DEI

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (often abbreviated DEI) refers to the practice of companies crafting policies to be supportive of different groups of individuals, including different races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations."What is diversity, equity, and inclusion?". McKinsey and Company, 2022 August 17 These policies are an outgrowth of previous similar policies such as affirmative action, and were spurred by the murder of George Floyd in 2020."Affirmative action is under attack. How did we get here?" by Julian Mark, Taylor Telford, and Emma Kumer, Washington Post, 2024 March 9 However, in the mid-2020s, there was a coordinated backlash against DEI from "conservative" reactionaries.
==Manufactroversy background==
The anti-DEI manufactroversy is an outgrowth of the similar manufactroversy of critical race theory, and many "anti-DEI" activists (such as Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute) were likewise involved in the previous manufactured outrage cycle."DEI supporters see echoes of America’s fraught racial history in attacks on diversity efforts" by Athena Jones, CNN, 2024 February 23 
According to a New York Times investigation in January 2024, the center of the coordinated effort to push anti-DEI propaganda came from the a once-small Reagan-esque think tank that became authoritarian and illiberal during the presidency of Donald Trump."‘America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-D.E.I. Crusade" by Nicholas Confessore, 2024 January 20"What the Hell Happened to the Claremont Institute?" by Laura K. Field, Bulwark, 2021 July 13 As one would expect, many of the activists involved in crafting the propaganda (such as Heather Mac Donald) were openly homophobic and racist in their private conversations discussing their propaganda strategies.
The evidence for manufactroversy is confirmed by Trump's own behavior. During his first administration, the policies of diversity hiring from previous administrations were left intact, even within the Federal Aviation Administration, which he baselessly blamed for an air crash during his second administration on DEI.Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries: At news conference, Trump read a list of disabilities he calls disqualifying, but his administration started such hiring in 2019 by Glenn Kessler (January 30, 2025) The Washington Post (archived from 31 Jan 2025 13:03:25 UTC).
Like critical race theory, a key underpinning of the manufactroversy was to attack public education and other "liberal" higher education institutions.It's like conservatives want their constituents to be stupid… Also like critical race theory, efforts to eliminate DEI programs are rooted in racism."Yes, efforts to eliminate DEI programs are rooted in racism" by Tatishe Nteta, Adam Eichen, Douglas Rice, Jesse Rhodes, and Justin H. Gross, The Conversation, 2024 April 5
==DEI as a snarl word==
Similar to the term "woke", in practice, when reactionaries use the term "DEI", they often ignore much of the original aspect of DEI being a business strategy. Instead, the term is often merely a snarl word dogwhistle used to derisively refer to minority groups and/or women, especially those working in a professional capacity."The War on DEI Is About Hierarchy" by Sarah Jones, New York, 2024 January 23"Right-Wingers Think the New Orleans Attack Is DEI’s Fault" by Malcolm Ferguson, New Republic, 2025 January 2 In many cases (Lee Atwater style), as with the case of Baltimore Mayor Scott below, the term "DEI" is merely a thinly-veiled substitution for nasty racial slurs. 
"DEI" is also a convenient scapegoat for reactionaries. Whenever any disaster occurs, no matter how bizarre the logic, it's very likely that some reactionary media pundit or social media account will be screeching about how it's all DEI's fault."Conservatives are blaming DEI for everything: a (semi) comprehensive list" by Mita Mallick, FastCompany, 2024 July 25 
===Examples===
* In 2024, airplane manufacturer made numerous headlines when several aircraft suffered critical mechanical failures, such as a door blowing off a plane in mid-flight. Elon Musk (of course) blamed "DEI hiring" and, without any proof, claimed that "people will die due to DEI.""No, DEI isn’t making airplanes fall apart" by Fabiola cineas, Vox, 2024 January 25
* Similarly, Musk and many other alt-right trolls (such as Steven Crowder, Dinesh D'Souza and Christopher Rufo) bizarrely blamed DEI for the widespread computer outages during the "Far Right Revives Its Favorite Idiotic Conspiracy for Microsoft Outage" by Hafiz Rashid, New Republic, 2024 July 19
* In a "smaller and sadder" echo of Gamergate, trolls on social media launched a (much smaller and much more pathetic) harassment campaign against the video game narrative consultant company"Sweet Baby Inc. Doesn’t Do What Some Gamers Think It Does" by Alyssa Mercante, Kotaku, 2024 March 6 The trolls were extremely angry that Sweet Baby was purportedly somehow forcing "political agendas and DEI into their games"."The return of Gamergate is smaller and sadder" by Ash Parrish, The Verge, 2024 March 18 (Never mind the fact that Sweet Baby was tiny and consulted on only a handful of games. Also never mind the fact that many of the trolls hadn't even played the games they were complaining about… or even complained about many games that Sweet Baby had never been involved in.)"The Small Company at the Center of ‘Gamergate 2.0’" by Megan Farokhmanesh, Wired, 2024 March 14
* After the 2024 Baltimore mayor who is Black, was called a "DEI mayor" on TwitterThe author of the tweet in particular likely wanted to use a different word to refer to Scott, but refrained from doing so, as it would be too mask-off and revealing of the true views these kooks hold. (despite being elected by the people like any other mayor)."Baltimore bridge's collapse is the target of anti-DEI rhetoric" by Alana Wise, NPR, 2024 April 4
* Many conservatives, believing themselves to be so clever, post the phrase "Didn't Earn It" on social media as a way to criticize DEI, using logical fallacies in the process.
* In December 2024, Scott Adams and others on social media bizarrely mused that DEI was partially behind the "Right-wing finally finds a way to blame DEI for mysterious drone sightings" by Mikael Thalen, Daily Dot, 2024 December 16
* In January 2025, reactionaries (including, once again, Elon Musk)"Elon Musk uses wildfires to attack California’s DEI practices — as MAGA faithful spread wild conspiracies" by Rhian Lubin, Independent, 2025 January 8 blamed the on DEI,"CNN’s Scott Jennings Makes L.A. Fire Hell All About DEI" by Leigh Kimmins, Daily Beast, 2025 January 9 in spite of scientific evidence of said fires having been caused by drought and high winds (conditions that were enhanced by climate change)."High winds, lack of rain and climate change stoking California fires" by Matt McGrath, BBC, 2025 January 9
* In late January 2025, Donald Trump, a frequent practitioner of "wingnut welfare" hiring, grotesquely politicized the tragedy by (without evidence) blaming it on supposed diversity hires, particularly those with disabilities."Trump Blames D.E.I. and Biden for Crash Under His Watch" by David E. Sanger, New York Times, 2025 January 30"Combative Trump blames diversity policies after air tragedy" by Anthony Zurcher, BBC, 2025 January 31
==DEI as a business strategy==
Many of the most staunch opponents of DEI, such as Jordan Peterson or Christopher Rufo, have little or no business or management experience. In reality, a significant amount of research has been done on diversity in the workplace and how it impacts the bottom line of businesses. In general, the research has shown that companies with greater diversity and inclusiveness at all levels significantly outperform those with less diversity."The war on DEI is hitting marketing and hurting business" by Constantine von Hoffman, Martech, 2024 February 20
Studies have shown that DEI helps improve a business's competitive standing in the following ways:
* DEI allows a business to understand and better engage their customers. This can help improve a product's market share."A Mature Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Delivers Real Results" by Adam DeMattia, Senior Director of Research, Enterprise Strategy Group, Techtarget / AWS, 2023 March
* DEI strategies can help improve a company's reputation, which can be of particular benefit for more socially conscious consumers. DEI likewise can have a positive impact on brand perception.
* DEI strategies can help improve employee recruitment and retention by ensuring that all employees have a fair and equal opportunity to succeed. It also can be very beneficial to overall employee morale."How to Make the Business Case for DEI", Berkshire Associates, 2023 September 15
* DEI strategies can help improve business agility and innovation.
* DEI can help create a workplace where everyone can feel safe and respected, which gives employees permission to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions to complex problems. This can lead to increased creativity; new perspectives that are not found in environments that lack diversity; increased collaboration; and more open communication. A 2017 study found that fully diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time."Infographic: Diversity + Inclusion = Better Decision Making At Work" by Erik Larson, Cloverpop, 2017 September 19
* DEI can help expose a company to fresh perspectives. This helps a company identify new clients, market niches, and other opportunities, and helps a company create solutions for clients with different perspectives, preferences, and needs."The Bottom Line? DEI Can Have an Impact on Your Practice", T. Rowe Price In one study of venture capital (VC) organizations, lack of diversity was directly associated with homogeneous patterns of investment, which significantly decreased the success rate of these investments compared to more diverse VC organizations."The Other Diversity Dividend", Harvard Business Review, July-August 2018
* DEI helps companies be more flexible, and adapt to changing conditions more easily."How Investing in DEI Helps Companies Become More Adaptable" by David Michels, Kevin Murphy, and Karthik Venkataraman, Harvard Business Review, 2023 May 5
As a result, according to a survey performed in December 2023 by the consulting firm 
* Companies with executive teams in the top quartile of gender diversity outperformed their peers by 39 percent."Diversity matters even more: The case for holistic impact", McKinsey and Company, 2023 December 5
* Companies with executive teams in the top quartile of ethnic diversity also outperformed their peers by 39 percent.
* More diversity in boards and executive teams was correlated to higher social and environmental impact scores.
* Companies with diverse leadership teams had greater overall involvement within their communities.
* Diverse leadership had a positive impact on a company's ethical disposition, community orientation, and the general image of a company.
Nearly 9 out of 10 businesses reported in a March 2023 survey that DEI strategies delivered either a positive or very positive return to the bottom line. Only 2% of businesses found DEI strategies to have a negative impact.
==See also==
*Wingnut welfare — what many DEI complainers in the media have used to get where they are.
==External links==
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==Notes==
==References==
Category:Business
Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats
Category:Moral panics
Category:Political terms
Category:Racism
Category:Snarl words
Category:Social justice