People hold up signs during a rally against critical race theory (CRT) being taught in schools at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The Epoch Times | By Kevin McGary 10/27/2023 | Updated:10/29/2023
Commentary
Global multinational powers, institutions, and nation-states have adopted and enshrined diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as the way to help diversify professions, colleges, and workplaces. A history of racism and inequality has plagued many cultures and societies, so DEI arose as a possible tool to help alleviate the harms and end maltreatment and disparities.
As with any tool, DEI should be assessed for its rationality and results. Leaders and citizens both should ask, “Does DEI help put an end to racial inequalities, or does it worsen and prolong them? Does it truly foster social unity, or does it harmfully produce more division, anger, and disdain?”
History confirms that Charles Darwin’s derelict evolutionary theories profoundly impacted the foundation of racism, “supremacy,” and inequality. Those theories said that blacks were not “equal” and instead were equated to “apes,” “gorillas,” and “savages.”
Darwin’s theories gave “scientific justification” for treating blacks differently and unequally because blacks were deemed innately inferior. Result: Blacks and all other non-white ethnicities were maligned and viewed as dirty and inferior.
Darwin’s racist theories profoundly impacted Karl Marx’s beliefs. As Marx and Engels considered Darwin a mentor, they integrated Darwinism into Marx’s philosophy.
Marx accepted Darwin’s racist beliefs that humankind evolved over time and in stages and that the various ethnicities were therefore not created equal. This meant Marx believed that blacks and other ethnicities had innate deficiencies and limitations compared to the ideals he cherished in whites.
This turned out to be troubling for Marx. He felt he was superior because he was white, yet his own personal success was miserable. He never “measured up” to his contemporaries. Instead of taking personal responsibility and becoming more competent and zealous about personal achievement, Marx blamed the “capitalist system” for his failures.
Marx’s lifetime of laziness, joblessness, and mooching, while fathering eight children by two women, created poverty that drove his insatiable bitterness, jealousy, and hate directed at those who attained success and accomplishments. Marx felt self-important by embracing communist philosophy as it forged a movement for social “change” grounded upon perpetual grievances, collective hate, and unending bitterness.
Marxist philosophy said all people are inevitably divided into two classes. Marx saw the division as basically the “haves” versus the “have nots.” Marx termed the two sides as the exploited class (the “proletariat”) versus the ruling class (the “bourgeoisie”).
Marx loathed successful people, like the bourgeoisie, as much because of his own bitterness as anything else. He thought history would inevitably lead to a proletarian uprising and takeover to achieve a “communist utopia.”
Marxism Expands Beyond His Grave
To this day, Marx’s philosophy encourages the “exploited” proletariat class to rise up and control or eliminate the bourgeoisie “ruling class.” Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik who launched the late Soviet Union, upshifted Marxism to achieve utopia by mobilizing the “masses” to undermine capitalism and meritocracy.
The Marxist-Leninist movement aims to create a “classless society.” In practice, this always means a “classless” communist society where the government owns and runs all productive enterprises, which requires controlling all the people to make sure everyone has “equal” everything.
The Marxist-Leninist idea of “equality” pivots 180 degrees away from the standards and traditions of “equal opportunity” and toward a new standard of “equal outcome.” And outcome is one of DEI’s fundamental principles.
DEI uses words and methods drawn from the Marxist/communist vision. It sensitizes and conditions participants toward an inevitable adoption of tenets of a “classless” society. Notably, DEI’s primary focus upon “equity” (equal outcomes) means wholesale rejecting of all moral standards of treating people fairly via equal opportunity.
Instead, DEI presses for unequal treatment, frankly immoral treatment, of people, to produce the hazy vision of “equal outcomes.” Such equity demands that all identity groups (race, gender, etc.) share in equal outcomes irrespective of competencies, skill, or individual effort.
Connecting the historical dots, we see that today’s DEI trends are still motivated by neo-Marxian jealousy, animus, and contempt toward people who have zeal for achievement and success based on merit. Since humankind is not made up of robots, every individual is endowed with varying degrees of God-given skills and talents. The wide variations among individuals mean several kinds of “inequality” will always exist.
The trends toward measuring everyone based on a scale of equal outcomes, i.e., equal compensation, promotion, and career advancement, irrespective of core competencies, is a scheme straight out of Marx’s bitterness about his basically failing life. Marx’s demands for equal outcomes were fundamentally designed to usher in his dream of a communist utopia. Without doubt, his arcane and unscrupulous designs for “planned economies” destroy the power that free markets and meritocracy bring to enrich everyone.
Ethically principled environments attempting to incorporate equality, trust, and commitment toward unity are harmed and undermined by neo-Marxist DEI initiatives. Typically, equity is used as a spiked club to mete out retribution and “get even” with those deemed “oppressors” or “victimizers” (namely whites)—not to unify.
DEI-inspired initiatives can achieve better outcomes by modifying the DEI paradigm and shifting to a more principled DOI (Diversity, Opportunity, Inclusion) mindset.
Sincere diversity initiatives should create environments that value every individual’s life experiences and background while promoting unity and honoring respect. When diversity practices encourage equal opportunity instead of trying to force equal outcomes, organizations can expect improved morale and unity.
Designing environments to reflect a commitment to the menagerie of flourishing humanity requires a complete rejection of “equity” and all its modern-day collectivist/communist baggage and accessories. Likewise, diversity’s most significant feature is the inspiring of different viewpoints. Working together from different perspectives promotes harmony when tackling problems or attempting to accomplish focused objectives.
Actively welcoming criticisms and coordinating different plausible solutions will increase the diversity of ideas within organizational thinking. If all contributors feel their input and perspectives are encouraged, honored, and respected, this can result in a rich, unifying experience for employees.
When corporate unity is increased, overall corporate performance should accelerate. A sincere and concerted effort encouraging equal opportunity for people with diversified skills, political leanings, ethnicity, sex/gender, etc., can produce a “melting pot” of diversity that achieves a pipeline of opportunistic successes. That’s what the motto “e pluribus unum” envisions.
The concept of “Diversity is Our Strength” can become true where race and identity-groups are not the focus, but instead social and work environments:
foster clear and relevant communication
willingly adapt to change and receive diverse input
celebrate the human ability to “freely think” out loud without fear or judgment
show genuine interest in others and continually commit to building relationships
honor individual differences and value others
actively seek to understand others
accept accountability for self and others
Such environments achieve the true virtues of diversity.
This diversity approach dovetails directly with true inclusion. To best encourage inclusive and diverse environments means moving away from DEI (with its equity focus) and embracing DOI (with an opportunity focus)! Universally recognizing and including everyone, regardless of group identity, leads to humanity working together and completely rejecting diabolical theories that foment violence, hatred, and chaos.
It’s time to reject fallacious and dishonest tropes that separate people into warring camps instead of unifying people. It’s time to reject adolescent, unsuccessful theories that divide. As mature adults, we must now fully and with intentionality embrace the reality: We can be one united family.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Kevin McGary is a Ministry leader, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. He serves as chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California, is an executive with the Douglass Leadership Institute, and also a co-founder of Every Black Life Matters (EBLM). EBLM is a moral-based and faith-based alternative to Black Lives Matter. Kevin has worked as a professional in Information Technology for the past 35 years and has written six books. His most recent book releases include “WOKEd UP!” (2022) and “DEI in 3D” (July 2023).
