Which is a little like sitting in traffic & saying “If only everyone would just drive faster.” Yes, that would be great, but that simplistic thought does nothing to address the many reasons why that doesn’t just happen.

Honestly, you’re beginning to think that won’t happen? What you’re missing is that this is exactly what the other side has been saying all along. That categorizing each other is inherent to the human condition- we can’t ever stop doing it. Sometimes this instinct is useful; sometimes benign. And sometimes it can be very harmful. Since we can’t ever just blind ourselves to our instincts, the best we can do is to recognize the behaviors that stem from them & make efforts to change those where they do harm to others.

This is the basic premise of making efforts to diversifying systems. Does every well intentioned effort necessarily improve the situation? Of course not. Should they be subject to scrutiny & evaluation? 100%. It’s complicated & I don’t pretend to have the answer. But your suggestion that the solution to inequality is to just rely on our human instinct to treat each other with compassion is a logical paradox. Because if said instinct is truly stronger than our instinct to categorize & separate, then inequality would never have existed in the first place.

 

I have always thought an employer shouldn’t be able to know ones sex or race until after they are hired.

 

Or rather, diversity is important, but NOT solely for the sake of diversity.

Its equal opportunity, NOT equal outcomes.

 

and aviation must surely rank at the tippy top with its rich history of equal opportunity

 

You can say that sarcastic comment for nearly every profession out there. However just like most other professions, discrimination in hiring of minority populations does not exist in the airline industry and hasn't for a while.

 

I disagree with your fundamental premise that we're hard wired to categorize people by race. Viewing people as members of racial groups is a learned behavior, taught to us through our parents, teachers, and media. If we all quit talking about race like it was a thing that mattered, the whole idea of racism would disappear on its own. Instead, we are constantly having race shoved in our faces 10 times a day, which ensures racism never dies, and actually further entrenches bigoted peoples racial views. Best thing we could ever do for diversity is never mention race again.

 

And if one is hung up on the past, has the blinders on/doesn’t see that it’s been changing, well, they’re part of the problem.

Now go tear down some statutes to feel better….

 

DEI was a problem invented by someone that didn’t have have a problem.

 

And they will be getting a larger raise than the mere unwashed and common line swine..

 

Actually, DEI is straight out of communist playbook designed to rile up a certain class of people in order to achieve a certain result. Race, sexual identity/preference/LGBTQ status are mere placeholders and people being taken advantage of.

There is a reason why most of us who have lived in communism and survived it can recognize it for what it is. It's unfortunate that so many highly educated Americans keep missing it.