Challenging the Rhetorical Fallacies of DEI

Applied Demography and the failing logic of racialized trainings

Many people are being exposed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) trainings at school or work that can be understood as a form of Applied Demography, or the use of demographic data to create social policy. In DEI, the primary focus is typically on race and racism. These racialized trainings are crafted to enhance racial identity salience in all trainees, and create an awareness of racial disparity by encouraging guilt and shame in caucasian people, and encourage resentment and outrage in people of all other ethnic backgrounds.

There are truths in many of the background claims of DEI applied demographers. There are also reasons to object to the way in which DEI seeks to address these problems. Not only might one object to the inculcation of collective guilt and collective victimhood as a way to address racial disparities, but in addition, demography is a sociological tool useful for observing social phenomena on the group level- and not well suited to the understanding of individual human lives. DEI trainings apply the study of demography by making assumptions about individuals based on patterns observed about racial groups on the population level.

However, DEI ideology refuses to allow for exceptions or objections, and has responses ready for those who raise concerns. If you object to the DEI “anti-racism” model of racial development and privilege/oppression, you will be told that your objection is “white fragility”/“centering whiteness” (if you are caucasian) or “internalized white supremacy” (if you are not caucasian). According to DEI, your individual experiences do not matter: what matters is your group identity.

There are a number of rhetorical fallacies at play in these trainings, and I am just going to list a few of the most obvious ones here (see if you can spot more!). If you are in an educational setting where you are bullied, dismissed, or attacked for raising questions about what you are learning, this is a huge red flag that something unethical is going on. Recognizing rhetorical fallacies is important as it can help you ground yourself as you reject or confront DEI bullying.

Rhetorical Fallacies of DEI

• Guilt by association: You are bad because you share some traits of other people who are bad. Collective guilt; white people have been unfairly dominant and you are guilty of benefiting from the exploitation/dominance of your ancestors if you are white. If you are not white you are an apologist for people who have unfairly benefited on the backs of your ancestors and you should instead hold them responsible.

• Circular argument: X is so because X is so. If you are white and you object to this it is because you are white (or if you aren’t white, you object to this because of “internalized whiteness”).

• Kafka trap: Denial of X is proof of X. If you admit that you are racist, you are racist, and if you deny that you are racist, it’s because you are racist.

• Ad hominem attack: Question the person’s character instead of addressing the substance of their claim. Your “whiteness” (external or internal) is the problem that keeps you from accepting what you are being taught.

Not only does DEI employ the aforementioned rhetorical fallacies and more, the logic of using Applied Demography for racialized DEI trainings falls apart on itself upon examination. Follow me here.

What is racism and how is it harmful? Racism or racial discrimination is the assumption/association of unwanted/negative stereotyped characteristics with a particular racial/ethnic group, and the subsequent prejudicial behavior towards individuals (based on those assumptions) who are perceived to belong to that group.

This is wrong because it is unfair to apply stereotyped negative assumptions about behavior or characteristics to individuals based on demographic characteristics outside their control. Treating individuals differently based on such assumptions can create negative outcomes for those individuals that they have done nothing to deserve.

When racial discrimination is widespread in a culture these negative outcomes are magnified and can have broad societal and intergenerational implications.   The many experiences of racism in a culture form observable patterns that can and should be considered on a sociological level, but most importantly and essentially each of those experiences impacts an individual who directly feels the negative outcomes of racism.

At the sociological level, we are observing an aggregation of individual harms.

The simple answer to ‘why is racism wrong?’ could be: because it is unfair for individuals to be persecuted for negative feelings others have about people who look similar to them. Put another way, it is essentially wrong because racism is anti-individualist, valuing group identity above everything else that makes up a person.

The logic of Applied Demography as utilized in DEI racial trainings falls apart simply because: if the harm of racial discrimination is experienced on the individual level, and groups are but aggregates of individuals, yet by ignoring individual differences within groups, DEI proclaims that individuals do not matter- then what is this seeking to address?

Bottom line

Just like your mother told you: two wrongs do not make a right. The antidote to racial discrimination is not more racial discrimination, but recognition and assertion of individual value.

related video: Challenging the Rhetorical Fallacies of DEI