I have a question for you, and I would love to hear your answer.
First a little context: I agree that the winds are shifting a bit. I do sense a pushback to woke excess. I also agree that the solution to this is political. Democrats will keep using identity politics until it is proven beyond a doubt that doing so will lose elections for them. And if Trump is not in the picture in '22 and '24, I sense those elections will be wipeouts in favor of the GOP, especially if the GOP puts someone like Tim Scott on the ticket (though one could argue this is a concession to identitarianism). Regardless, I want to believe that woke excess will fade and we can move toward healthier race relations.
However, just like the Military-Industrial Complex has interests of its own that make it nearly impossible to debulk, the Diversity-Industrial Complex will resist going away. Think of all the positions in corporate HR, DEI roles in academia, and DEI training consultancies that have no interest in losing their jobs, contracts, and authority. In fact, it seems to me that the most likely explanation for the expansion of the definition of racism (from prejudiced behavior to "systemic") is that the DIC needs racism to exist in order to justify itself. If racism no longer existed as a major factor in our country, we wouldn't need the DIC. Why else have race relations gotten worse since Obama was elected? If we simply accepted that the color of one's skin is not a major barrier to success, how could we continue to justify different standards for different races?
So, my question is this: what happens to the DIC if the winds continue to shift? What happens to all those hyper-woke DEI officials, and aggressive corporate HR employees? My experiences with bureaucracies tells me they are very difficult to eliminate once they are created. Can the excesses of woke ideology be interpreted as the frantic gasps for air of a drowning animal? Or are they just the inevitable result of a group of people who are epistemically closed, and hermetically sealed in their twitter/social media bubble?
Professor Loury and Professor McWhorter-
Let me begin by saying that you guys are awesome.
I have a question for you, and I would love to hear your answer.
First a little context: I agree that the winds are shifting a bit. I do sense a pushback to woke excess. I also agree that the solution to this is political. Democrats will keep using identity politics until it is proven beyond a doubt that doing so will lose elections for them. And if Trump is not in the picture in '22 and '24, I sense those elections will be wipeouts in favor of the GOP, especially if the GOP puts someone like Tim Scott on the ticket (though one could argue this is a concession to identitarianism). Regardless, I want to believe that woke excess will fade and we can move toward healthier race relations.
However, just like the Military-Industrial Complex has interests of its own that make it nearly impossible to debulk, the Diversity-Industrial Complex will resist going away. Think of all the positions in corporate HR, DEI roles in academia, and DEI training consultancies that have no interest in losing their jobs, contracts, and authority. In fact, it seems to me that the most likely explanation for the expansion of the definition of racism (from prejudiced behavior to "systemic") is that the DIC needs racism to exist in order to justify itself. If racism no longer existed as a major factor in our country, we wouldn't need the DIC. Why else have race relations gotten worse since Obama was elected? If we simply accepted that the color of one's skin is not a major barrier to success, how could we continue to justify different standards for different races?
So, my question is this: what happens to the DIC if the winds continue to shift? What happens to all those hyper-woke DEI officials, and aggressive corporate HR employees? My experiences with bureaucracies tells me they are very difficult to eliminate once they are created. Can the excesses of woke ideology be interpreted as the frantic gasps for air of a drowning animal? Or are they just the inevitable result of a group of people who are epistemically closed, and hermetically sealed in their twitter/social media bubble?