Policy and Advocacy

Next week, because the universe has a perverse sense of humor, we have MLK Jr. Day on the same day as the Inauguration. One of the brightest lights for equity and justice sharing the same day with one of the most effective catalysts for hate, racism, misogyny, and injustice that Humanity has ever produced. It feels sickly appropriate, as these opposing forces have been fighting one another for decades, with the stakes now higher than ever.

The side of equity and justice, though, has taken a huge hit recently. Meta (which runs Facebook), for example, has capitulated, now relaxing their rules against hateful content. So now it’s a free-for-all for people to harass transgender people, women, immigrants, and other vulnerable people. Zuckerberg has also said companies need more “masculine energy,” which I think means having employees of all genders wear fake mustaches and interrupt one another more often to talk about stuff they only have a little knowledge about but a lot of confidence in.

Meanwhile, I hear about the rise of MEI, which stands for Merit, Excellence, and Intelligence. It is a counterresponse to DEI. Instead of focusing on “woke garbage” like equity and inclusion, with MEI we just focus on whoever does the best job, never mind stuff like systemic racism and bias, those things “don’t exist.” Be on the lookout for more MEI language from right-wing pundits, politicians, and CEOs. Thankfully, we have some companies, notably Costco, whose board refused to cave in to pressure from the right to dismantle their DEI program.