Diversity and its cousins, inclusion and equity, are woke America’s new guiding principles. Sports, education, media, government, military, and big business are all in on the “DEI” mantra.

Rearrange the letters from DEI to DIE. Is that a more fitting acronym for where this recent liberal push may lead?

There is nothing wrong with diversity, as long as that extends to all aspects of humanity. Why only diversity of skin color and gender? Are those the only determinants of diversity?

A civil rights icon with a national holiday in his name, once spoke of the true measure of his fellow man, ”I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Diversity is now contrary to Martin Luther King, Jr’s dream. What about diversity of thought, ideas, political views, and so on? How tolerant was the government, and its big tech and social media propaganda arms, over diverse views on COVID vaccines, masks, distancing, lockdowns, and off-label therapeutics? Can we have diverse views on transgenderism, Ukraine, or Trump?

This past week’s news included the president’s son enjoying his white privilege, receiving only a hand slap on crimes for which a darker skinned individual unrelated to a prominent Democrat would receive a long prison stay. There was also the horrific loss of a research submarine and 5 poor souls that perished in almost the same spot that 1500 persons died over 100 years ago, both tragedies related to the Titanic.

The OceanGate submarine was venturing two miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean to explore the sunken Titanic.

Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition. His passengers are a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.

Mr. Rush had woke views on diversity that may not have served him well in his dark, ice water coffin far below the turbulent North Atlantic,

He once declared he didn’t want to hire “50-year-old white guys” on his team even if they were seasoned submariners.

Rush was previously adamant that he values youth over experience when it comes to assembling his crews.

Who knows what role diversity indicatives played in the submarine’s fate? But it was one of Rush’s guiding principles,

When I started the business, one of the things you’ll find, there are other sub operators out there, but they typically have gentlemen who are ex-military sub-mariners, and they — you’ll see a whole bunch of 50-year-old white guys.

“I wanted our team to be younger, to be inspirational,” he continued.

Was the sub’s implosion due to diversity over competence? Or slipshod safety measures? According to CBS News, “In 2018, a professional trade group warned that OceanGate's experimental approach to the design of the Titan could lead to potentially ‘catastrophic’ outcomes.” Who oversaw safety, a 50-year-old white ex-submarine military dude or a 25-year-old non-binary inspirational person, a Sam Brinton type?

Might the sub have fared better if Rush surrounded himself with some “non-diverse” types? I’ll bet that’s who led the Navy and Coast Guard search and rescue mission.

This is where diversity veers from virtue signaling to life and death. How would US Airways flight 1549 have fared if instead of some “50-year-old white guy” in the cockpit, the pilot had been a 25-year-old diversity hire?

Captain “Sully” Sullenberger was in his late 50s, a “white guy” with 7 years’ experience as an Air Force fighter pilot, followed by 30 years as a commercial airline pilot. His experience saved 155 passengers when his plane lost power in both engines, yet he landed the plane safely in the Hudson River.

Would a “younger inspirational” pilot have handled the catastrophe as well? Who would you rather have had in the cockpit if you were on that flight?

Captain Sully was not hired for diversity, instead for competence and experience. He became a commercial pilot in 1980, long before MLK’s dream was deemed racist. Many commercial airlines wouldn’t hire a young Captain Sully now.

“Chicago-based United Airlines wants to train 5,000 pilots by 2030, and wants half of them to be women or people of color,” as the Chicago Tribune reported. Sorry, next-generation Sully! Better learn to code.

United pilots are “13% people of color”, about the same percentage of Blacks in the US population. It seems United is already doing well on the diversity front.

They are certainly more diverse than some professional sports leagues, but they never raise the ire of DEI nannies.

The NBA is 17 percent White, 72 percent Black, 2 percent Hispanic and less than 1 percent Asian. The NFL is similar with 25 percent White, 58 percent Black, and less than 1 percent each Asian and Hispanic, both leagues far different from America of 59 percent White, 19 percent Hispanic, 13 percent Black, and 6 percent Asian.

Any cries for diversity in professional sports?

The medical world also plays diversity games. The once prestigious American College of Surgeons pushes critical race theory. Rather than promoting their mission, “To serve all with skill and trust”, this longstanding surgical organization has declared itself to be “structurally racist.”

Patients, regardless of skin color, want the best and most competent doctors caring for or operating on their bodies. Instead, future doctors are  admitted to medical school based on their skin color, rather than character or knowledge, as medical schools increasingly ignore MCAT scores and grade point averages, favoring diversity over demonstrated competence.

Another life and death situation, more for entire countries rather than individuals, is the military. If America is at war, do Americans want the best military leadership and fighting force or the most diverse?

The likely next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q Brown, Jr is all in on quotas. As Daniel Greenfield reported, “Brown’s quotas limit the number of white officers to 67% and cut white men down to 43%.” Will that provide the best and most competent military? I’ll wager that Russia and China favor competence over diversity.

Is this over-emphasis on diversity over competence making us safer or putting people at increased danger? Furthermore, will patients or plane passengers look suspiciously at their physician or pilot, wondering if that person is the best for the job or merely checking the box on some woke corporate diversity scorecard? What would any of the sub passengers or their families think about this question?

Wokeness is turning MLK’s dream into a nightmare, a fatal attraction to diversity.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, is a physician and writer.

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Graphic credit: Geralt Pixabay license