I originally posted this 10 years ago and am re-running it in light of the recent Google Goolag tantrums over a completely logical and factual analysis that actually supported what Goolag claimed to want. But that wasn’t enough for the Orwellian types who can’t tolerate any discussion of their bigoted beliefs.
Corporate Diversity organizations are a joke. Even a Leftist photographer I know had to concede how completely and ironically uniform they are (she was doing a photo shoot of them for a magazine). Just as in HP, they were all middle-aged black females. The exception at HP was a black middle-aged male, but he was gay, so in a sense they were still the same. I felt sorry for them, knowing that at some point they’d realize the company had no use for them in anything that actually contributed to the success of the company.
Check out Gab if you want a site that doesn’t censor conservative viewpoints like Goolag, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. do.
Diversity programs at businesses and schools tend to be disingenuous (lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity) and hopelessly mired in PC-land. It is a shame, too, because if companies used them properly they could be fabulous recruiting and retention tools.
I believe in true diversity. The groups I have managed have always been diverse, and my current group resembles the United Nations (except that we actually get things done).
I don’t aim at politically correct diversity. I try to hire smart, hard-working, talented, team-oriented people. Prima donnas need not apply. By doing that in a color-blind way, I tend to end up with a broad representation of sexes, ages, religions, races, etc.
I am quite familiar with diversity programs and the politics behind them. I represented the Christian employee network group at Compaq / HP and experienced some interesting things. Corporations cave to threats of boycotts by the gay groups and do little to police them. One “Pride” group at HP had a team building event to go to a drag queen contest. Indeed. It was published on the company’s intranet.
Of course, free sensitivity training was offered to anyone who might not think that a company funded employee organization based on sexual preferences was a swell idea.
We had a Christian employee network group with official “diversity group” recognition when we were still just Compaq. The Diversity Manager complimented us regularly and considered us the model network group.
After the merger with HP, they approved all the other groups immediately but scrutinized the Christian group for a full year. We met the criteria they had published better than any other group, so they finally approved us. But someone complained and then our charter was revoked without discussion. The explanation we got was tortured in its logic. They obviously didn’t want to tell us the real reason behind it. They refused to meet with us to discuss the matter, even after I wrote Carly Fiorina.
A good friend of mine ran the Asian-Indian network group, which, as you can imagine, was primarily Hindu. The company paid every year for them to have a Diwali celebration (the Hindu Festival of Lights, a religious event) on company property on company time. When we asked why that group could have a religious festival when all we wanted was the ability to network and communicate, the Diversity VP acknowledged that she didn’t even realize it was a religious festival.
It all worked out fine, though. To HP’s credit they let us use the email system for prayer requests and informal communications. Many wonderful things were accomplished with that. We could use conference rooms for lunch time Bible studies. In some ways it was better to be an unofficial group than an official one, because that way we didn’t look too “corporate.”
It also gave us a great witness opportunity. I found out later that the leaders were amazed that we didn’t protest and complain like other groups did. We didn’t agree with their decisions, but we always responded graciously and didn’t disrupt the workplace.
The “Day of Silence” and “Diversity Week” programs at businesses and schools are a joke. They aren’t about diversity at all. They are aggressively promoting a particular worldview – and doing so with the power of the State in the case of the schools. If they want to champion real diversity, how about inviting people with opposing views, such as those who view homosexual behavior as immoral yet think the homosexuals themselves should be treated with kindness and dignity and protected from abuse? Now that would be real diversity.
I really encourage you to watch these videos and check out this site. This is going on in public schools – elementary schools – today!
Eternity Matters 