The anti-woke language of politicians like Ron DeSantis has devolved into a new phenomenon where several Republican leaders and pundits are attacking Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives everywhere. These positions fly in the face of just about every aspect of our lives, and they demonstrate just how out of touch these politicians are with not only the direction of our country, but also the direction of business.
Didn’t the Republican party used to be “the party of business?” (I use quotes because that’s how they position themselves, but the rest of us know it refers only to the wealthiest of businesses, not to any small startup or sole proprietor.) They always claimed to want to stay out of business and let big business do what it wants (i.e., ride roughshod on employees). But now the party feels perfectly fine attacking businesses based on their views of “morality.” (I use quotes because DEI initiatives reflect a much higher degree of morality than any of these politicians have.) This is not a surprise when you consider they also used to say they want government out of our lives, but they always seem to insert themselves into our private lives by telling women what to do with their bodies and the LGBTQ+ community that they are unwanted and should be unacknowledged.
Yeah, the party stays away from business and our private lives like a parasite stays away from a host.
Where business is concerned, I’d like to tell these politicians, “Good luck.” Approximately 80% of Fortune 500 companies have some sort of DEI initiative. (Most of them don’t report on them, but it’s a start.) Corporations have these programs because it’s good for morale, it attracts talent, and it’s the right thing to do.
When was the last time you applied for a job? I’ve searched for my share of jobs in the past several years, and I have NEVER come across an application that doesn’t ask me for my gender, my race, and my disability status. Some of them even ask me for my pronouns. (That pop you just heard was a Texas congressman’s head exploding.)
This is where corporate America is today, and apparently the GOP is so lost in its anti-wokeness that it doesn’t see how anti-business this position is.
The messaging is also just cruel. If you’re against DEI initiatives, then you’re against the very things those letters stand for: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These are values we teach our kids in Kindergarten. If you’re against these things, then by extension you’re for uniformity in race, gender and sexual orientation, you’re for our society being inequitable (which it already is), and you’re for excluding some people from the American experience. I hate to play the racist card, but if the shoe fits…
This is why whenever I hear a politician complaining about wokeness, I wonder if they know what they’re saying and doing. They are trying to move our nation in the opposite direction it’s going. They are creating and nurturing wedge issues so they can stir up their followers, which means they are talking to only part of the country and claiming to represent them. But they don’t. When a politician speaks only to half the country, they are speaking in half-truths.
Apparently when some people on the right hear words and terms like woke, DEI, LGBTQ, it’s a trigger for them, and right-wing politicians love lighting up that trigger and creating votes. But when I hear about anti-wokeness and “this is where wokeness comes to die,” I hear nothing but cruelty. It’s setting up some people to be superior to other people, which is un-American, inhumane, and, yes, racist. If you’re anti-woke, chances are it’s because you feel you’re superior to whole groups of other people who are different than you. The anti-woke crowd simply does not want people to be who they are. Can you think of anything more private and personal than being who you are?
This is now where our nation is: some musicians and social media idiots shooting up beer cans because Anheuser-Busch recognized a trans person. This is what these politicians and their friends in the noise machine industry have wrought: the anti-woke crowd is angry about wokeness and coming after your DEI initiatives (along with coming after actual real live people).
I say bring it. Younger generations aren’t going to have any of it, so this GOP is on its last breath. Unless they evolve, they’ll be about as relevant as an 8-track tape. But we shouldn’t have to wait until then, because being against DEI is being anti-business. Who do you think is richer or stronger, DeSantis or Disney? Disney just pulled out of a multi-billion-dollar initiative in Florida because of DeSantis, so congrats to Ronnie for losing thousands of jobs.
Talk to your bosses and your own DEI department or person. All companies who care deeply about DEI should ban together and take on politicians who are against it. I’d like to see signatures from 800 of the Fortune 1000 CEOs decrying this nonsense. They know better than the DeSantises of the world: DEI is embedded in business now, it’s good for business, and it’s good for our nation.
