this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
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Summary

The term "DEI" (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) has become a coded way for Republicans to conceal their anti-Black racism, echoing past racist dog whistles.

This parallels with Lee Atwater’s 1981 admission that conservatives used abstract terms like “states’ rights” to mask racism.

Today, figures like Alina Habba, Tim Burchett, and far-right influencers use "DEI hire" to discredit qualified Black figures.

The media's failure to challenge this rhetoric allows racism to persist, making "DEI" a modern substitute for explicit racial slurs.

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[–] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 143 points 2 years ago (5 children)

The insinuation that if you see any woman or person of color in a position of power, prestige, or even competence, they got there because of identity politics and not their own merit, is directly bigoted, not even concealed by the first or second degree. The corollary, of course, is that you can only trust white men to do these important jobs correctly.

[–] Naz@sh.itjust.works 32 points 2 years ago

This idea is so gross that I don't even want to entertain it mentally.

Thank you for your lucid and crystalline explanation though, internet stranger.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That’s sexist! They also think SOME jobs can be done by women but only if they are cis-women

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

But if you get too good at that job, the insinuation changes and you must've had sex with your manager in order to get a raise/promotion.

[–] dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 12 points 2 years ago

Someone (I think at Do) literally said the “we need white men in charge” line out loud in those words.

[–] diskmaster23@lemmy.one 0 points 2 years ago

So, white men got there only based on their skin and gender? So therefore they are incompetent?

[–] Yodan@lemm.ee 59 points 2 years ago (1 children)

DEI, Woke, Left, Commie, etc are all the same word to them. There will be a new one too don't worry. It always means "stuff I don't personally like for either a religious or hateful reason and you can't convince me otherwise" and it's just a boogeyman of stories and ideas that never actually happen irl but somehow get quoted and shared around as if it were a real thing and then uninformed people get scared and vote for strong daddy man.

It's so dumb and telegraphed, make it stop already.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Meanwhile, people on the Left will spend weeks arguing the difference between Socialist and Social Democrat.

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah... the nitpicking in-fighting from people that spend waaaaay too much time delineating groups rather than working for a common cause was particularly fun in the last election. "We're not the Judean People's Front! We're the People's Front of Judea!"

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world -2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yet god forbid you recognize that fascism cones in different flavors than Nazism. Mussolini was not a nazi nor was Peron yet both were fascists

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you're going to put words in my mouth, please serve them with fries and a side salad.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world -2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

My point is how leftists will spend a lot of time differentiating between the various types of leftism but seemingly don’t get that all fascists are not Nazis.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I think I understand your point now.

I saw a lot of people going off on how Genocide Joe was as bad as Hitler, and they could never vote for him.

Haven't heard too much from them lately.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What's there to talk about? Leftists kept trying to tell you that the Democrats were going to lose the election if they didn't start listening to their base. The Democrats didn't listen to their base, and got walloped everywhere.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

And if you're a Leftist and didn't go all in helping the Dems, you've got exactly nothing to be proud of.

I donated to Bernie in 2016 and 2020 and 2024 and every time the Left managed not to organize and get him nominated.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It’s more how if you point out Trump’s actions are more in line with Orban and Mussolini rather than the Nazis you get called a Nazi sympathizer rather than just being better informed on fascist philosophy/beliefs/delusions.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I wouldn't bother; it's a distinction without a difference.

[–] MothmanDelorian@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There’s a significant difference as most fascists do not engage in attempts to eliminate parts of humanity in order to facilitate the creation of a master race. Not all fascists are that level of crazy.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

Reminds me of an old joke.

They ask Brezhnev about Stalin. Leonid says that Stalin was completely insane and that he'd let 50 million people die before he changed one of his policies.

"If five million people died because of me, that would make me reconsider."

[–] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

You're absolutely correct, but I prefer "Nazi" solely because that word specifically has it's own level of disgust to me, and I want to convey that level of disgust for republicans. No other shorthand carries the proper emotional connotation for me.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 41 points 2 years ago

There's a tradeshow a client of mine is attending where the DEI talk has been rebranded "Justice, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion" — JEDI.

Thought that was kinda clever actually.

[–] Birdie@thelemmy.club 34 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

They ALWAYS think DEI means hiring an inferior, less qualified person instead of the superior, more qualified white man.

That is because they cannot and will not believe any other race or sex could ever be equal to or better than the lowest white man.

They are certainly racist, they always have been and always will be. As far as I am concerned, every Republican is racist, and if they ever hire or appoint a POC or a woman, it's tokenism, not because they truly believe the hire is the best person for the job.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 31 points 2 years ago
[–] misfitx@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago

They mean civil rights. Our rights are being taken away.

[–] meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The GOP’s DEI panic is just recycled bigotry with a thesaurus. Trump’s crew rebranding exclusion as “anti-wokeness” — a moral panic for donors and pundits to feast on. They’re not defending merit; they’re erasing history.

Republicans framing equity as oppression is peak gaslighting. Every crusade against “divisive concepts” reveals their real fear: a future where their cultural monopoly crumbles. DEI isn’t the threat—their irrelevance is.

This isn’t policy. It’s a smokescreen for institutionalizing resentment. When they scream “reverse racism,” what they mean is “keep the hierarchy intact.” The roadmap’s clear: manufacture enemies, sell outrage, cash checks. Democracy as a looted storefront.

[–] miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 years ago

"DEI" is GOP's hard 'r'.

[–] Placebonickname@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

Remember my friends, when Nazis started to control the Jewish population of Germany, the first restrictions inacted were limits to where the Jewish people could work, specifically it limited a Jewish person’s ability to be hired for a government position based on the bullshit notion that Jewish people weren’t as reliable as a German person. This was known as, “Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" of April 7, 1933.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/anti-jewish-legislation-in-prewar-germany

[–] Punchshark@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 years ago

The R in republican stands for racist

[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world -5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

That's why I keep saying banning a word or making a world "not professional" doesn't do anything as long as people's though doesn't change. Like saying "don't say black, say african American" doesn't make them suddenly like them, they'll still be racist. Changing words will just make them use a new word to mean the same thing.

Yeah there might be emotional things about certain words and not wanting people to use it can be understandable. It might be a step is a direction if it's to be less humiliating or be inclusive. But just saying "don't use this word, use this word instead" will make the new word mean the same thing with same derogatory meaning if people use the new word derogatorily. Now DEI has become that new word, and instead of claiming the word back, owning it, people might go "don't say DEI" and come up with a completely new acronym while trying to "heal" from the past administration.