It was definitely dialed down a lot but I don’t see the connection with 10/7. Much of the change where I am was provoked by the patient and painstaking work of the conservative organizations that sued for discrimination again and again. The other crucial factor is the money shortage. Even at our obligatory anti-racist bookclub we weren’t assigned a racial book this Fall. Instead, we are reading a pro-neoliberal book about the high moral value of austerity.
So in both cases it’s about money.
Also, you can motivate people with negative emotions – guilt, pity, etc – for a short period of time. But you can’t evoke them for long. Neoliberalism – unlike DEI – is successful because it appeals to the best, strongest, most motivated part of us. We like it because it feels good, even if it’s killing us in the process. It’s a feel-good drug.
I spent the morning at a budget meeting where I successfully defended my department against every attempt to cut us down. I won because I was really prepared. Other people will lose but I won. And it feels good.
After the meeting, I worked on my research to enhance my personal brand, and again, it feels good. I have a whole system in place to ensure my high productivity, including 5 apps and professional psychological support. Success, accolades, awards – that’s all motivating. Listening to how I’m irreparably racist and perennially guilty does not. Neoliberalism wins, DEI loses.
This, by the way, is why pro-Palestinians keep losing. They appeal to compassion but that wears off fast. They don’t even try to position their cause as that of strong, resilient people, winners, whose incredible powers will rub off on you if you hang around and ally yourself with their cause. You can’t whine “but don’t have the right” and attract people. It’s off-putting, weak. I come out of all my Ukrainian meetings excited, energized, feeling powerful. That’s what works.
Clarissa's Blog 
“don’t even try to position their cause as that of strong, resilient people, winners, whose incredible powers will rub off on you”
Was listening to a leftwing podcast with a Palestinian guest describing Oct 7…. it was all ‘unprecedented’ and not a single action was actually attributed to Palestinians ‘hostages were taken’ ‘a music festival was attacked’… no agency whatsoever and no particular emotions either…. might have been describing an earthquake on another continent….
On the other hand… Israel attacked and had plenty of agency.
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Israel will never gain supporters because it’s Israel. So yes, a major exception.
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They are the sperg nation: all competence, no charisma.
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Today we’re continuing to celebrate Jewish New Year, which began yesterday evening.
Among recent news of our insane reality, what stood out was:
Israel rescues Yazidi woman from Gaza after her kidnapping by ISIS at age 11.
Fawzia Amin Sido was sold by the terror group to a Gazan man in 2014; now 21, she has been reunited with her family in Iraq
Among other news, “in first fatalities of Lebanon ground op, 9 IDF soldiers killed in battles with Hezbollah”.
This Tuesday two Hamas terrorists from Hebron in the West Bank attacked civilians on Tel Aviv light rail, killing 7 and wounding 16 others.
A year from 7.10 more than 68,000 Israelis, mostly from the north, remain evacuees, unable to return home.
In good news:
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I think the simplest explanation is that DEI has been dialed down because it’s been formally integrated into every institution so there’s no need to make overt declarations of it anymore. The ideologically correct people have been hired, the enemies have been fired, the DNA of institutions has been reshaped.
And as anyone who’s dealt with bureaucracy knows, it’s order of magnitude harder to unmake the culture of institutions once it’s set.
Why bother with shouting “white people are evil” from the rooftops when the people who believe it are already in charge? That slogan served a purpose; to get them installed. Mission accomplished.
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Masterly, Stringer Bell. As usual.
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