I don’t think anything has pissed me off more than Donald Trump’s insistence that DEI programs are just an effort to privilege “those people” (insert the object of your bias) over meritorious White guys. As a meme I’ve seen points out, that has it exactly backwards: DEI is an effort to level a very tilted playing field–an effort to combat the longstanding automatic preference given to White guys over more qualified women and minorities.
Study after study confirms that when identical resumes are sent to prospective employers by fictitious applicants–differing only in use of “white sounding” or “black sounding” names–the white sounding applicants get over twice as many interviews.
His pious defense of merit is especially ironic (to put it mildly) when it is accompanied by Trump’s own incredibly unqualified nominees–a collection of cranks, clowns, conspiracy theorists and sycophants the likes of which no previous President has ever tried to elevate to positions of responsibility. As a friend has noted, in what was a massive understatement, “I’ve seen better cabinets at IKEA.”
For generations, American White guys–more accurately, straight White Christian males–have enjoyed a raft of entirely unmerited advantages.
I will grant that many of the DEI programs have proven to be less than effective, and some have suffered from a surfeit of what we used to call “political correctness.” But they aren’t being attacked for dubious efficacy. If there was any lingering doubt about the profound racism of Trump and MAGA, Trump’s immediate attacks on DEI efforts, and his race to scrub government websites of anything remotely “woke,” should erase it. (No one could ever accuse MAGA folks of being woke–a term that simply means that one has awakened to the existence of structural impediments to civic and economic fairness. They aren’t interested in being fair, or to rewarding individual merit found in women or members of minorities.)
The idea of an actual meritocracy is appealing. But a lot of what we attribute to “merit” is really a leg up, rooted in racial, religious or financial privilege.
The problems with America’s approach to meritocracy implicate–yet again–my two favorite admonitions: “it depends” and “it’s more complicated than that.” We are gradually and reluctantly coming to see, for example, that our definition of what constitutes merit in a given area is often too constricted, and our devices for measuring and determining what constitutes relevant merit may be inadequate.
When I was still teaching, I used to cite the example of an old rule (I’ve long since forgotten which southern state it was from) that restricted entry into local carpenters’ unions to high school graduates who weighed at least 180 pounds. Those requirements kept most Black and female applicants out–in that place at that time, few Blacks graduated from high school, and few women weighed over 180 pounds. The purported justification for the rule was that carpenters needed to be able to read construction plans and needed to be able to pick up at least X number of pounds of materials on the worksite.
But–rather obviously–the best way to determine whether applicants should be admitted to the carpentry trade would be to test them on their ability to read and understand plans and drawings, and to have them demonstrate that they could pick up the necessary weight.
The bottom line is that even seemingly neutral criteria can be–and frequently have been–manipulated so that they are not really neutral.
Those of us who’ve served on university admissions committees know that an applicant’s GPA and test results are necessary but incomplete indicators of whether that applicant will do the academic work required. We also look for evidence of motivation and discipline.
The definition of merit in a given situation can be complicated. What skills are relevant? What evidence is probative?
One thing has already become obvious: Donald Trump’s criterion for “merit”– being a straight White Christian Nationalist loyal to Donald J. Trump–is inconsistent with the demands of the positions to be filled.
You nailed it! (Carpenter reference inadvertent). Over time, privilege has become an expectation for the straight, white, Christian males of the world.
My last personal experience with it was in the nineties, when I was a Patient Advocate at the VA. In my very small department there was a job opening that would mean a promotion for me. Someone told me that the job had been created for a guy who had the qualifications on paper, but lacked a strong work ethic. I decided that, since I had taken all of the patients deemed dangerous for the past three years, I had earned it. I went to my boss and told him that, if I couldn’t get this promotion, I’d walk. Needless to say I got the job. I should tell the commenters that most of the guys deemed dangerous were just looking for someone to really listen. I had to shoo security away from my door nearly every day.
I am no more responsible for my gender, race, sexual preference, religion, or birthplace than any other human is. They were all in place when I was born. Why anyone believes we should be advantaged or disadvantaged by any or all of those traits baffles me.
However, I can claim my belief in science, including the essential role of measurement and data in uncovering and understanding reality. DEI is rooted in this.
Well considering my own personal experiences, I’ve never had much faith injustice from white men.
Some might find that hypocritical in a way, because most will presume I am white, but only partially am I white.
I mostly identify with the family of my mother, those were the folks who were tri’racial or as they were known back in the day, malungeons.
Is it genetic? The fear? Is it because of weakness? Physical or psychological? Why is there always conflict? Why are those mentioned, always in the middle of a conflict? Why is there also some sort of grievance? This grievance seems to be self-nurtured and self-promoted to the point of unrealistic action. Wars, crusades, conquests of lands, I mean, you can go on quite a bit concerning those issues.
Never an equal playing field, because equality exposes inadequacy. It exposes fear and loathing. Because of The mixture of my family, For generations, I was able to gain insight into this very issue.
There is a tremendous fear that resides in that particular group, there seems to be a lot of Kabuki theater going on. Claiming to be one thing, but, relishing in the reality of thriving in a subversive backstory.
It really is more than one bad apple, but all in that barrel are not Rotten, many of those capitulate because of peer fear. A lot of this points to how religion has been manipulated to promote fear and therefore control over a vast swath of humanity. And as I mentioned before, scripture is not related to religion, in most religions today, or maybe all religions today, their dogmas have nothing to do with scripture.
Read Matthew the 15th chapter!
For me, the definition of DEI is “…government of the people, by the people and for the people…”; it is systematically being replaced by the Republican’s long promised “trickle down” results of lack of government (lack of protective laws and staff to uphold them) trickling down onto our streets and into our homes. I woke this morning to the CNN reporter listing the expanding numbers of Musk’s and Trump’s purges to government departments which will vastly increase the numbers in the February jobless report as his imposition of tariffs increases prices on all products and services and lack of medical care will have us dying out.
A short while later I switched to MSNBC to see the banner (paraphrased) Trump states Vance will not replace him as president. The news must have been ending so I don’t know what it means due to the campaign promise Trump stated repeatedly that if we voted for him we would never have to vote again. Will he, as America’s self-appointed, highest ranking old white man, Executive Order himself into the throne of King of America and that his position will be replaced by Donald J. Trump, Jr., as in all royalty successions of control. Maybe he will Executive Order Vance out of the Vice Presidency. It is difficult to know what Trump’s words mean or what the worst case scenario is in store for us.
We can be assured there is no woman on his list of successors even though he has placed some women in high places of authority. His revolving door hasn’t begun to revolve yet…he has been in office only THREE AND A HALF WEEKS.
God help us; we don’t seem to be able to help ourselves.
I hope the snow doesn’t run our protest tomorrow. I’m still planning to go.
growning up in a diverse area, then settleing in a DEI area of this nation. im 70 still drivin a truck,and workin with white guys. the working class here in NoDak is plain as white bread. stale, and same ol same ol. that bright shining face of the farmer/rancher, theres a hidden snear. when crops and cattle were more physical to raise, the diversity of the migrant farmers who hoed the beets and sprayed and handled the grunt work. probably kept those past farmer/ranchers in tune with human nature. today its been sacked by lazy news and a views being drilled into the locals. weve become lazy,and our thoughts diverted by a game of who can get more ears. your privacy is demanded,without ones knowlege. (look at musks downloads) our lives are now since the election,become null and void as the new kingdom is ready to sort and pick the ripe ones to lead in your town. the next election,if,(the election committee has been shut down in DC) it happens maybe who they allow,and who is sent to the back of the bus. will this be the defining moment?
look at whos running,and be aware of what they stand for,after this push to containerize their own form of government. AI maybe the next election candidate. if trumps ,,is the roberts court finally kissing his ass the way he wants it?.after the last 12 years of the slinging and lead drops, think outta the box how screwed weve become. seems the demos no matters whos the new chair,will align themselves and US, into some sort of centralized government for the rich to pick and chose as they want. Funny,as many here would think im out of the mainstream educated,i wrote about this in 10th grade (1972)as i made my way to the door and out of the shit for brains town of bakersfield calif.(kevin mccarthy anyone)because i was tired of being around bigots and losers. all,taught by their own ilk. now im front and center again in this same foremat. but,there was a time back before this farm and fanch work was formulated and demanded to change,via credit and innovation demanded they change. they sure did. now its A.M. rush and freinds demanding how they think…better tow the line,theres farm land coming up for auction,old white guy getting out,and the bank is making sure another old white guy gets that land.
jacobin.com 2/16
federal workers are mobilzing against musks purge
Colin Smally.
interview. with labor prez in Chicago.
You’ll have to hand it to Trumpolini; he has eliminated racism in the US in just three short weeks. Bravo!
I’ve never witnessed the country move so quickly to accommodate a POTUS. The woke mind virus has been eliminated across the country in every institution. The media is even more worthless than it was during Biden’s presidency. I didn’t think it could get worse, but it has in just a couple of weeks. I’m back to leaning on X and listening to independent writers and journalists only. If you turn on your TV for news, you’re getting propaganda instead. They’ve all taken a knee.
A Koch puppet from Florida wants to have Trump’s face carved into Mt. Rushmore. I feel sorry for the folks out west having to look at that mug for the rest of their lives. I can scratch that off my bucket list.
Both Google Maps and Apple Maps have changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, despite the fact that no one else recognizes Trumpolini’s name.
The Guardian printed this morning that Trump is following the authoritarian’s playbook even better than previous authoritarians. Again, he is following Putin’s playbook in Russia. He’s fired many government employees who are doing work that needs to be done, meaning outsourcing those tasks. Who will that benefit?
The best group project I’ve seen on X is the folks using their financial skills to research all the nonprofits associated with USAID and NED. It’s branched out to the intricate web of the dark network of the nonprofit world. They are sharing their findings, which has gotten Elon’s attention. What was at first a finger-pointing exercise at the Democrats has now grown to a better understanding of how the uniparty functions.
Finding the same thing happening in my little community years ago wasn’t tricky. The Ball Family also used the same web of nonprofits to control Muncie. No matter who the Mayor was or what party, they controlled the media and just about everything else. The difference is that our federal government’s control mechanisms are global so the dollar amounts are huge!
Hearts this AM to Joann for the definition of DEI is “…government of the people, by the people and for the people…”and to jack smith for “the working class here in NoDak is plain as white bread. stale, and same ol same ol.”
Those sum up the problems in DC.
Two highly-qualified, dignified and capable women ran for president against the worst human being this country ever produced. So, naturally, massive numbers of registered voters stayed home each time and allowed the scum of the earth to be elected president.
How does one explain that? Why wouldn’t people want to vote for Hillary even though she was abrasive to many? She KNEW how to be President. Why wouldn’t people want to vote for Kamala? She KNEW how to be President.
Both women, despite flaws (Who among us have none?) would be honest with the American people, respect the rule of law, honor the Constitution and promote legislation that helped raise all boats. While Todd wanders off into media never-never land, the media DID warn the voters of the coming horrors. The only mistake they made was not realizing how bad it was really going to be. They didn’t predict that Musk would be allowed in to do irreparable harm.
So, yes, white, straight, “Christian” males are all in power now. Let’s just watch Todd’s failed media show us how badly they will screw things up … or maybe start WW III. They will do that, won’t they Todd?
Well said Jack!
I’ve commented on the benefits and, as I see it, the _necessity_ of DEI programs before. I won’t revisit that.
I agree; the right’s insistence on equating DEI with incompetence pisses me off greatly, too. It’s the _disingenuousness_ of the attack that riles me the most. Simply, they lie, betraying their foundational bigotry, and it’s utterly infuriating.
I think Vern is slipping slightly if he claims that Hillary Clinton would have “told us the truth.” Had she won in 2016, we would already be in WW3, nearly ten years if we survived the onslaught of nuclear missiles. There’s a good chance we’d be dead. As for her honesty, she has lied so often and for so long that I don’t think she knows the difference between lies and reality. That explains much of the toadies in Washington.
As we’ve heard this week, Trump is going to end the Ukrainian money laundering scheme, and Europe is crying about it. Most of their leaders are MIC puppets. Listening to them demand to be included with Trump and Putin is hilarious. Even Zelenskyy’s ego is inflamed, but he was used for his acting skills. The Ukrainians should hang him from a Kyiv tree.
Vern must have missed the announcement that Trumpolini wants to cut the defense budget by 50% if China and Russia will do the same. That is huge! We’ll have to agree on cutting more because we outspend all the other countries combined. I am sure the Hawks in Washington have a burning sensation in their britches over that one!
Also, as we dig through the USAID slush fund, we find an interesting NGO called InterNews. This NGO funds media from all over the world, including the US. Politico and Reuters are both compromised, but I am sure there will be many others. Although it is semantics, they aren’t NGOs if all their funding comes from the government.
Loyalty and cronyism trump merit every time in Trump’s administration. In my lifetime, I’ve never seen such a collection of convicted felons, alcoholics, sexual predators, liars and cheats being appointed to Cabinet-level positions. But then a felon attracts other felons.
The one thing dictators have in common is corruption. They don’t want people of merit and high character in their administrations because those folks won’t cut corners and commit to helping dictators break the law and line their pockets with ill-gotten gains.
We’re in for a very rough ride.
Anne Bryant. What protest where?
Sharon – it’s 12.00pm at the Statehouse. Nationwide.
http://www.FifitFifty.One
Ooops – typo
http://www.FiftyFifty.One
The Seattle Times reported that all affinity groups at the Naval Shipyard in Bremerton will cease to exist. This includes Asian American and Pacific Islander ERG, the Black, Indigenous and People of Color ERG, the Hispanic Employee Resource Organization, the PRIDE ERG, the Puget Women’s ERG and the Veterans ERG groups. These are support groups, and as I learned in college years ago, having a support group (even if you are a white male) helps one succeed. No comment about the EEO office.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/bremerton-shipyard-worker-affinity-groups-end-after-trump-dei-orders/
I have decided to try to sell out and write the following letter:
Dear Co-Presidents Musk and Trump,
I am writing to apply for any government job that pays a lot of money. I know that in this administration actual knowledge is not required, so I will take any job that pays a lot.
I know that the fact that I only look “white” and that I am not a Christian (as well as being an actual retired scientist) are strikes against me, and more importantly, I have never abused a woman (or child), cheated someone out of their hard-earned money, or been indicted, but I can say “Trump is the greatest President in history” with a straight face — mostly. And I once played a game of ‘Diplomacy’ where I role played as a duplicitous person and won. That should count for something.
Please respond soon, as the jobs I might have qualified for under that old-fashioned Commie idea of merit will probably all be eliminated.
If I can’t stop him, I might as well get rich.
I’ll probably have to stay in the fight.
DEI is just another strawman to manipulate the masses and it’s a sideshow.
You have to admit there may be some advantage in Trump 2.0 over Trump 1.0. With 1.0, there was chaos and things were bad, but timid 1.0 never actually made any real difference. It seemed his main goal was to keep the stock market on an even keel.
With Trump 2.0, he is actually doing things, in most case detrimental to the country with bad short term and long term effects. I think this time people will not look back on the benign idiot and think he did a good job and that it’s time to give his policies a second chance. I think this time we will have a chance to see real the fruits of his policies, a real recession (maybe worldwide), mass protests as things tank, and most likely additional international instability as smarter players (like almost anybody else) realize that with just a little flattery, they can literally get away with murder.
The pendulum is swinging wildly and if we can survive the damage this time, it will be a long time before people think any MAGA policies are a good idea.
If any of you want an idea of what small government and hands off regulation look like you should read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”.