Utter Madness in the Workplace
Has utter madness descended on your workplace? It did on mine a while back. Here's what happened.
I had left a company and moved to a better position elsewhere. After a few years, my company hired me back, offering me an even better deal. I felt blessed and thanked God. My first day back in the old place, I had to go to "orientation." I wondered why I was going through the basic orientation, since I'd spent time at the company and not much had changed re the business model or customer base or management or anything substantive like that. But you know how big corporations are. They've got their procedures and, by gum, they're going to stick to them.
Now you need to know that the company that hired me back was not only a large, old business with a long history and tradition, but one that that sported a rather conservative image. So I expected to basically sleep through the orientation, which I kind of did for the first hour or so. Then the madness began.
I'd say that out of the 3 hour orientation session, about 70% of the time was spent on stuff that had something to do with "diversity." You probably know that "diversity" is one of those "code" words. Whenever I hear the word "diversity" I think "liberal." But frankly, that's the least of it.
"Diversity" - especially in the workplace - comes attached to other words. There's gender diversity, racial diversity, "sexual orientation" diversity - you know the drill. And it seems the bigger the company, the more important is this "diversity in the workplace."
So here was my old, seemingly traditional and conservative company, drilling me in the "virtues" of diversity. But there was more.
It turned out that there was someone called the "Diversity Executive" at the company. When I heard that they had someone with that title and were probably paying them a handsome salary, I thought maybe I had showed up at the wrong company or something. There was none of this nonsense the first time I worked there. But there it was this time around.
Indeed, I had to know this Diversity Executive because he/she would be the guarantor of diversity in our workplace. Wasn't I fortunate to be working for such a company that had a Diversity Executive guaranteeing...well what exactly would they guarantee?
Well, they would guarantee that women would not be subjected to anti-women words and actions. People of every race (except white people) would not be subjected to anti-(fill in the blank) words and actions. And, of course, homosexuals would not be subjected to "anti-gay" words and actions.
Not only that, but if you read between the lines, you started to realize that if you even thought anything that was anti-diversity, never mind said anything anti-diversity or acted in any way anti-diversity, you were the lowest of the low. Of course, they hadn't figured out how to get into your brain to monitor your thoughts, but you just knew they were working on that.
So for almost three-quarters of the time I spent in orientation, I was subjected to diversity training of various kinds. It was clear that this was far more important to the company than their business model, their sales efforts, their strategic planning or really anything that had anything at all to do with business.
Is this utter madness, or am I just making a big deal out of nothing?
I think it's utter madness. In fact, it's beyond madness. It's totalitarian manipulation of the sort that you read about in George Orwell's 1984.
OK. So a lot of you already have experienced this. You're working in workplaces that tout "diversity." You've grown used to it, I suppose.
But as Catholics, we really shouldn't grow used to this nonsense, madness, totalitarian thinking and manipulation, or however you want to characterize this stuff.
We already know how to treat people. We've been trying to explain this to people for centuries. But rather than behave in a Christian manner, our society and culture turns to diversity training overseen by Diversity Executives. Anything's better than following Our Lord, and His Holy Catholic Church, I suppose.
It's a twisted, upside down world out there, isn't it? I'm glad I run my own business these days.
I had left a company and moved to a better position elsewhere. After a few years, my company hired me back, offering me an even better deal. I felt blessed and thanked God. My first day back in the old place, I had to go to "orientation." I wondered why I was going through the basic orientation, since I'd spent time at the company and not much had changed re the business model or customer base or management or anything substantive like that. But you know how big corporations are. They've got their procedures and, by gum, they're going to stick to them.
Now you need to know that the company that hired me back was not only a large, old business with a long history and tradition, but one that that sported a rather conservative image. So I expected to basically sleep through the orientation, which I kind of did for the first hour or so. Then the madness began.
I'd say that out of the 3 hour orientation session, about 70% of the time was spent on stuff that had something to do with "diversity." You probably know that "diversity" is one of those "code" words. Whenever I hear the word "diversity" I think "liberal." But frankly, that's the least of it.
"Diversity" - especially in the workplace - comes attached to other words. There's gender diversity, racial diversity, "sexual orientation" diversity - you know the drill. And it seems the bigger the company, the more important is this "diversity in the workplace."
So here was my old, seemingly traditional and conservative company, drilling me in the "virtues" of diversity. But there was more.
It turned out that there was someone called the "Diversity Executive" at the company. When I heard that they had someone with that title and were probably paying them a handsome salary, I thought maybe I had showed up at the wrong company or something. There was none of this nonsense the first time I worked there. But there it was this time around.
Indeed, I had to know this Diversity Executive because he/she would be the guarantor of diversity in our workplace. Wasn't I fortunate to be working for such a company that had a Diversity Executive guaranteeing...well what exactly would they guarantee?
Well, they would guarantee that women would not be subjected to anti-women words and actions. People of every race (except white people) would not be subjected to anti-(fill in the blank) words and actions. And, of course, homosexuals would not be subjected to "anti-gay" words and actions.
Not only that, but if you read between the lines, you started to realize that if you even thought anything that was anti-diversity, never mind said anything anti-diversity or acted in any way anti-diversity, you were the lowest of the low. Of course, they hadn't figured out how to get into your brain to monitor your thoughts, but you just knew they were working on that.
So for almost three-quarters of the time I spent in orientation, I was subjected to diversity training of various kinds. It was clear that this was far more important to the company than their business model, their sales efforts, their strategic planning or really anything that had anything at all to do with business.
Is this utter madness, or am I just making a big deal out of nothing?
I think it's utter madness. In fact, it's beyond madness. It's totalitarian manipulation of the sort that you read about in George Orwell's 1984.
OK. So a lot of you already have experienced this. You're working in workplaces that tout "diversity." You've grown used to it, I suppose.
But as Catholics, we really shouldn't grow used to this nonsense, madness, totalitarian thinking and manipulation, or however you want to characterize this stuff.
We already know how to treat people. We've been trying to explain this to people for centuries. But rather than behave in a Christian manner, our society and culture turns to diversity training overseen by Diversity Executives. Anything's better than following Our Lord, and His Holy Catholic Church, I suppose.
It's a twisted, upside down world out there, isn't it? I'm glad I run my own business these days.
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