Heroes Not Zombies

I’m not sure I was aware of the term “DEI” before it became a fairly recent political issue, led by the current US regime who seem to really, really hate it. I had to look it up to find out what the three letters stood for – Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.

Seriously? Which bit do the haters not like? Diversity? Well, this is a diverse planet. It’s diversity of all the species and lifeforms which has enabled evolution and life as we know it to develop. Loss of species, or loss of “biodiversity” breaks the complex bonds and relationships between the elements of the biosphere – that includes us, we humans. It disrupts food chains, impacting on animals, plants, and, in fact, all forms of life – that includes us. A loss of diversity is just that – a loss. Maybe it’s the Equality bit they don’t like? After all, our current economic and political model of society is extremely successful at one thing in particular – increasing inequality. So maybe that’s the aim? Maybe they see equality as just a bad thing. Maybe they don’t like that other people, and other life forms, should be valued as much as they value themselves? I don’t know. Or maybe it’s the Inclusion bit they hate. Maybe they don’t like certain people to be included. Maybe they’d rather certain people were kept on the outside – not allowed into a country, or into the education system, the health care system, or into work. Again, I don’t know.

So, I started to wonder what kind of society these anti-DEI people envisage? What do they hope for? Is it the opposite of DEI? What is the opposite of DEI?

Maybe it’s UEI.

UEI?

Yep, the direct opposites of each of the elements of DEI – in other words – Uniformity, Exclusion and Inequality.

What would society look like if we built it on those three values, uniformity, exclusion and inequality? It would probably be very prescriptive, authoritarian even, because the reality is that every individual is different, and human being are a species of diverse members, so to achieve uniformity there would need to be an enormous amount of coercion, persuasion, pressure, propaganda, even force. Have you looked at what appears on social media recently? Have you watched any mainstream media recently? Have you heard the stories about immigrants, and how “they are not like us”? If we had a society built on exclusion, then there would always be minority groups who were kept on the outside, some people who didn’t receive the same justice as others, some who were prevented from taking up opportunities offered to the “included”. And if we had a society based on inequality? There would be a very small number of people who held the by far greatest amount of wealth and power, and a very large number who possessed very little of either.

Wait a minute…..isn’t that the kind of society we have now? One based on Uniformity, Exclusion and Inequality? Corporations pursue monopolies, borders are getting harder to cross, blame is cast on “the other”, and financialised capitalism is leading to ever greater concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny minority (and, no, it doesn’t “trickle down”)

What do you think? Do the principles of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion appeal to you? Or are you more a Uniformity, Exclusion and Inequality kind of person?

I think, if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, in fact, even if you are new to it, and you see the title of “heroes not zombies” and read what I mean by that – that we should live a conscious life, a mindful life, celebrating uniqueness and diversity and freedom, not one of unconscious coerced conformity – then you’ll know I’m likely to be a supporter of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.