| HN Mirror

- I have seen the same woman get invited to countless hiring panels, as hiring panels need to be "diverse". Hiring panels are multi-hour endeavors and take away from her productive time, but she is afraid to say no as she feels she'd be contributing to an inequitable workplace otherwise. - I have seen a black woman invited to a hiring panel and when it came to ask the "DEI question" (to check for a commitment to DEI in an applicant), all of the eyes in the room were on her, her being the only "diverse" person in a room with people of four ethnicities. - I have seen a white man close to retirement afraid to ask questions about the diversity initiatives as he was afraid to be labelled a certain way and was "not willing to take the risk of repercussion". - I have seen DEI informally used to justify hires, as the hires had the right gender and/or skin color and supervisors get evaluated on their commitment to DEI on the yearly performance review. - I have been asked to acknowledge my "white privilege" in a DEI seminar. Attendance to those seminars is not required. At the same time there is a minimum threshold for hours spent on DEI activities on the yearly performance review. - I have heard of a case at another national lab where white male employees were asked to "[...] recite a series of "white privilege statements" and "male privilege statements." It concluded with its white male participants writing letters of apology to marginalized people whom they may have harmed" . After an employee protested, his protest was taken as a lack of commitment to DEI. This got picked up by right wing media and the Trump white house and was used to justify a, since retracted, executive order banning such trainings [1] [2]. - I personally have been asked to acknowledge that "Being antiracist is different for white people than it is for people of color. For white people, being antiracist evolves with their racial identity development. They must acknowledge and understand their privilege, work to change their internalized racism, and interrupt racism when they see it. For people of color, it means recognizing how race and racism have been internalized, and whether it has been applied to other people of color." [3] - I have been called a "plantation owner" by a colleague because I did not support the DEI initiatives in the form that they were being taught. - I have seen people victimizing themselves and ascribing behavior of colleagues towards them to their own gender or skin color. I had experienced similar behavior in my career as a white male and now attribute it to things I needed to learn when dealing with people.

Well written. You're not alone. There seems to be no good platform upon which to fight back. Trumpism has taken the other side of this issue, but that side is poisoned by fascism, (real) racism, ignorance and the malignance that is Trump himself. The left has potent messaging and branding power - what are you going to say, that you're against diversity? The phrase "men's rights advocate" has been coopted to mean antifeminist. The actual words men and whites can use to fight for our rights are literally taken from us, even as they redefine the conflict as being about gender and race. It's an extraordinary level of dehumanization, and I fear that many moderates are either unaware or if they are aware, rationally afraid to speak out.

Our laws, public and private, should make no reference to gender, race, religion, or sexual preference. Hiring should be done on merit. And this is now the "racist" position!

The DEI narrative is angry, retributive. It says some groups have victimized others (especially whites enslaving blacks and men controlling women) for so long that mere equality under the law isn't enough. This seems taken as axiomatic, obvious, and just. But this is the outcome of a court case against white people, held in someone else's mind and the defendants had no say. This court's ruling is tantamount to a religious belief, because it cannot be challenged or appealed on any basis, and in fact all challenges are treated as further evidence in favor of the ruling, and evidence that the challenger deserves extra punishment, up to and including ostracism.

This trend must be fought by anyone who cares about justice and liberty. Musk called it a "woke mind virus" and he's right, and we need some antivirals, stat.