?
also, how does it happen that you (generic you, not you brad you) are wedded to a superstructuralist and functionalist theory, where people as agents largely evaporate into the mist, and yet at the same time find yourself believing that social change needs to happen by cajoling and finger-wagging people into being better behaved -- i.e., "get up in arms when it occurred to them that they are turning themselves into finishing schools for rich kids of the u.s."
I know! I know! PIck me Mr. Kotter! I know the answer! It happens when your social theory has no concept of _internal_ social change!
shag