DEI – short for diversity, equity and inclusion – has become the latest dog-whistle term in the conservative war of words to frame basic egalitarianism as a net negative.
There are those of us really not sure – to put it polititely – about basic egalitarianism. For egalitarianism implies – at the very least – an equality of outcome. And there are indeed those of us who think that’s a seriously bad idea. Equality of opportunity, sure, that’s vital, but to insist upon that equality of outcome is vile. Or, as we might put it, a net negative.
Given that the background here is Baltimore the distinction also gives us something to concentrate upon. Agreed, teh place is a wasteland. Has horrendous problems. But is the solution to insist that there are equal numbers of each grouping, ethnicity, different ability level and so on in each part of what society remains?
Or, given that the school district is absolutely, wholly, shite while still having in the top ten of large school districts funding levels, might the solution be to sort out that wholly shite school system so as to give at least the possibility of that equality of opportunity?
’Agreed, teh place is a wasteland. Has horrendous problems. ‘
And are we not supposed to notice that these problems are ones repeated in other Democrat-run overwhelmingly-black run cities?
Didn’t
Earn
It
It’s all so tiresome.
Black run or black populated? Not that it really matters since the latter elects the former and always runs to wrack-and-ruin.
How did those cities become a majority black population in the first place? Because the non-black populations fled ever increasing crime rates and ever increasing tax rates to the suburbs. Crime rates that were ignored by Democratic administrations because “Muh racism”.
But no, easier just for the Reverend Mythopolis P. Chickenwing and the Baltimore caucus of grifters to blame Whitey and what is need being “More money for dem programs”, despite the fact that pouring ever more money into the sink of black education never results in any significant improvement, since the majority black schools themselves act as “crab buckets” with black students that thrive being dragged down by their cohort for “acting white”.
Until black attitudes change, nothing else will and the prevailing attitude is one of managed decline.
How would you ensure egalitarianism between Terry Pratchett and Edward Bulwer-Lytton? Cut his hands off? Shoot him?
The War on Noticing continues…
Grifters defend the grift. Quelle surprise.
I like to play the piano but I am a very average pianist. So, what happens if the government passes a law that there should be equality of outcome for pianists? I started playing while in my thirties, lapsed for a few years and then picked it up again when I retired. How is my outcome ever going to match that of someone who started playing at five years old, worked his way up to grade eight and then went to music college? The only way that I can see is to round up anyone who can play better than me and break some of their fingers. Whichever field of human endeavour that we apply this equal outcome principle to is surely just going to involve a horrific degree of levelling down.
” Stonyground April 22, 2024 at 10:26 am”
Stonyground – that is the basis for an old short story by Kurt Vonnegut – “Harrison Bergeron.
The Handicapper General does the equivalent of that to those who stand out from the crowd.
@Stonyground: you could always get one of those auto-player pianos and just pretend to be a concert pianist..? It works for the transgenders, after all.
“…you could always get one of those auto-player pianos and just pretend to be a concert pianist…”
I’ve already got that covered. I have a Yamaha CLP775PE digital piano. It came with a book of fifty classical masterpieces and it will play them for you if you ask it to. It also has 38 different voice samples and will demonstrate those for you too. It has a 280 watt six speaker sound system and blue tooth connectivity so you can play music from Spotify through it as well.
Or you can just use it as a piano.
Equality of outcome?
I’m all for it.
Let’s take someone the same age as me at random.
Let’s see… how about…
Kim Jong Un?
I look forward to the government providing me with millions of devout followers, a massive military and my own nuclear weapons programme.
And my own country.
At which point I’ll get rid of the DEI crap.
Some might say this is pulling the ladder up behind me, but I won’t care ‘cos I’ll have nukes.
Equality of opportunity is also impossible, or even nonsensical. The offspring of a well educated doctor, executive, etc. who attends good schools will always have more opportunities available to them than someone who does not have such a background. Whether they take advantage of those opportunities is another matter. What’s important is not stifling growth as that presents more opportunities to everyone, even if it presents more to some than others.
Procrustes had this down pat many moons ago, or so the legend would have it.
This was the NYT in 2005: Merit has replaced the old system of inherited privilege, in which parents to the manor born handed down the manor to their children. But merit, it turns out, is at least partly class-based. Parents with money, education and connections cultivate in their children the habits that the meritocracy rewards. When their children then succeed, their success is seen as earned. ‘Haiyaa’
I despair.