I disagree that they’ve all done it under political duress. I think many of these companies have used the political environment to be shitty, and drop something they didn’t want to support.
I think it’s just like Republicans over the past 12+ years. Once Trump came along and normalized hate speech, it’s empowered other wastes-of-oxygen to do the same. They’ve always been racists and bigots, but now it’s acceptable to do it publicly. I try to do my part by calling it out when I can. Silence is complacency, so I’m all in on name and shame in the moment.
It’s not that there wasn’t any political pressure. It’s that the slightest bit of pressure caused them to pull the plug swiftly.
I think the companies who were led by people personally antagonistic to DEI already weren’t doing it. They started it when the political winds were in favor of DEI, found that it did something beneficial for them that was worth the investment (ultimately, increasing profits, probably through PR) and reaped what they could. But the slightest headwinds caused them to drop it, for lack of confidence it would be worth the continued investment. For others, it was beneficial enough this pressure didn’t change their decisions.
None of this is likely coming from company leaders caring about DEI for some sort of principled reason, just companies who care about only one thing, reassessing the value of DEI in terms of that one thing, $ return on spend. This is a group who needs subtler treatment than the anti-DEI crowd, this is fair weather friends who don’t care. What little we can do is reward those who don’t give in to the slightest push.
Honestly, I’m so damn pessimistic anymore that I default to the preparator being intentionally malicious. I’ve been burned too many times. You’re definitely right though, I just hate that it’s a thing. It’s nauseating.
I disagree that they’ve all done it under political duress. I think many of these companies have used the political environment to be shitty, and drop something they didn’t want to support.
I think it’s just like Republicans over the past 12+ years. Once Trump came along and normalized hate speech, it’s empowered other wastes-of-oxygen to do the same. They’ve always been racists and bigots, but now it’s acceptable to do it publicly. I try to do my part by calling it out when I can. Silence is complacency, so I’m all in on name and shame in the moment.
It’s not that there wasn’t any political pressure. It’s that the slightest bit of pressure caused them to pull the plug swiftly.
I think the companies who were led by people personally antagonistic to DEI already weren’t doing it. They started it when the political winds were in favor of DEI, found that it did something beneficial for them that was worth the investment (ultimately, increasing profits, probably through PR) and reaped what they could. But the slightest headwinds caused them to drop it, for lack of confidence it would be worth the continued investment. For others, it was beneficial enough this pressure didn’t change their decisions.
None of this is likely coming from company leaders caring about DEI for some sort of principled reason, just companies who care about only one thing, reassessing the value of DEI in terms of that one thing, $ return on spend. This is a group who needs subtler treatment than the anti-DEI crowd, this is fair weather friends who don’t care. What little we can do is reward those who don’t give in to the slightest push.
Honestly, I’m so damn pessimistic anymore that I default to the preparator being intentionally malicious. I’ve been burned too many times. You’re definitely right though, I just hate that it’s a thing. It’s nauseating.