OPINION:
Imagine saying you believe in equality while holding people to different standards.
That is exactly what the apologists for former Harvard President Claudine Gay were promoting by excusing her plagiarism (“Media identifies villains in Harvard president’s downfall: Conservatives, of course,” web, Jan. 4). Plagiarism is an offense that would quickly end the career of anyone who was not a diversity, equity and inclusion hire.
It’s as if America has been placed in a time machine and returned to an era where once again skin color is more important than merit or the content of one’s character.
Placing people in positions for which they are not qualified based solely on immutable characteristics is folly. And it can be deadly when it comes to medicine, transportation or any number of other professions where skill, ability and knowledge are prerequisites for getting the job done.
So I propose the DEI crowd allow us to try out its ideas on the professional sports field before we unleash them elsewhere in society, where they can do real harm. Professional baseball, basketball and football teams, for instance, would hire and recruit players based on DEI standards. No longer would coaches hire for talent, but for diversity. During play, penalties would be assessed only on players of the oppressor class while others would have their transgressions excused to atone for past sins and/or generational trauma.
While this is a clearly absurd, predictively divisive idea, so, too, are the cognitive dissonance and double standards of the DEI crowd.
THOMAS M. BEATTIE
Mount Vernon, Virginia
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