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New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

ethicalsystems.org

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Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#11
This article suffers from the assumption that all viewpoints are symmetrical. Supporting discrimination in the workplace and opposing it are not equally acceptable political perspectives.

Equating the two from a management perspective as equally problematic is simply absurd. Excluding racists from the workplace is not the same as excluding people based on their race. The first excludes a section of the workforce and the second opposes that exclusion.

Maintaining an unequal status quo is not a value-free position.

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#12
post #3

I don't trust this article. The phrase "Losing viewpoint diversity" is of course crafted to make it sound like a chilling trend. Pretty clear what they want you to think about it. But if you drill into what that's referring to, whether you think it's a bad thing is entirely up to what you think of how the viewpoints are changing. "Fewer racists than ever" also maps to "less viewpoint diversity" but is totally a good…

For the same reason I always look skeptically on other research about "polarization". The trend tends to be that in the past it was common for otherwise-sane people to advocate crazy stuff like bans on interracial marriage. Now the only people who are against interracial marriage are straight-ticket crazy people, and this sorting of society is superficially "polarization" but I can't find the negative in it, because there is a wrong side of those issues.

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#13
Funny that they don't mention what "certain, commonplace views" people "stay silent" about. That might put a different spin on things.

As I mentioned [1] about the Basecamp debacle, you can't get full "viewpoint diversity" and full "identity diversity" because some viewpoints are hostile to some identities. Given our society's long history of those viewpoints being endemic, and given the slow movement away from identity-based oppression that has sped up a bit recently, workplaces will have to choose whether they value "viewpoint diversity" or "identity diversity" when they conflict.

[1] https://twitter.com/williampietri/status/1387409628271562755

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#14
post #2

This is a pretty bleak look at the future tbh. Guess the bullies won in the end, except this time the bullies believe they are in the right.

If you are concerned about bullying, you might also look at the long past history of oppression that we've been undoing in recent decades.

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#15

> Only nine percent of the British adults we surveyed described politics as “very important” to their sense of identity, and only 22 percent had shared any political content on their social channels in the previous year > When it comes to speaking their minds at work, one of these tribes—home of the “Progressive Activist”—is not like the others. “A powerful and vocal group for whom politics is at the core of their id…

Should companies cater to racists?

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#16
The author conflates "viewpoint diversity" as it pertains to a workplace setting with political diversity. There are many benefits in a workplace to a diversity of views on how to approach the work and this kind of diversity improves the quality of the product the organization produces. But is this true for political diversity? Maybe, but the author doesn't explain why, and it's not clear what studies exist that support his view.

I don't think this is an intellectually honest article.

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#17
post #13

Funny that they don't mention what "certain, commonplace views" people "stay silent" about. That might put a different spin on things. As I mentioned [1] about the Basecamp debacle, you can't get full "viewpoint diversity" and full "identity diversity" because some viewpoints are hostile to some identities. Given our society's long history of those viewpoints being endemic, and given the slow movement away from ident…

But many conservative viewpoints are not hostile to identities.

If I don't agree with Affirmative Action, am I hostile to someone's identity? A majority of Californians at the ballot box will disagree with AA but none of them will say it out loud at the workplace.

It's the misconception that identities are "opposed" by certain viewpoints that leads to this.

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#18
post #3

I don't trust this article. The phrase "Losing viewpoint diversity" is of course crafted to make it sound like a chilling trend. Pretty clear what they want you to think about it. But if you drill into what that's referring to, whether you think it's a bad thing is entirely up to what you think of how the viewpoints are changing. "Fewer racists than ever" also maps to "less viewpoint diversity" but is totally a good…

We are now at the point that any further attempt to eliminate racism by force comes at the cost of suppressing accurate perceptions of reality. At what point would it stop being worth it to you to get rid of some small additional number of racists if the cost is massive damage to free speech and rational investigation of reality?

Also, are there really "fewer racists than ever" now? Anti-white racism has been on the rise the last few years. I think that progressive dogma now fuels racism more than it suppresses it, not just directly - by supporting anti-white racism - but also indirectly, by motivating a reactionary rise in white nationalism. The growth of white nationalism in the last few years has largely been driven by demographic shifts, but it has also been significantly fueled by progressive anti-white racism.

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#19

> Only nine percent of the British adults we surveyed described politics as “very important” to their sense of identity, and only 22 percent had shared any political content on their social channels in the previous year > When it comes to speaking their minds at work, one of these tribes—home of the “Progressive Activist”—is not like the others. “A powerful and vocal group for whom politics is at the core of their id…

Should companies cater to racists?

This is a pitch perfect example of polarization: the previous poster said "there’s too much virtue signaling at work", and now you're strongly implying that anybody who feels this way is a "racist".

Re: New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity

#20

> Only nine percent of the British adults we surveyed described politics as “very important” to their sense of identity, and only 22 percent had shared any political content on their social channels in the previous year > When it comes to speaking their minds at work, one of these tribes—home of the “Progressive Activist”—is not like the others. “A powerful and vocal group for whom politics is at the core of their id…

Should companies cater to racists?

The presumption that the world can be divided in to "progressive activists" and "racists" probably has a lot to do with the reason people don't want to express diverse political opinions at work.
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