Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, at their worst, are one more brand of human resource corporate bullshit, cut from the same cloth as all those corporate trainings that taught managers they could get better work out of their subordinates if they pretended to treat those meat widgets like human beings. "Pretend to listen to them," they were taught, "so they'll buy into your initiative."
When DEI became important, it didn't affect my work group much because we already had one old guy (me), 4 women, 1 guy with really dark skin who may have been our gay representative although that was not discussed, 1 woman who was born in China, and a few WASPish guys one of whom was a Libertopian. We got shit done. No slackers.
But I don't think it's going to stem much of the resistance. In winner-take-all capitalism, people are scared to death and going to fight like hell to retain any dignity and hope of financial stability for their families they can.
very nicely argued! I'm going to have to remember this line of logic the next time I get into a discussion about this.
When DEI became important, it didn't affect my work group much because we already had one old guy (me), 4 women, 1 guy with really dark skin who may have been our gay representative although that was not discussed, 1 woman who was born in China, and a few WASPish guys one of whom was a Libertopian. We got shit done. No slackers.
What a great essay. Bravo!!!
THIS
It's about saying "Let's check our definition of merit, and let's look for it in places we haven't always looked before."
I love this definition.
But I don't think it's going to stem much of the resistance. In winner-take-all capitalism, people are scared to death and going to fight like hell to retain any dignity and hope of financial stability for their families they can.
This is a wonderful, very helpful piece, Peter! Many thanks!