DEI Madness at the USAF Academy, With Comments on DEI Totalitarianism

Insanity

Part of the problem with DEI is that it is one tentacle of the totalitarian progressive-left octopus. The more modest and limited a policy, the weaker the arguments in support of it can be. The more ambitious and unlimited a policy, the heavier the burden of proof its advocates must carry--and the greater its potential for harm. And the more resistant we should be to its implementation.

   My view is that the problem isn't so much DEI as it is the postpostmodern, politically correct progressive left. That position is antiliberal, antirationalist, and totalitarian. DEI--a rather bad idea to begin with--could be spun in a less-destructive direction if implemented by more liberal and rational institutions, or by a more liberal and reasonable faction. It might even have some good effects if applied modestly, at the margins.

   But DEI is now little more than an efficient tool for institutionalizing the insane ideas of the contemporary--totalitarian--left.

   As such, it is no surprise that DEI itself has become totalitarian. What might have been an at least moderately reasonable idea if implemented modestly has, instead, become a set of ideas that are being forced into every corner of institutions. That's certainly true of my institution, and, as the piece linked to above makes clear, it's happening at USAFA. And those two institutions are in no way unrepresentative in this respect. 

   DEI is now being imposed on students in many of their classes, by the para-faculty of "student affairs," by other students and student organizations--from, in short, every direction. It is now often represented as the most important end of universities. That's to say: many leftists now openly (or not-so-openly) say that advancing DEI / "social justice" / "antiracism" etc. are the real aims of universities. Even good ideas would become bad if implemented in that way. 

   Today's left is irrational and destructive both because of its illiberal, irrationalist ideas and because it is religiously dedicated to the project of converting the unbeliever via rhetorical and institutional force--including what is, in effect, brainwashing. 

   In my view, DEI must be destroyed. At this point, there is no reforming it. Any promise by progressives to salvage it will be a smokescreen. Any weapon we leave them will be used against us, because their weapons are mere means. Taking away DEI is a virtually necessary, but by no means sufficient, step toward prying control of our institutions away from the illiberal, antirationalist left.