> Republicans are telling companies "You can't discriminate against employees because of their race or gender" and that the Democrats are saying "No, we need to discriminate against employees who are the bad race or the bad gender".

That's the way conservatives have always framed affirmative action, DEI, etc. It sounds satisfying, but it's overly simplistic and lacks historical nuance.

The problem is that we've actively discriminated against people based on their race and gender for centuries. We haven't just refused to give them jobs, we've refused people the opportunity to better themselves -- shut them out of education, the housing market, etc.

That sort of broad exclusion from economic and social capital can't be reversed overnight. So that means it's not enough to just say "okay, we'll stop discriminating against you starting now." We should aim to redress past wrongs.

Does that mean "discriminating against employees who are the bad race"? I don't see it that way, although I understand that some people might. I don't think anyone is arguing that we should hire or promote unqualified people. But if a few candidates are similarly qualified? As a white man, I can understand that for the entirety of our country's history, _my_ race and gender would have entitled me to preferential treatment. Having to cede that advantage to others for a time seems only fair.

> the fact that the Republicans are telling companies "You can't discriminate against employees because of their race or gender"

That’s not at all what’s being said. What’s being said is “you can’t ever do any outreach if you wonder why women aren’t applying for your roles. You can’t ask if a college degree is actually necessary for your role. You can’t ensure that veterans, who may lack professional experience but nevertheless have relevant non-professional experience, are considered.”

It’s weird how many people have bought into right-wing messaging on DEI, woke, and CRT before that - terms most of y’all probably can’t define.

But even beyond that, I work in data. There is negative value to having a team of people who all think and approach data questions the same way, because they have the same background. There is immense value in having a diverse team. I don’t particularly give a shit if that makes some 20something white dude sad because he thinks hiring should be purely checkboxes who has the highest score in the bar chart. He was probably going to be a garbage employee anyway, regardless of his credentials.