The Wonderful (But Flawed) Ideals of DEI

““Everybody cares… they just care about different things. Consensus and change come from being willing to listen to what people care about and finding space to honor that.””Keith Martin-Smith

Award-winning author, Zen priest and teacher, Kung Fu master, and professional advisor and trainer, Keith Martin-Smith, took a good look at the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement when he began to notice the damage it was causing people he knew under the guise of progress, or equity. Putting his keen mind to the task, Keith identified seven key areas where the DEI movement goes markedly astray from the values it aspires to. Coming from an integral understanding, Keith does more than simply point out where the movement has backfired. We learn that postmodern thinking is how we became aware of the “subtle soup of racism [and bias] in the cultural field itself”—beyond the concrete, obvious social injustices that activists fought in the 20th century. This more subtle field of bias is responsible for the inequalities we see in society today, which is what the DEI movement would like to tear down. But the ways in which DEI acts to make this happen, ironically, are characterized by exactly the things that DEI is against: intolerance, inequity, undiversity, tribalism, and anti-liberalism.

In his wise, articulate, and gracious way, Keith makes sense of why the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement has become a political flashpoint, raising the hackles of not only rightwing conservatives but also liberal progressives. Sympathetic to the values of DEI, Keith is all about helping to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive movement. When asked how the values of DEI could be fulfilled to make it the harmonious, effective, correcting movement it aspires to be, Keith responded, “with conversations like this, for one thing,” adding, “we need to realize that everyone has a portion of truth—we just need to connect everyone’s portion of truth with their heart.”

Recorded June 6, 2024.

Topics & Timestamps: Part 1

Introducing award-winning author, professional advisor & trainer, martial arts master, Zen priest & teacher Keith Martin-Smith (01:12)
How Keith came to articulate what has gone wrong with the diversity, equity & inclusion movement (01:49)
The divisiveness of DEI and the need to bring in an integral understanding (06:22)
The difference between concrete, overt injustices and systemic injustice (08:27)
The subtle soup of racism in the cultural field that we have become aware of in the postmodern period (11:19)
All the punches at DEI are being thrown from an early rational or prerational worldview (15:26)
What are the seven deadly sins of DEI? (18:15)
DEI’s simplistic view of privilege, considering race, sex & gender, but not class, education & family of origin (19:00)
What are healthy responses to having been given privilege (as opposed to shame and guilt)? (23:37)
DEI proponents lecturing us about privilege don’t talk about their own privilege (26:50)
The effect of neglecting class in DEI’s reductionist view of privilege (29:56)
The problematic (undiverse) way the DEI movement treats diversity (34:31)
Concrete racism versus subtle racism/microaggressions (37:49)
Because Asians are doing so well, they are excluded from the diversity discussion (39:56)
Intolerant tolerance and the why the 2017 women’s march movement fell apart (41:49)
Robin diAngelo, white fragility, systemic internalized racism (43:49)
Dismissing views you don’t agree with (46:57)
Holding privilege with humility and the importance of genuinely listening (49:05)
The purity test requiring people to toe the DEI party line (50:11)

Topics & Timestamps: Part 2

DEI’s overemphasis on oppression and power: how it started (00:50)
Critical race theory’s metaview is that the world operates on principles of power and oppression (01:57)
The single cause fallacy (02:59)
Drawing the wrong conclusions: Kenyans and marathons, women and STEM fields (04:10)
Male dominance in sports caused by bias rather than biology? (12:03)
The wage gap between men and women and significant difference it makes to control for factors (18:51)
Why men outearn women at Uber: subtle differences in the way men and women behave (27:39)
IQ and how men dominate the extremes of the Bell Curve (29:34)
Fairness demands that everyone is treated the best way possible (34:18)
Brief review of the main DEI flaws covered so far: DEI’s simplistic view of privilege; how DEI’s diversity doesn’t look at diverse mindsets; intolerance of other viewpoints; pushing everything through critical race theory; and how equality of outcomes can be oppressive, unfair, sexist & racist (35:31)
Tribalism: DEI compartmentalizes everyone to a tribalistic identity, with the focus on race and sex (40:05)
How to explain a white supremacist group run by people who are not white: multiracial whiteness (46:00)
The primary goal should be to cultivate relationship rather than projecting a whole history on an individual based on their skin color or sex (49:20)

Topics & Timestamps: Part 3

What is liberalism? (01:18)
The nature of DEI’s anti-liberalism: banning free speech and more (05:08)
White fragility is a non-argument and it’s anti-liberal (09:30)
Another dangerous idea: silence is violence (10:44)
Allowing trial by public opinion (11:41)
Creating a true meritocracy: results from blind auditioning symphony musicians (14:13)
Forced equality of outcome: is forcing 20% of symphony goers to be black a good idea? (15:31)
Going far right and far left, you find they mirror each other (18:32)
The klansmen who turned in their robes after talking to a black man (21:11)
What could be done to fulfill the values of DEI and make it the effective correcting movement it aspires to be? (23:39)
DEI at its best: recognizing the subtle ways in which cognitive bias affects the culture (27:05)
The postmodern/DEI point of view doesn’t see how they are projecting their beliefs onto the culture (29:45)
Microaggressions are real—but DEI proponents conflate microaggressions with macroaggressions (34:46)
Critical race theory is the only explanatory theory in the DEI toolbox (39:33)
Critical theory says power dynamics distort all interactions (44:15)
The presumption of oppression and power is inaccurate from a biological standpoint (50:17)
Partial truths are worth honoring (53:14)
Everybody cares: finding space to honor that (56:09)
What can we do to turn things around? (59:34)
The difference between dignity and respect (01:01:10)

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About Keith Martin-Smith

Keith Martin-Smith is an award-winning author, writing coach, and Zen priest. He is passionate about human connection, creativity, and evolution. His books include "The Mysterious Divination of Tea Leaves", "A Heart Blown Open", and "The Heart of Zen". His most recent book is his first novel, "Only Everything", a novel that explores the promise and the pain of following an artist's path.

About Roger Walsh

Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D., has spent nearly a quarter century researching and practicing in the world's great spiritual traditions. His critically acclaimed book, Essential Spirituality, is a summary of that wisdom, outlining the seven spiritual practices common to the world's major religions.

About John Dupuy

John Dupuy is co-founder and CEO of iAwake Technologies, a company that creates cutting-edge, high-tech brainwave entrainment soundtracks that support the healing of emotional/shadow issues, deepen meditation, mental focus, creativity, and flow states, and enhance a daily integral transformative practice. John has been working personally and professionally with brainwave entrainment technology since 2004, and travels internationally to teach and inspire on the subjects of Integral Transformative Practice and Integral Recovery®. John is also the author of Integral Recovery: A Revolutionary Approach to the Treatment of Alcoholism and Addiction (SUNY Press, 2013), winner of the 2013 USA Best Book Award, and co-host of the popular Journey of Integral Recovery podcast. John also hosts the online series Spiritual Tech Talks 2.0, in which he converses with leaders, pioneers, and inventors on the current wave of emerging spiritual technologies.