Biotech entrepreneur and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is unlikely to win the GOP nomination for the 2024 election if polls are any indication. That doesn’t mean he’s not interesting though, and his comments at a CNN town hall Wednesday were spot on regarding diversity and inclusion.
The questioner from the audience asked him what he would do to support diversity and inclusion should he be elected. I liked his honesty when he immediately said she wasn’t going to like what he had to say:
QUESTIONER: What specific strategies would you implement to promote diversity and inclusion and leadership roles? In both public and private sectors, how do you plan to support the advancement of underrepresented groups, including women?
RAMASWAMY: So I'll be very honest with you. I'm going to share with you a Thomas Sowell quote that's stuck with me. If you care about somebody, you tell them the truth or at least what you believe.
If you care about yourself, you tell them what they want to hear, and I have a feeling I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear on this one.
Then he laid into the DEI agenda and the way that it’s transmogrified into so much more than just promoting inclusion – in fact, it often promotes exclusion.
RAMASWAMY: So I think the diversity equity inclusion agenda has been abused. In the name of diversity we have, at many of our universities, totally sacrificed diversity of thought. In the name of equity, we've perpetuated a lot of inequity and inequality of opportunity through affirmative action and otherwise.
In the name of inclusion, we've created a new culture of exclusion where certain points of view aren't welcome.
Watch:
In the name of diversity, we’ve completely sacrificed true diversity of thought.
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 14, 2023
In the name of inclusion, we’ve created an exclusionary culture where certain views just aren’t welcome. pic.twitter.com/ldbl6ZjTR5
Next, he pointed out that the real lack of diversity is in the world of opinion, especially on college campuses:
RAMASWAMY: So especially in a university setting, what do I care about? Diversity of viewpoint. This is important, actually. I think diversity of viewpoint is part of what this country was built on.
Well, the best way to foster diversity of viewpoint is to screen candidates for the diversity of their views, actually. Many look at the board members of many universities. You got to go through their partisan affiliation. It's not 80-20. It's going to be like 90-10 in the other direction.
That's completely at odds with the representation of this country.
What have we created with a media and a higher education system that is intolerant of anything other than the progressive Democrat line? Conformity. (emphasis mine)
RAMASWAMY: So do I value diversity of viewpoint? Absolutely. Do I think we're doing a good job of that? No, we're not, and it's not an accident. In the name of diversity, we've actually created a new culture of conformity.
And so I think it's entirely possible to have a group of 10 people who look similar to one another, who have different views. I think it's entirely possible to have a group of 10 people who look different from one another or look the same as one another but have different views or look different from one another and have the same views.All the programs that were put in place to combat racism actually create more racism.
And so I think the best way to screen candidates for the diversity of their experiences is to actually ask them about the diversity of their experiences. And I think the use of these racial and gender quota systems, I think they have actually created a new form of racism in the United States that otherwise would not have existed.
Lastly, he pointed out that an unfair playing field actually causes some to think that people of color who are actually qualified for the job only got hired because of the color of their skin, or their sexual preference, or their gender:
It's sad to me. I mean, I've hired -- not because I was thinking about it consciously -- plenty of black women in different positions of authority in this campaign or other companies or whatever.
And I can tell you, it saddens me. When people look at somebody who I hired on the basis of merit, and say that they only got that job because of their race or gender, that doesn't do anybody a favor.
And so I think if we restore true meritocracy in this country and embrace true diversity of thought, chances are we're actually going to have a bunch of different shades of melanin and a range of genders in different positions.
But let it be not the goal. Let it just be a byproduct of actually selecting for people who are the best person for the job, and especially in a university setting, diverse viewpoints as well.
It was a long answer, but I think Ramaswamy nailed it. He succinctly pointed out the inherent problems in the DEI movement. Most people are scared to speak out on the subject, out of fear they’ll be called racist, but he pulled no punches and called it like he saw it. It’s as good a criticism of DEI as you’re likely to see.
Ramaswamy isn’t always right and has said some things that have rubbed people the wrong way, but he’s spot-on with this take. He may not be our next president, but my guess is we’ll hear plenty more from him in the future.
Elon Musk appears to agree with Ramaswamy:
DEI must DIE.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2023
The point was to end discrimination, not replace it with different discrimination.
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