The Democratic Party and liberals around the world have transformed some well-meaning words into rigid ideologies.
The first time I heard about diversity, equity, and inclusion, I thought they were noble ideals—principles that everyone should strive to incorporate into their lives.
But when these words shift from being aspirational values to rigid mandates—where a person can lose their job for not using the correct terminology, or in countries like England and Germany, where individuals can face legal consequences for perceived offenses—diversity, equity, and inclusion can start to feel oppressive.
When a bank denies you a loan because your company doesn’t have enough LGBTQ+ employees, that feels oppressive. When a ranking organization lowers your company’s score because there aren’t enough women on the board of directors, that feels oppressive. When social media launches a smear campaign against your business because many of your employees happen to be straight, white men, that too feels oppressive.
When governments and social enforcers send the message, “You better be inclusive, or else…” people start to resent the very words meant to promote fairness.
When these words become weapons—wielded by those who see themselves as moral enforcers—many people react in one of three ways: they cringe, they submit, or they rebel. Those who don’t conform to the new social norms fear being lectured, shamed, or labeled as bigots, homophobes, or racists. And often, the “solution” is mandatory sensitivity training or termination.
But no one likes to be “fixed.” No one likes to be forced. No one likes to be shamed into compliance. And so, resentment grows. Diversity, equity, and inclusion—once words that symbolized progress—are now words that many wish would disappear from the English language altogether.
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