The New York Times columnist David French has debased himself to become the Paul Krugman of the culture wars by being consistently on the wrong side of the argument.
French, the pompous NeverTrumper, lectured in his latest piece of propaganda that the “Actual Danger” of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – already embroiling universities and workplaces – wasn’t the ideology itself. Instead, he pointed to the “unconstitutional” way in which DEI was being “advanced” through speech codes and other restrictive measures.
But French still proceeded to ridiculously defend the concept. French led-off his Jan. 14 op-ed claiming that “[DEI] — like the related progressive concepts of wokeness and critical race theory — used to have an agreed-upon meaning but has now been essentially redefined on the populist right.” [Emphasis added.]
Given that DEI is inherently nebulous, it’s unclear where French got the idea that there was some universally accepted definition out there. Newsweek Senior Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer tore into French’s argument in a Jan. 14 X post: “In what world did DEI ever have an ‘agreed-upon meaning?’ Are you kidding, @DavidAFrench?.”
In comments to MRC Business, Hammer ripped French further for genuflecting to his overlords at The Times by regurgitating leftist drivel. “David French continues to beclown himself, seemingly reaching yet another new low with every new column,” he said. “There is no lie too egregious for him to spout, if it gains him favor in the eyes of his liberal paymasters.”
In what world did DEI ever have an “agreed-upon meaning?”
— Josh Hammer (@josh_hammer) January 14, 2024
Are you kidding, @DavidAFrench? pic.twitter.com/MeKZWHWBgg
Hammer is right on point. French even engaged in a bit of self-hating anti-white agitprop to validate the “D” component of DEI: “[T]he immense backlash from parts of the right against almost any diversity initiative is a sign of the extent to which millions of white Americans are content with their vastly disproportionate share of national wealth and power.” Hammer concluded: “At this point, we can reasonably expect him to campaign for AOC for president in 2028 or 2032.”
If French is that adamant about “white American” privilege, why doesn’t he give up his lucrative Times column to a minority writer more worthy of the space than he is? After all, one should “practice what one preaches,” right?
To prove his point about the darned, ruling “white Americans,” French linked out to a report from the Federal Reserve of St. Louis, which conveniently excluded Asian Americans and other minorities from its analysis to make it appear that “white Americans” were the dominant race when it came to racial wealth disparity.
The problem for French is, they aren’t. Pew Research Center reported in December 2023 that “Asian households overall had more wealth than other households two years since the start of the pandemic.” Pew Research added, “In 2021, Asian households had a median net worth of $320,900, compared with $250,400 for White households.” Is that still “vastly disproportionate” according to French’s logic or does that only apply when it concerns his self-loathing smear of white Americans? Asking for a friend.
In French’s view, the leftist concepts of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion were “all vital values.” Apparently, French is ignorant to the fact that the terms in “DEI” have been hijacked to push leftist politics onto employees and students alike, and the outcomes of such initiatives have not been worth the resources. As Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Chris Rufo pointed out in a July 2023 Times column:
Even on its own terms, does D.E.I. actually work? And the answer, according to the best available evidence, appears to be no. Researchers at Harvard and Tel Aviv University studied 30 years of diversity training data from more than 800 U.S. companies and concluded that mandatory diversity training programs had practically no effect on employee attitudes — and sometimes activated bias and feelings of racial hostility. There is no reason to believe that similar programs on university campuses have better outcomes.
Jack Miller, president of the Jack Miller Center, wrote in an April 2023 piece repudiating DEI as a concept that “the meaning of words can change over time,” a fact that apparently flew over French’s head. “Rather than the Founders’ vision of equal opportunity for all, the use of the word ‘equity’ today denotes equal outcomes for all. The implementation of this ‘equity agenda,’ however well-intentioned, will lead to terrible consequences.”
But for French, DEI is just “another catchall boogeyman” for the populist right.
French appears to be hopelessly plagued by the “Woke Mind Virus,” and it doesn’t seem like he’s recovering from it any time soon. After all, this is the same French who called children’s Drag Queen Story Hour “one of the blessings of liberty.” He also notoriously castigated Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) for issuing a directive treating the pharmaceutical and surgical castration of children as “abuse” “regardless of the good faith and desires of the parents, children and caregivers involved.” It’s not surprising that he’s out with a new terrible take on DEI. [Emphasis added.]
Conservatives are under attack. Contact The New York Times and demand it report the truth about the leftist concept of DEI and its dangers for workplaces and universities across the U.S.
