I had it rudely called to my attention that many people have no clue what Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) actually are. I visited my favorite site to get the opinions of right-wing wannabe intellectuals, Jonathan Turley’s blog, Res ipsa loquitor – The thing itself speaks. The particular conversation I was in wasn’t even about DEI, but one commenter, I’ll call UF, thought it timely to explain why DEI was evil and went on to tie it to child pornography and grooming of children. Here is his unedited post. Afterward, I’ll set the record straight on DEI.
“DEI is by its basis is face of evil.
By segregating children as the oppressed and the oppressors based on their skin color is evil. It promotes hate and division. Why are leftists doing so much to roll back all the gains the Civil Rights movement made in the 1960s?
Talking to 6 year olds about sex, having pornography in elementary schools so much so that RFK Jr. recently read a passage from one of these books at a Senate hearing that started with,
“I began to slide into him from behind…”
Why is that needed to be provided to 6 year olds? 9 year olds? 13 year olds? Why are teachers outside of Health Class discussing sex to children? When I was in school, teachers were expected to separate their personal lives and political views from their professional one.
I knew we had at least 2 teachers who were gay in the school system. Suspected 2 or 3 more. No one cared. I had/have family that were gay. It had no legitimate need to be discussed in school.
Now, the one teacher who tried to have sexual relations with some under-aged boys in the Jr. High locker room, got him fired and soon afterwards he blew his brains out, that may have warranted some discussion but the school system swept it under the rug.
People who want to see sexual discussions with inappropriate aged children are, well call them what they are, groomers.
And that is evil.
A lot of Asians see it that way. A lot of Hispanics see it that way. They may have friends or even family who are gay and accept them but they all know forcing it upon children is evil.” — UF
I live in Florida, where DEI is attacked almost as much as “Woke” by presidential candidate and current governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis has removed DEI from all public colleges and universities in Florida because he could. Do you know why he didn’t remove DEI from public elementary, middle, and high school programs? Because it doesn’t exist.
DEI, in most instances, involves adults in the workplace. Unless you are a child in Arkansas, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, or elsewhere that have reduced restraints against child labor. Children have more to fear from state legislatures than they do from DEI. So, what is DEI?
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion are three closely linked values held by many organizations that are working to support different groups of individuals, including people of different races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.”
The above quote comes from the following article by McKinsey & Company, which explains the terms individually and the benefits to organizations and society.
Some of the key findings from the latest Diversity wins report include the following:
- Most employees support diversity, with overall sentiment on diversity 52 percent positive and 31 percent negative.
- There are clear correlations between diversity and business performance. Analysis of 2019 data shows that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity within executive teams were 25 percent more likely than companies in the fourth quartile to have above-average profitability (up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014).
- The greater the representation of gender diversity, the higher the likelihood of outperformance. For instance, companies where more than 30 percent of the executives are women were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from only 10 to 30. The most gender-diverse companies see a substantial differential likelihood of outperformance — 48 percent — over the least gender-diverse companies.
- The business case for ethnic and cultural diversity is also strong: in 2019, companies in the top quartile bested those in the fourth quartile by 36 percent in profitability. Notably, the likelihood of outperformance continues to be higher for diversity in ethnicity than in gender.
- Progress in building diverse workforces remains stubbornly slow.
- Despite employees’ support of diversity, there are high levels of negative sentiment on inclusion — namely, equality, openness, and belonging — particularly around equality and fairness of opportunity.percent positive and 31 percent negative.
- There are clear correlations between diversity and business performance. Analysis of 2019 data shows that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity within executive teams were 25 percent more likely than companies in the fourth quartile to have above-average profitability (up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014).
- The greater the representation of gender diversity, the higher the likelihood of outperformance. For instance, companies where more than 30 percent of the executives are women were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from only 10 to 30. The most gender-diverse companies see a substantial differential likelihood of outperformance — 48 percent — over the least gender-diverse companies.
- The business case for ethnic and cultural diversity is also strong: in 2019, companies in the top quartile bested those in the fourth quartile by 36 percent in profitability. Notably, the likelihood of outperformance continues to be higher for diversity in ethnicity than in gender.
- Progress in building diverse workforces remains stubbornly slow.
- Despite employees’ support of diversity, there are high levels of negative sentiment on inclusion — namely, equality, openness, and belonging — particularly around equality and fairness of opportunity.
The bottom line is that when implemented properly, DEI is beneficial and profitable for organizations, not to mention society as a whole, so why do people have a problem with it? Let’s ask the opposition.
“If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination. And that has no place in our public institutions.” — Ron DeSantis
That’s a good sound bite but offers no explanation. Who does DeSantis feel DEI programs discriminate against and excludes? The only plausible answer is variations of white people. By opening up organizations to Black people, Hispanics, LGBTQ, and other disenfranchised groups. The fear is that white people, primarily men, are losing what is rightfully theirs.
Among the biggest concerns is that DEI programs may require classes that acknowledge the existence of white privilege and discuss how it works. DeSantis calls that indoctrination, not so much his requirement that Western Civilization be taught in public schools, along with his user-friendly version of Black History that focuses on the good deeds of white people.
Right-wing activist Christopher F. Rufo attacks DEI when he’s not condemning Critical Race Theory (CRT), another thing that barely exists in the wild but is a favorite target of many. One thing he gets right is the explosion of DEI after the George Floyd videos were released, sparking protests worldwide. Unfortunately, that explosion was mostly a dud as many organizations rushed to include language about how supportive they are of DEI while implementing little or no change.
My friend UF, who believes DEI is evil, has no clue what DEI is, which is understandable since DeSantis and his ilk are doing all they can to mislead him and others. DeSantis has successfully removed DEI from Florida public institutions and shaped the narrative across the country. What does America look like without diversity, equality, or inclusion? You tell me.
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This psot was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
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