That is the goal of DEI. The problem is, racism is widespread and people are selected based on non-meritorious reasons - in SV, white and East/South Asian men. Look at all those leading SV founders and CEOs - are there any exceptions at all?

Racism is not necessarily overt, but you certainly you are well aware that overt racism is widely trendy now, and people engage in it publicly. Look at the well-accepted virulant hatred toward immigrants, often based on transparent stereotypes (i.e., not individual merit at all). Many argue, even on HN, that white/Asian men are inherently superior at math/coding/etc., which is why they dominate SV. Do you think those people hire based on merit?

Racism can be unconscious. In hiring 101, you learn that people instinctively hire people like them. Even beyond that, people hire who they are comfortable with. It's not a secret that humans are uncomfortable with the unfamiliar, and that many white people are particulary uncomfortable around black people. People hire those who they are comfortable with, often without realizing why.

Racism can be systemic. If you grew up in a mostly segregated community, and went to school with those people, who will be in your personal/professional network to hire, or to call up with your investment or business idea, etc.? You didn't choose it; that's the system you grew up in. And unless you consciously change it (for example, via DEI), you will perpetuate it and the next generation will also be segregated.

People often don't intend to be racist; they just don't realize how it comes to pass. Most appreciate training in how to do better (who wouldn't?). Also consider that the small improvements from generation to generation are not nearly fast enough - the minority people of today, right now, deserve fair opportunities. It's absurd to tell them - your grandchildren will have a better chance.

> > Maybe they feel that people should be selected for a job based on their merits alone, not the colour of their skin.

> That is the goal of DEI.

Very much the opposite, the goal of DEI is to bring race back into the selection process. It's pretty explicit.

> the goal of DEI is to bring race back into the selection process

That assumes that race (and gender, etc.) isn't already in the selection process, which it clearly is and has been - it's just a fantasy that it's any other way, a way of avoiding the problem. The right wing invents distraction after distraction, attacks anyone who tries to do anything, but somehow never directs any effort toward doing anything about the problem.

People embrace open racism and sexism these days, embracing hate against all sorts of groups - do you think they will hire based on merit?

Given that the racism, etc. is already there, what do we do about it? DEI is a collection of answers to that problem. Saying you wish for a colorblind society is not a solution.

That is the essence of a grift, since the goal will never be achieved. It isn't even defined. Any small demographic imbalance will be reinterpreted as being a result of discrimination.

Also DEI proponents are usually extremely intolerant of any dissent, this has become a very clear pattern. It actively decreases the amount of perspectives on a problem and as it is today, it is a net negative.

> the goal will never be achieved

We can't reduce racism and similar prejudice? We've done it, we can do much more. What evidence is there otherwise?

> Any small demographic imbalance will be reinterpreted as being a result of discrimination.

That's a strawperson you made up.

> DEI proponents are usually extremely intolerant

The comment is a list of strawpersons.

That is the essence of a grift, since the goal will never be achieved. It isn't even defined. Any small demographic imbalance will be reinterpreted as being a result of discrimination.

Also DEI proponents are usually extremely intolerant of any dissent, this has become a very clear pattern. It actively decreases the amount of perspectives on a problem.

That is the essence of a grift, since the goal will never be achieved. It isn't even defined. Any small demographic imbalance will be reinterpreted as being a result of discrimination.

Also DEI proponents are usually extremely intolerant of any dissent, this has become a very clear pattern.