By Laurie Higgins | Break Through with Jeanne Ives (USMA ’87)
In all the Thanksgiving busyness, some Americans may have missed the important story about a study conducted at Rutgers University that exposed some inconvenient truths about Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DEI) reeducation. To be clear, these truths are inconvenient only to leftists.
Almost as interesting as the study itself are the responses of the New York Times and Bloomberg to the study.
The authors of the study, titled “Instructing Animosity: How DEI Pedagogy Produces the Hostile Attribution Bias,” stated their motives for conducting the study:
“Given both the lack of rigorous research on diversity initiatives and the documented potential of DEI efforts backfiring, a better assessment of the efficacy and effects of contemporary diversity training is warranted.”
It would have been more prudent to conduct such research before foisting DEI initiatives on the public, often at public expense, but that’s not how leftists roll.
Since DEI ideas and programs have become systemically and deeply embedded in corporate America, the military, and education at all levels—including medical schools—the authors wanted to look at these questions:
“Do ideas and rhetoric foundational to many DEI trainings foster pluralistic inclusiveness, or do they exacerbate intergroup and interpersonal conflicts? Do they increase empathy and understanding or increase hostility towards members of groups labeled as oppressors?”
Their study revealed that the estimated “$8 billion” that “is spent annually on such programs,” may be a colossal waste of money.
They found that “instead of reducing bias,” DEI initiatives that are based on the “’anti-racism’ and ‘anti-oppression’ pedagogy” of purported scholars like Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo “engendered a hostile attribution bias, amplifying perceptions of prejudicial hostility where none was present and punitive responses to the imaginary prejudice.”
DiAngelo is the scamster recently accused of plagiarism, and Kendi is the scamster whose Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University came under fire in September 2023 for producing nothing.
In social science research, “hostile attribution bias” is defined as “the tendency to interpret the ambiguous behavior of others as hostile. Under hostile attribution bias, people assume that others have negative intentions towards them and want to hurt them, even when others have no such intentions.”
The Rutgers study shows that DEI training materials from Kendi and DiAngelo “not only failed to positively enhance interracial attitudes, they provoked baseless suspicion and encouraged punitive attitudes.”
Participants exposed to Kendi/DiAngelo material were more likely to “support” suspensions, public apologies, or additional DEI training for the alleged perpetrator of oppression.
A middle-schooler would be able to predict that preaching to people that all whites, men, and heterosexuals are ipso facto oppressors would be divisive.
While Americans with commonsense will not be surprised by the study conclusions, they may be surprised to learn that prior studies have pointed to similar detrimental effects of DEI programs, which raises the question of why Americans haven’t heard about these prior studies.
They haven’t heard about them because leftists are fond of burying studies that reflect poorly on leftist ideologies.
Cases in point: According to National Review, both the New York Times and Bloomberg were working on stories about the Rutgers study when suddenly “at the eleventh hour,” they both decided to deep six them for “editorial” reasons. Maybe the editorial issue was they couldn’t figure out how to get the lipstick on the pig just right.
The Rutgers study concludes with this troubling reflection:
“This research raises critical questions about how many individuals, as a result of these programs, have experienced undue duress, social ostracization, or even termination of employment.
The hostile attribution bias revealed in NCRI’s study appears readily transmissible by the DEI pedagogy … much of which is inserted into recommended or mandatory readings and trainings that are widely adopted at present.
This suggests the potential for a far broader scope of harm than previously considered, underscoring the urgency of rigorous evaluation of anti-oppressive, DEI interventions to identify unintended and damaging consequences, and, ultimately, to prevent them.”
Americans should take this study to their schools and government leaders, demanding that not one more penny or minute be wasted on destructive DEI indoctrination—and that includes in the military where cohesiveness is critical.
Maybe before leftists implement any other boneheaded ideas, they should confer with some middle-schoolers.
First published on Break Through with Jeanne Ives (USMA ’87)
Leave a Comment