14 ms·

We should just stop using the term DEI. It has been demonized in the common parlance so successfully that to a ton of people it no longer means 'people who are

We should just stop using the term DEI. It has been demonized in the common parlance so successfully that to a ton of people it no longer means 'people who are different are made valuable by that difference'- it's been demonized into essentially meaning 'give black people and women jobs they don't deserve'. It's a prime example of propaganda through language pollution. For whatever reason HN has been slowly goose stepping towards the future lately so I expect this to go over like a lead balloon but I don't much care.

urbnspacecowboy 5mo ago
> We should just stop using the term DEI. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term woke. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term social justice. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term critical race theory. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term diversity. It has been demonized in the common parlance... And on and on and on. Why should we stop using terms because bigots demonize them "in the common parlance"? Bigots demonize every term.
- iugtmkbdfil834 5mo ago
  Feel free to use either, but you will be summarily ignored.
- bigstrat2003 5mo ago
  You should consider the possibility that the hostility towards those who disagree with you (i.e. assuming they are bigots rather than good faith interlocutors) is part of why your efforts are met with resistance. Simply put: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
mullingitover 5mo ago
> We should just stop using the term DEI. It has been demonized in the common parlance so successfully Whatever term you pick to describe a concerted effort to overcome the tendency to bigotry, they'll just hijack that, too. There's a whole industry built around this, and the media is so receptive to the right-wing that they'll openly describe how they'll do it[1], will execute the plans in public, and the mainstream media will act as their stenographers. [1] https://xcancel.com/sykescharlie/status/1396844806547050499 https://xcancel.com/sykescharlie/status/1396844806547050499
- hammock 5mo ago
  Do you mean there’s a whole industry built around DEI? Or that there’s a whole industry built around countermessaging the DEI industry?
  - mullingitover 5mo ago
    > the DEI industry isn't really a thing so much as it's a collection of principles that can be implemented. To the unprincipled, this needs to be converted into a literal enemy that can be vilified, because any attempt to force them to adhere to principles is an attack.
    - hackinthebochs 5mo ago
      No DEI industry you say? https://web.archive.org/web/20240710195414/https://time.com/5696943/diversity-business/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240710195414/https://time.com/... >The lucrative industry shows few signs of waning–from the spike in well-compensated diversity consultants and czars; to online courses and degree programs at prestigious schools; to professional organizations and conferences; to the commissioning of ever more studies, task forces and climate surveys. The buzzword is emblazoned on blogs and books and boot camps, and Thomson Reuters, a multinational mass-media and information firm, even created a Diversity and Inclusion Index to assess the practices of more than 5,000 publicly traded companies globally.
- Manuel_D 5mo ago
  DEI wasn't demonized because it tried to fight bigotry. It demonized itself because it routinely became a dishonest two-faced movement that public denied to be discriminatory, but then privately implemented policies that explicitly discriminated on the basis of sex and gender. When your leaders publicly condemn the idea that your company is discriminating on the basis of sex, but then privately institutes a system of reserving headcount for women, that'll make most people real cynical about DEI.
  - mullingitover 5mo ago
api 5mo ago
It also refers to a wide range of different policies that need to be evaluated on their merits. These policies are not all the same. It’s become a thought stopping cliche. Modern discourse is absolutely loaded with thought stopping cliches so it’s not the only one by any stretch.

urbnspacecowboy 5mo ago

> We should just stop using the term DEI. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term woke. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term social justice. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term critical race theory. It has been demonized in the common parlance... We should just stop using the term diversity. It has been demonized in the common parlance... And on and on and on. Why should we stop using terms because bigots demonize them "in the common parlance"? Bigots demonize every term.

iugtmkbdfil834 5mo ago
Feel free to use either, but you will be summarily ignored.
bigstrat2003 5mo ago
You should consider the possibility that the hostility towards those who disagree with you (i.e. assuming they are bigots rather than good faith interlocutors) is part of why your efforts are met with resistance. Simply put: you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

mullingitover 5mo ago

> We should just stop using the term DEI. It has been demonized in the common parlance so successfully Whatever term you pick to describe a concerted effort to overcome the tendency to bigotry, they'll just hijack that, too. There's a whole industry built around this, and the media is so receptive to the right-wing that they'll openly describe how they'll do it[1], will execute the plans in public, and the mainstream media will act as their stenographers. [1] https://xcancel.com/sykescharlie/status/1396844806547050499 https://xcancel.com/sykescharlie/status/1396844806547050499

hammock 5mo ago
Do you mean there’s a whole industry built around DEI? Or that there’s a whole industry built around countermessaging the DEI industry?
- mullingitover 5mo ago
  > the DEI industry isn't really a thing so much as it's a collection of principles that can be implemented. To the unprincipled, this needs to be converted into a literal enemy that can be vilified, because any attempt to force them to adhere to principles is an attack.
  - hackinthebochs 5mo ago
    No DEI industry you say? https://web.archive.org/web/20240710195414/https://time.com/5696943/diversity-business/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240710195414/https://time.com/... >The lucrative industry shows few signs of waning–from the spike in well-compensated diversity consultants and czars; to online courses and degree programs at prestigious schools; to professional organizations and conferences; to the commissioning of ever more studies, task forces and climate surveys. The buzzword is emblazoned on blogs and books and boot camps, and Thomson Reuters, a multinational mass-media and information firm, even created a Diversity and Inclusion Index to assess the practices of more than 5,000 publicly traded companies globally.
Manuel_D 5mo ago
DEI wasn't demonized because it tried to fight bigotry. It demonized itself because it routinely became a dishonest two-faced movement that public denied to be discriminatory, but then privately implemented policies that explicitly discriminated on the basis of sex and gender. When your leaders publicly condemn the idea that your company is discriminating on the basis of sex, but then privately institutes a system of reserving headcount for women, that'll make most people real cynical about DEI.
- mullingitover 5mo ago

api 5mo ago

It also refers to a wide range of different policies that need to be evaluated on their merits. These policies are not all the same. It’s become a thought stopping cliche. Modern discourse is absolutely loaded with thought stopping cliches so it’s not the only one by any stretch.