The danger of DEI: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion | Randall Kennedy and Lex Fridman

Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

GUEST BIO:
Randall Kennedy is a law professor at Harvard and author of many seminal books on race, law, history, culture, and politics.

PODCAST INFO:

SOCIAL:

[LexClips]

Guest bio: Randall Kennedy is a law professor at Harvard and author of many seminal books on race, law, history, culture, and politics.

[dub]

I sat through class after class at my university learning about diversity when I should have been learning about my major.

It was the same bs thrown at me in almost every class.

[andersdottir]

If ever I need heart surgery I would want the best in the profession; not someone hired because of their colour and their credentials were not as accomplished as another candidate.
When I’m next in a plane, I want it serviced by the most, intelligent, reliable and careful technician not someone hired because they were diverse and not as suitable.

[jcarbonell]

DEI is a page out of authoritarian governments. Tell people if they don't agree with your political beliefs, then their source of income will be punished.

[BrockLanders]

DEI statements are an example of compelled speech which violates the First Amendment. Once people start filing lawsuits, which they absolutely should, all of this nonsense will finally go away.

[kevinkasp]

What is the difference between using DEI as a “purity” test versus Mao’s/Stalin’s/Pol Pot’s Marxist purity tests for professors, doctors or engineers, or medieval Catholic administrators shutting down scientific research that violated the belief of the Earth being the center of the universe, or 17th century Protestants burning, drowning, and hanging “witches” here in America for young girls saying rebellious things?
Nothing. There is no difference. They’re all about adherence to an ideology regardless of truth, facts, or Justice.

[kitcat]

People have reported intense depression and 'mind change' from these NLP sessions.

[anemnia]

So funny he said chemist first. My PI was complaining about having to fill in a DEI thing for a chemistry proposal it had nothing to do with anything. Very diverse lab but totally irrelevant.

[joshuapjung]

Lex please do an episode with someone who is an expert on Yuri Bezmenov and the KGB ideological subversion plot.

[rhallanger]

I did an online interview for a job at Union Pacific two years ago and was asked to provide up to a 2 minute video response about how I felt about diversity and inclusion. This was one of only five questions they asked. So 20% of interview was about DEI.

[mikevogler]

This forced DEI push, all started in the last 4 years, or less, is such bulls**t, and a joke, too. If it's not stopped, it's going to seriously destroy, well, everything, but especially the medical field. I had to have sudden, life or death, brain surgery, back in September of 2020, and I was scared s**tless. I'd gone my 41 years of Life, at that time, without ever having a surgery, period, and it would've been an even bigger mound of stress, if I'd have had to also worry about getting a skilled individual, and/or someone that actually knew what the h**l they were doing, due to the forced hiring of anyone, and everyone, now. I could give less than 2 s**ts where someone is from, or what race they're, as long as they can actually do what they're hired to do. Hiring individuals, just to fill a quota, or to make certain people, or races, feel better, or adequate, is NOT the way to run a Society. Work hard, and actually try, and anyone can do anything they want to. Plain and simple.

[American.Patriot]

Who’s here after the DEI failure of the US Secret Service? 😂

[patrickdodge]

Erasing/banning words = Erasing/banning knowledge. When you remove words from the vocabulary, you start removing the ways for us to communicate and pass on information to each other. It's like if you have a book and slowly start redacting each word, one by one, until all or most of the words are crossed out.

[reubenhandel]

Is there anyone that admits being an affirmative action hire?

It seems like that would be really demeaning

[benfaubion]

So would it be safe to say DEI is identify politics run amok? The words themselves sound good, but is it like a litmus test to see if you agree with the politics of DEI in order to advance in a place, such as a job, academia, etc? Any suggested sources where one could go to unpack all of the DEI points and beliefs? Sounds like it’s kind of like a secret club, with certain passwords to advance

[Apistevist]

I'm a research engineer and because of the work I'm currently involved with I work around academia. More than once I've talked to young physics grads and undergrads along with engineering students who've told me in private that they're considering switching fields or quitting because they're convinced they'll never be given a chance at their dream because they're white Males. This is an anecdote but it's suggestive of a huge problem, we're losing real talent and passion.

[davidsmarrt]

I really don’t think Harvard is that open anymore 😂

[badatdoingmath]

Situational context is very important in regrads to the use of the N word and its variants. In a classroom setting when reading from historical text or past literature I think it's appropriate given that the students understand the word reflects the mindset of the people using it at the time, not the readers.

[BenWilson]

The positionality statement thing is absolutely ridiculous. That's nothing short of pushing ad hominem or argument from authority fallacies to be carried out. Judge the article by its content

[Kyoz]

Diversity is fine. If you are a diverse group united under something. Like nationalism. United as Americans. Diversity is the death of democracy otherwise. Diversity divides us up into distinct groups. It is inherently divisive. Aristotle said that diversity destroys philia. (the sense of belonging you feel when around other people similar to yourself) So if you want diversity, you need to apply special focus on preserving philia. Current PC culture does the exact opposite of this. They target, harass and isolate to enhance the division, all while claiming that its our strength. It is our greatest weakness.