My pov is that CRT (critical race theory) and related policies, like DEI, put an undue emphasis on race instead of on poverty, and the resulting effect is that policies which are aimed at helping minorities seem like “favoritism” (and called as such by political opponents), which makes a growing population of poor whites (due to the adverse effects of wealth inequality) polarized against minorities.
Separately, the polarization is used by others who want to weaken a democratic nation. For democracies, a growing immigrant population of more poor people will cause further polarization because the growing poor white population believes that “they’re taking our jobs”. This happened during Brexit, this happened with Trump, and this is happening now in Germany and other western democracies.
I know that there are racist groups who have an agenda of their own, and what I am saying is that instead of focusing on what are painted as culture war issues, leftists are better off focusing on alleviating systemic poverty. Like, bringing the Nordic model to the U.S. should be their agenda.
So, maybe I am wrong about CRT and DEI and how it’s well-meaning intentions are being abused by people who have other goals, but I want to hear from others about why they think CRT and DEI help. I want to listen, so I am not going to respond at all.
— Added definitions —
CRT: an academic field used to understand how systems and processes favor white people despite anti-discrimination policies. Analysis coming out of CRT is often used to make public policy.
DEI: a framework for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion; DEI isn’t focused on race or gender only, but also includes disability and other factors (pregnancy for example) which affect a person.
— —
Okay , so end note: I appreciate the people who commented. I questioned the relevancy of CRT/DEI previously out of an alarmed perspective of how aspects that highlight group differences can be used by others to create divisions and increase polarization. But I get the point everyone is making about the historical significance of these tools.
Okay, so about immigration I’ll just make this point, from another thread:
The above point is to demonstrate how democracies are fragile, and that not all immigration policies are necessarily xenophobic or racist.
I’m guessing you’re willing to try and learn, so I’m gonna try to put my thoughts together. This will be a long one, and I hope you’re patient enough to go over it all and process it. I tend to ramble.
Using a “what if” to try and counter actual goings on is not an ideal way to make a point. You could also ask within that “what if” if those immigrants start to change their views based on the pro-choice laws and society.
Thing is, most people want fewer abortions, across the board. Many people also want access to abortions because there are circumstances where the only actual medical procedure to avoid the loss of both parent and child is an abortion.
In addition, most pro choice people are pro:
And many more. All of these empower and better the life of the recipient - as well as society at large - but all are regularly voted down or demonized by “pro life” groups, despite them all actually pro being alive. They are “pro human”.
Additionally, using “what if” scenarios to try to debate isn’t good debate rhetoric. It starts to move the focus onto something else to then start “attacking”, which is known as a strawman. It’s like when people complain about boys in girls’ sports for all trans laws. It happens so little that it’s effectively not happening, nor worth focusing on. It’s a strawman, and it changes the focus of the dialogue.
Most anti-immigrant policy in the USA are and have been xenophobic in nature. At least in the 40+ years I’ve been alive, and the 20+ years I’ve been politically involved.
CRT is an academic discipline. It’s not “pro black people” or “let’s put black people on a pedestal” or “let’s only vote for back people to positions of power”. It’s focusing more on the [very truncated] reality that a) 400+ years of slavery happened, and b) the black community is at a massive social disadvantage because of it. This video from Trevor Noah breaks down reparations and privilege quite adroitly. It doesn’t only focus on the black community, but it’s a big part, because of our nation’s history.
CRT can cover anything from slave patrols, to the 13th amendment’s sneaky little loophole that then permitted really dumb laws across the nation, to redlining, to origins and proliferation of music, to medical misinformation, to the Tuskegee experiments, and on and on. Because again, CRT is first and foremost an academic discipline. It’s not being taught in high school or elementary school because it’s a critically theoretical [scientific] practice. It is a way of thinking about thinking, and societal impacts, with focus on race and ethnicity, and how those things impact and have impacted society.
DEI is simply an initialism of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These three principles should be embraced by everyone. If you wanted homogeneity, you’d have a pretty terrible world. Especially genetic homogeneity. Just ask the Habsburg family tree.
When discussing this, the one thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be this Zero-Sum Game theory of thinking. In that if on side wins, another side must lose. It’s a common mentality in the US, especially when sports and wars, etc. are involved. We are so very individually centrist, we fail to look at the whole and see that even when someone else wins, WE ALL win.
A diverse group of people is a more challenging group of people, since it’s no longer an echo chamber. There may be thoughts, ideas, words, actions, etc. that previously might have been acceptable, that now parts of the group don’t consider acceptable. A reasonable response is to then follow up and try to understand the causes of those issues. To try and find a way to work together amicably. This then shows that people are Equitable in their input. That they have a similar value, and that their racial / ethnic / social issues can be heard and understood, to ideally improve the world around them, including in the workplace.
Often, people misunderstand that a “merit-based” society exists. It doesn’t. Not only does money buy your way in to most opportunities, your familial and ethnic background also have a massive impact on your opportunities, and consequences. All else being equal, a black man and a white man are going to have different experiences at the same moment in the same space. Including getting any job, even the highest of the land. Hell, look at SCOTUS Justice Jackson. Despite all of the “anti DEI” rhetoric, she’s literally the most qualified person to have ever been confirmed to the position. Bar none, hands down, no lies. And say what you will about her policies, but Kamala was ALSO the most qualified person to ever run for US President. Despite these issues, people used “DEI” as a veil to really say “she’s a black woman, and I don’t want a black woman running my country” for both.
Inclusion is just the opposite of rejection. And at the end of the day, the biggest fear on virtually every human mind is the fear of being rejected. We all fight with ourselves daily to feel like we belong, that people like us, that we are valuable, that we are worthy. But there’s a large sector of our society that takes that internal fear and pushes it out into the world, to find a way to feel better about their own inner struggles. They reject a group, and find acceptance in another. Because we still haven’t beaten the stupid lizard brain in the base of our skull that says “us good, them bad”.
Finally, I recommend everyone who is trying to understand why conservatives think the way to do (including oneself, if you’re trying to be an introspective conservative), is to watch this video from Innuendo Studios.
Ironic of you to mention zero-sum theory, because that’s what CRT and DEI seem to be based on. “If we want to correct historical racism, we must bring down innocent white people in the process by discriminating against them in hiring and constantly telling them that they’re evil.”
There’s an amazing quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was vocal about there needing to be more women on the US supreme court. She was asking how many women she’d like there to be, and she answered “9 women” (meaning all of them). When the interviewer reacted with shock, she simply asked him why that would be so bad, since they were obviously fine with having 9 men on the court.
It’s a great illustration of how badly we all need to switch thinking. Of course, Equity feels really unfair to those previously enjoying privileges.
That might make sense, except that numbers of migrants is miniscule compared to the existing population in almost every case.
For example, Australia has ~200k permanent migrants per year. With a population of 26m. In order for the migrants to become a majority, it would take 130 years to import 26m people. (This is obviously grossly simplified).
There is basically no real risk that we will drown in migrants.