Agree Inc., the workplace consultants, made two recommendations to improve the school’s culture: that we should embrace Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity (DIE) and implement a culture of respect. In this essay I explain why these recommendations would be very bad for the school--mainly because they are antithetical to the liberal foundation of the university.

What Is DIE?

Who could object to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Those words mean good things, right? Diversity is our strength. Equity means fairness and inclusion means being welcoming.

But that is not what those words mean.

DIE and respect are the product of critical social justice theory (‘woke’ for short). Woke ideas derive from Marxism (through critical theory) and post-modernism—and so we should not be surprised by some linguistic chicanery.[i]

Next, I’ll explain the real meaning of each of those terms.[ii]

Diversity

Enhancing ‘diversity’ means to privilege the marginalized and marginalize the privileged. Diversity doesn’t mean viewpoint diversity. Diversity in hiring means to not hire white, male & cis (the oppressor) but instead to hire woke activists from the variety of intersectional identities. Diversity brings with it a number of philosophical positions, including: cultural relativism, standpoint epistemology (ways of knowing) and structural oppression.

Inclusivity

Inclusion means censorship. An inclusive space is a safe space. To be safe, a space must not include people and ideas that are unsafe or violent. So, to be inclusive, some ideas must be censored. The Rainbow Centre’s (RC) reaction to Lindsay Shepherd reveals the true meaning of inclusion. The RC argued that the idea of free speech (advocated by Shepherd) constituted a ‘profound violence’ and that the violence must not be allowed on campus.[iii]

Equity

Equity means shifting resources (jobs, money and power) to oppressed minority groups. Equity means equality of outcome and not equality of opportunity. One critic defines equity as “The destruction of everything in order for a retributive redistribution of power along the inverted axis of the prior hierarchy.”[iv] The key idea is “retributive redistribution”, which is reparation for past injustice.

Respect

Respect reinforces the central role of group identity in woke theory. Respect means honoring, protecting and celebrating identity.[v]

Some Universities, such as St. Mary’s, have codified respect. In a culture of respect, we are enjoined not to offend and students are encouraged to identify and address inappropriate behaviour. They are encouraged to speak out for someone else—AKA call-out culture.

Thus, ‘respect’ is a woke code of conduct enforced through complaints and backed by the threat of discipline.

It will be used maliciously, as it was against Professor Mark Mercer of St. Mary’s university. (See link for his full story.)

DIE Leads to Reverse Discrimination

One ugly product of a DIE culture is discrimination against whites, Asians and males. Ibram X. Kendi justifies reverse discrimination as a form of revenge: “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

Discrimination against whites and Asians has come to WLU through the Inclusive Excellence program, which created 12 new faculty positions: six for black and six for indigenous applicants only. This sort of discrimination contradicts the basic tenet of liberalism: equality of opportunity.

DIE Rejects Liberalism

Woke theory conflicts with liberalism, which is the intellectual foundation of the university.

"Theory and liberalism do not merely exist in tension: they are almost directly at odds with one another. Liberalism sees knowledge as something we can learn about reality, more or less objectively; Theory sees knowledge as completely created by humans—stories we tell ourselves, largely in the unwitting service of maintaining our own social standing, privilege, and power…. Liberalism values the individual and universal human values; Theory rejects both in favor of group identity…. Liberalism encourages disagreement and debate as means to getting at the truth; Theory rejects these as ways of reinforcing dominant discourses that suppress certain perspectives [and] promotes the idea that truth is a “language game”. Liberalism accepts criticism, even of itself, and is therefore self-correcting; Theory cannot be criticized."[vi]

Woke Theory is Non-Falsifiable

Being immune to criticism makes woke theory unsuitable for a university. The epistemology of a university is disputation and falsification. But woke theory cannot be falsified logically or empirically. It assumes that oppression is baked into the system and that most participants, except the woke, have false consciousness. Thus, a university can be systemically racist without there being any intentionally racist members.

When a member of the oppressor group challenges the idea of structural oppression, the woke response is that the oppressor is denying their privilege and trying to perpetuate their power. Their dissent is treated as proof of their hierarchical power. This is a Kafka trap, which is a logical fallacy, and not a good faith, rational defense.

DIE Bullies Its Opponents

Woke critics are attacked and bullied.  This happened to me and David Haskell when we challenged President MacLatchy’s claim that WLU is systemically racist.  In response to our open letter, The Cord published a hit piece titled “The ‘untouchables’: can tenured professors be fired for inflammatory comments?”[vii] Shortly afterwards, a social media cancel mob, comprising anonymous faculty and students, formed under the name #wluchangeisdue. The mob called on the President to fire me and Haskell.

Bullying will silence dissent. But dissent is essential to the search for truth.

Conclusion

Critical theory is, by its own admission, anti-rational, anti-individual, anti-liberal, and anti-equal-treatment.[viii] As a workplace culture, it promotes discrimination against Asians, whites & males, is intolerant of dissent, bullies its opponents and fosters a call-out culture of snitching to provoke institutional punishment.

Critical theory is an ideological movement intent on revolution. To see what follows the revolution, remember the Lindsay Shepherd affair or look at what happened at Evergreen State College.[ix]

If we care for the marginalized, then we should embrace liberal values. DIE can achieve nothing good which cannot be accomplished better with liberalism.

If we want a culture of empathy and care then we don’t need another code. We need simply abide by one rule, articulated 2,000 years ago: “do unto others as you would have done unto yourself.”

[i] For an overview of critical social justice theory, see: Helen Pluckrose and James A. Lindsay, “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity―and Why This Harms Everybody”. Pitchstone Publishing, August 2020.

[ii] These definitions are largely drawn from James Lindsay’s ‘Social Justice Encyclopedia’ on his New Discourses web site.

[iii] Rainbow Centre. Facebook. Nov 21, 2017.

[iv] Charles Pincourt and James Lindsay. “Counter Wokecraft: A Field Manual for Combatting the Woke in the University and Beyond.” New Discourses. 2021.

[v] For a more complete analysis of respect, see Mark Mercer, “Respect the University”, Minding the Campus, January 21, 2021.

[vi] Pluckrose and Lindsay. Ibid.

[vii] Alyssa Di Sabatino. “The ‘untouchables’: can tenured professors be fired for inflammatory comments?” The Cord. July 15, 2020.

[viii] Delgado, R. and J. Stefancic. “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction.” New York University Press. 2001. p.3.

[ix] A short 3-part documentary on Evergreen by Mike Nayna here https://youtu.be/FH2WeWgcSMk and a long 24-part documentary by Benjamin Boyce here https://youtu.be/PQAJ-7t4QOo. Benjamin was a student at Evergreen.