Dude. I'm preoccupied with "matters of diversity" because they govern whether I'm in the room, and whether I get paid.

So is every other diverse engineer.

Circumscribing these concerns as somehow fake or inauthentic, just some mandarins and policy wonks, is gutting. But that's just another day in this industry.

Would you want to hire someone that is preoccupied?

pre·oc·cu·pied (prē-ŏk′yə-pīd′) adj. 1. a. Absorbed in thought; engrossed. b. Excessively concerned with something; distracted. 2. Formerly or already occupied. 3. Already used and therefore unavailable for further use.

https://www.thefreedictionary.com/preoccupied

Yes, I would. A rational agent is going to be preoccupied with survival. I only hire rational people.

Capitalism insists you be preoccupied with yours, as well.

My survival depends in part on diversity & inclusion efforts. As much as they can seem to cut against the grain of output, the industry was Not Okay Without Them.

...and, good lord. Bringing a dictionary definition to an idea-fight.

I was just saying, when you have a business to run, you need to run the business. I'm all for diverse teams. I also get that as one of the minorities life can be hard and I respect that, I'd love to help you get through it. But, if tech problems need solving, and you're not making a profit, do you need engineers that spend most of their time on diversity related matters?

Diversity should be normal, I agree and indeed perhaps some efforts should always be spend on such matters. But when is it enough?

That you've actually articulated the idea that one cannot be concerned with one thing, and spend your time doing another, suggests that you have zero respect for the fortitude and perserverance of your diverse colleagues.

You simply have no idea how strong we've all had to be. In part, because of patronizing attitudes like you've expressed here.

Well I’m not sure what I did wrong but I seem to have caused a wave of negative emotions. I guess I have a lot to learn still.

What you did wrong is consistently characterize your intellectual opponents as being dominated by "negative emotions," a thing you are still doing. This is how you lose arguments. This is how you lost this one.

Can’t say I’m getting particularly positive vibes from you but this is a limited way of communicating of course. I wish you all the best.

I'm not trying to give you positive vibes, teekert, I'm trying to know what is true and correct. Why are you centering your emotions?

The definition of the word matters. Preoccupation implies distraction, and no one, including yourself, would hire/pay a person that is distracted.