I have always been fascinated by language and its evolution. The way it reflects and affects both reality and our perception of it. The way it can be used and abused to serve particular ends.
As an appendix to 1984, Orwell wrote an essay called “The Principles of Newspeak”. The concept was inspired by the totalitarian propaganda of his time, both of fascism and communism.
Newspeak is designed to limit thought and used to enforce conformity. Some prominent features of newspeak are judgment, emotions and cognitive dissonance, or ‘doublethink’ in Newspeak parlance.
I grew up in the communist world; I grew up with its propaganda. Eventually, I came to understand the importance of the underlying concept, best expressed in the engraving on Marx’s tombstone:
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways –
the point, however, is to change it”
DEI is the perfect example of Orwellian doublethink, newspeak and the neocommunist drive behind it. The essence of communism is that we don’t need to understand the world as long as we have the will to shape it, and the power to do it.
DEI, The Great Reset, Build Back Better, the call for ‘democratic’ socialism, various censorship, fact-checking and speech-control initiatives are just the latest reincarnation of the global communism project.
Communism, the cultural revolution and DEI all start with the assumptions that in our natural state, we are all the same; that there are no differences in our abilities, attitudes and personalities. Any observable difference is either irrelevant or the result of ill will, expressed in discrimination.
If you notice the patent stupidity and the cognitive dissonance in the circular logic of the claims, you just have proven that you are guilty of crimethink, oldthink and false consciousness. It means that you are a bad person in need of reform. DEI is the path to that reform.
We can explore that path by looking at their idealized narrative; exposing the slight of hand; stating the inevitable outcome and exposing the intended goal.
This is a fair approximation of the idealized narrative from Grok:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives aim to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives aim to create environments where individuals from varied backgrounds feel valued, respected, and empowered. The primary goals of DEI are:
1. Diversity: Increase representation of people from different races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, socioeconomic backgrounds, and other identities in workplaces, schools, or organizations.
2. Equity: Ensure fair access to opportunities, resources, and advancement by addressing systemic barriers and historical inequalities that disadvantage certain groups.
3. Inclusion: Foster a culture where everyone feels welcomed, heard, and able to contribute fully, regardless of their identity or background.
These goals often interlink to promote fairness, reduce discrimination, and enhance organizational or societal outcomes through diverse perspectives.
(in most cases, emphases are mine.)(and if you can explain to me the last highlight, I will give you a medal)
The idealized goal is a world where everybody feels good and comfortable, where differences don’t matter, where we are all accepted regardless of who we are and whether our contribution have any value whatsoever.
… while everybody sings Kumbaya.
To quote Marx again:
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”
“In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”
The idealized narrative of DEI is the vision of Karl Marx. There are no meaningful differences, everybody is equal in any material way, and everybody can do absolutely anything they want to do.
DEI is Marx’s communism with a nod toward Mussolini’s corporatism. All supervised, of course, by an AI empowered Davos-like supranational totalitarian institution.
We could also see it as an expression of Rousseau’s general will.
The essence of every socialist/communist/fascist/totalitarian project is the dissolution of individuality in the undifferentiated collective. In its DEI implementation it is broken down into smaller units. It is not the proletariat against the bourgeoisie, it is communities, businesses and institutions fighting racism, sexism and any number of other isms and phobias. The expectation is the creation of undifferentiated units fully representing the whole.
Of course it is idiotic, of course it is delusional, of course it is unfeasible.
But most of all, it is fraudulent.
Diversity is the death of difference.
The sleight of hand with Diversity is that it is an unachievable goal. The expectations can never be properly defined. And I don’t just mean intersectionality. Each of us has a complex set of overlapping, coexisting identities. I have at least a dozen myself.
Diversity, the focus on what makes us different, is a divider, not a unifier.
The unavoidable consequence of the expectations is that it creates arbitrary criteria and makes everybody lie and bullshit about it. The consequence is not a bug, but a feature.
The intended goal is to use the compliance requirement as a blunt weapon to bludgeon any organization that of stepping out of line.
The goal is to make identities more relevant than contributions. To make what’s important – competence, intelligence, industriousness – irrelevant.
Equity is the descent into mediocrity.
The sleight of hand with equity can be best illustrated with this quote from Hayek:
“From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either one or the other, but not both at the same time” (from The Constitution Of Liberty)
The ‘equal outcome’ definition of ‘equity’ is relatively new. It had to be created to separate it from Hayek’s logic. Equal opportunity is an individualist concept. Equity is a collectivist one.
The unavoidable consequence is mediocrity at best, decrease of productivity and loss of competitiveness at worst. The drive for mediocrity is a spiral into self-destruction.
The intended goal is the assault on competence hierarchies, achievement and creativity.
