How our institutions normalise DEI | Joanna Williams | Battle of Ideas 2024

[@garethdavies6094]

As Orwell said, “First they steal the word, then they steal the meaning.”

[@FightingRightyBootlickers-z6t]

Only idiots think that Orwell would agree with them.

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

Yup, "Equity" stolen right out of the Finance textbooks, to create a sneakey new word for Marxism and forced equality. Even brand-names are now stealing our words. Who remembers what "google" meant back in the day? All I remember is back in the 1980s my sister had what she called a "googly-eyed goldfish". That word is now lost to the present generation. It used to be that when you started a business you used your own name, such as "W.H.Smith". Now you plunder one from the dictionary, and make that formerly publicly-owned word your own. It's theft! "Virgin" is one of the worst offenders, and an offence against such a beautiful word and concept, nay, a sacred one!

[@memoryhero]

1:58 - Joanna Williams is touching on a concept that can be succinctly described as the Weaponization of Empathy. This occurs when the suffering or marginalization of an individual (Person A) is leveraged by another party (Person B) to assert moral superiority and coerce a third party (Person C) into compliance. The emotional dynamics at play make this a potent social tactic, especially when dissent is stigmatized. Imagine this scenario: Person A is a heroin addict. Person B, acting as the 'sympathizer,' insists the most empathetic course of action is to immediately provide more heroin to stave off withdrawal symptoms. When Person C counters, suggesting that aiding the addiction is not a sustainable or ethical solution, Person B condemns them as unfeeling or monstrous. This moral posturing by Person B not only silences Person C but obscures the underlying issue-that true empathy might involve challenging short-term comforts for long-term wellbeing. This metaphor mirrors what Joanna Williams discusses: how society often pressures us to conform to narrow definitions of 'empathy' framed by Person B, even when such definitions serve neither Person A, Person C, nor society as a whole. Instead, they elevate Person B's moral status at the expense of constructive dialogue and effective action. Capitulating to this pressure does no one a favor-it entrenches dysfunction and stifles nuanced understanding. The takeaway for readers here is crucial: learn to spot the weaponization of empathy in real time. Recognize when emotional appeals are being used to coerce rather than to genuinely address the root issues. Resisting this dynamic will likely invite criticism-just as Person C is labeled uncaring in the metaphor. But the trick lies in articulating what’s happening: explain why you’re resisting and propose alternative solutions with clarity. By doing so, you ensure that the narrative of 'lack of empathy' doesn’t dominate the room, opening space for thoughtful, effective responses to complex problems.

[@memoryhero]

The Weaponization of Empathy as a memetic vector is a key explanatory framework for understanding the rapid ascendancy of "wokeness" within academia and broader Western institutions. At its core, this concept captures how emotional appeals to empathy-often superficial and performative-become tools for enforcing ideological conformity, particularly through the exploitation of marginalized identities or causes. Memes succeed when they are simple, emotionally charged, and easily transmissible. The weaponization of empathy fits this mold perfectly, as it bypasses rational deliberation and directly targets the moral instincts of the audience. Phrases like "silence is violence" or "if you don’t agree, you’re complicit in harm" are rhetorically powerful because they frame dissent as a moral failure rather than a disagreement about facts or strategy. This memetic form thrives in environments where dissent incurs significant social penalties. Academia, with its hierarchical structure and heavy emphasis on moral posturing, provides fertile ground. Professors, students, and administrators adopt the rhetoric of the weaponized empathy meme, not only to signal virtue but also to avoid becoming targets themselves. This creates a positive feedback loop where conformity spreads rapidly. Wokeness’ ideological framework, particularly intersectionality, functions as a scaffolding for weaponized empathy. Each marginalized identity serves as a potential "Person A" whose suffering demands immediate redress. The more identities one can claim to defend, the greater one's perceived moral authority. This makes weaponized empathy a highly effective tool for accumulating institutional power.

[@kerenskable]

LOL. Way to go .. making a simple idea as complex as possible. Y sound like the cultural elite to me. 😂

[@memoryhero]

@@kerenskable The useful part isn't the complexity, but the ability for anybody confronted with this scenario to be able to call it out in real time. That's the real power. If you can do that, It doesn't matter if it's complex or simple: you have to be able as person C to call out person B in real time in a way that the public around you recognizes as legitimate.

[@sprsmoke]

@@memoryhero Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

[@kerenskable]

LOL.2.0. We get it. You have done a social science degree with a side order of Susan Blackmore/Dawkins. People understand the essence of your comments because Joanna expresses it succinctly and comprehensibly. You try to do the opposite. As if opposition to gender/woke ideology is a complex thing that only the educated can understand. This is exactly the method of the cultural elite who propagate the ideology that Joanna mashes in her video.

[@jgcelliott1]

When you stop being afraid to sit alone at lunch, you start being able to speak your mind. .

[@haydenwalton2766]

one of the biggest forms of regret from people on their death bed, is they didn't find the courage to say what they really thought.

[@joeryan3390]

“All of mankind’s troubles come for their inability to sit quietly in a room by themselves.” A.R.

[@Bbee_16]

Hers views are so superficial & meaningless, to believe conforming to social standards that suit one side is "Changing Cultures" she demonstrates she follows the DEI standard by stating her conforming to their phrases. So essentially she is infact an advocate for DEI & not against it.👻👽💀🎯

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

That doesn't sound much fun. Eventually you end up as that old man in Oxford Street holding his crazy placard. One needs to take society with one, or at least a part of it. Solidarity!

[@babyamyxo-o6c]

​ @Bbee_16 Huh? We always conform to social standards in an organization, or even civilized society as a whole. She's right about language and tone policing. I don't know if this different for men, but I've felt the tacit social pressure to be sound kind and compassionate, even when I've wanted to speak my mind.

[@daemon1143]

Control the language, control the mind.

[@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391]

Control social media, control "free speech" control education, control media, control how the law is applied.

[@TheGenbox2]

@@joejoejoejoejoejoe4391 Conflict creates money; debate and finding commonality reduces conflict. This is the (one of?) mechanisms of social media.

[@grahamhutton1633]

I personally work against changing my speech.

[@st.joanne]

I refuse to do the DEI training. We don’t need it nor want it.

It's mandatory in most companies.

[@Keithqpr2611]

I watched the Matt Walsh film - Am I Racist. So I’m more than covered now !

[@jugbywellington1134]

And it changes nothing. I had to do it for a bank I worked for. All it did was to confirm that we have idiots trying to control us, and everybody in my team laiughed at it.

[@karenrock3864]

Yet there you are, demonstrating that you do

[@jugbywellington1134]

@@karenrock3864 Says a Karen.

[@mohanlalmistry5435]

Two great books by the genius Thomas Sowell , The Visions of the Anointed and Intellectuals and Society say it all , well worth looking at

[@fretbuzz59]

"genius Thomas Sowell" Uh, no.

[@johnriddell5822]

Well, they aren't going to say " We want to se up an authoritarian dictatorship where everyone who disagrees with us is attacked, punished and ridiculed." They are going to say "We want everyone to be tolerant, kind and inclusive."

[@MirlitronOne]

Straight out of Orwell's 1984.

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

They no longer care about that accusation, it was a mere bump in the road for them. Now they own it with pride

[@Teverell]

I am so worried about what's going to be pushed on my four-year-old niece when she gets to school age and goes to school.

[@BadDriversOz]

Get in BEFORE hand!

[@arctain1]

Offer to homeschool. Or, perhaps, offer to help with the cost of private school that aligns with a classical, non-compelled-language education

Speak up. Refuse to accept it. We got to there in the first place precisely cuz no one spoke up!

​@@arctain1No! We take our institutions back. They belong to us.

[@BadDriversOz]

Welp, I see YOU failed English!

[@cynthiagreene-l1x]

Excellently said. And thank you for pointing out how ‘assisted dying’ is another example of this speech manipulation.

That's just a euphemism, of which there are hundreds, like 'passed away' for 'died'.

[@cynthiagreene-l1x]

I think it’s more than that. It think it’s used intentionally because it sounds very different and conveys a different perceived meaning than ‘voluntary euthanasia’ , ‘assisted suicide’ or ‘physician assisted suicide’

[@True_Heretic]

Why, would you call it "murder"?

[@Showbizboy]

Joanna Williams is spot on.

[@mrlawilliamsukwarmachine4904]

They really were, weren’t they!😏

[@ac27934]

While it's important to recognize the deliberate language games and defend against them in our own thinking, I think the next phase is to become deliberately imprecise in the language we use with others, not in the motte-and-bailey sense, but in the "couldn't care less" sense. And yes, some of this can actually be a better form of deliberate language, such as refusing to use the retronym "biological male" by just saying "male" and refusing to clarify. Beware that the backlash to the insanity leaves you in a hyper-sensitized state where you're continually paranoid about your own internal language choices.

[@BadDriversOz]

There is only 1 'male'!

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

Be proud and bold, call a spade a spade, speak the truth with confidence.

[@BadDriversOz]

@CharlesWhite-j4f You do that, you better be prepared to RUN!

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

@@BadDriversOz Hold firm! If you run away the other side wins. Meet DEI with DRP ("Defy, Resist, Prevail")

[@BadDriversOz]

@CharlesWhite-j4f LOL! Whoosh!

[@graceb3934]

I hadn't thought about that - 'young people' rather than 'children' removes the significant differentiation.

[@johnashton3088]

I honestly thought it just meant "youth"

[@dcollins4679]

Children and young people (phrase has been around since 1930s) acknowledges the congnative abilities of different ages of under age individuals. Infant, toddler child, adolescent have different levels of involvement and autonomy when decisions and choices need to be made that affect them.

[@graceb3934]

I was seeing within a certain context - IE in relation to the rephrasing of a certain word to MAPs...perhaps that's not what she was referring to, but within that context it could be a worrying.

They aren't equivalent. Young people includes youth and children, or even young adults

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

How can you give the right to vote to "children"? That sounds absurd. But to "young people"? Bring it on, they sound so clever and responsible😂 It is amazing how crafty and manipulative the human species can be

[@PeterMaldwyn-tr8rd]

People speak in fixed patterns and tropes all the time, which includes DEI (or EDI): it must affect the way people perceive the world and how they interact with it, for good or ill.

[@sandman5211]

From the Communist playbook

[@alexjames1146]

She was on point and swift.

I agree with everything she said.

[@gpknee]

Excellent talk. Ms. Williams should be in charge of Educational reform.

[@sprsmoke]

She is great.

[@Rambleon444]

DEI is not done in California schools. In the name of equity, they just canceled advanced math classes for children who work hard and do well.

[@nowstronglife3866]

It would have be great if she was allowed to finish her speech without time pressure.

[@jeffocks793]

A wonderful, clear and calm statement of how our invidious institutions are operating.

[@edombre4637]

I was filling in an application for my 6 year old to start at a new school, and on the application form, for a 6 year old, was a question what their preferred pronouns were!!! For a SIX year old kid!!!

[@christinehede7578]

Stupidity

[@hsmd4533]

Get out of that school

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

Haha, you fell into the trap yourself! You used the weasely-Woke pronoun "their" for your child. Is it a boy or a girl? Use he or she!🤦‍♂ I know, they have captured us all into using their b/s terminology, as Joanna described😢 Resist using "their", and in absence of fact, revert to the umbrella pronoun "he", as was the pre-Woke practice. No women got offended, no sensible ones at least (Above all costs never use "she" as an umbrella pronoun, that is for ultra-Wokeists only!). For example: "A burglar broke into my house last night and he broke my front window". In ultra-Woke speak "A burglar broke into my house last night and she broke my front window", although they tend to use it only for feminist-positive scenarios, such as "The airline pilot navigated through turbulence, she deserves a medal"

[@christinehede7578]

@CharlesWhite-j4f the person was saying what was on the form, not referring to her child at all.

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

@@christinehede7578 The Original Poster was referring to her own child's form. The form did not mention the word "their". In case of doubt revert to "his", as we always used to do. Here I have assumed the OP was the mother, so used "her"

[@davidmiller4078]

Great analysis and eloquently put thank you very much

[@DonnaSmith-pq5tv]

George Carlin did a great video about all the changes to speech ….its amazing how often the tactic is used

[@matthewg.2221]

I have no problem with being offensive as a response to totalitarian tactics.

[@daniellabra4186]

BRILLIANT.

[@Kaiser68]

100% agree!

[@wolfgangkern5164]

Another one is Migrants instead of Illegal Immigrants.

[@matthewg.2221]

Or on the far right instead of the right.

[@fretbuzz59]

Migrants move temporarily--farm workers, for example. Immigrants move permanently.

[@fretbuzz59]

@@matthewg.2221 That one works both ways.

[@mitchjohnson4714]

I've realized that the assault on prescriptivism was really a power grab because the people behind that assault are not neutral descriptivists. They are just a different kind of prescriptivist. So their usual pose is descriptivism, to leave fallow soil for THEIR prescriptions.

[@elishevak.8637]

Very good point!

[@RinpochesRose]

She speaks well. To get a job and keep it these days involves completing forms and training where this kind of language appears. There is no choice, no way to change it or comment and the trouble caused if you try to change or comment on it can range from petty inconvenience right up to losing your job. It’s a route a lot of workers do not want to risk. The tick box mandatory training we were expected to do recently on ‘harassment at work’ gave an example describing ‘intersectionality’ with ‘gender’ as part of the reasoning process.

[@hsmd4533]

You do have a choice to refuse to use deceptive language. I understand having to take required trainings and tick the box, but you don’t have to act and speak in the ways that they want you to act and speak.

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

Just take it as akin to a dress code, if your boss wants you to wear a suit and tie, wear it as a contractual duty in exchange for your salary, but when you get home rip it all off and put on a pair of jeans. What is also worrying is when Woke corporations force male employees to wear pink clothing, for example hi-vis safety-jackets, or football shirts. It's deliberately belittling to the male persona. Some men tackle it by overly embracing it as a sign that their super-macho egos can cope. Yet when you scratch the surface you realise they have become Woke and feminist to the core, probably with an LGBTQ+ kid in tow.

[@lefuedebout]

A very interesting and I have to admit, enjoyable speech. I worry though, that Joanna Williams will be getting before too long a 3. am knock on her door from the Starmer Troops!

[@ReVoltaire]

How my grandfather, a university professor in Moscow, was arrested in 1937 for "wrong think".

[@pan2990]

DEI isn't going anywhere. It's being embedded into the institutional and corporate frameworks and being made "every individual's responsibility".

[@MegaSudjai]

He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing. Does language, academia, entertainment and history ring a bell, anyone..?

[@theroadsterlesstraveled]

100% on target. This also infects ESL and EFL here in Japan. It deeply confuses students learning English. It is TOP DOWN, not an organic evolution of language.

[@EarthlingEveryman-zv7bs]

In order to read áll comments (all original posts and all replies), choose comment option "newest", instead of the default option "top".

[@robertjones-iv7wq]

This censorship & re-structuring of "political correctness" problem is a large part of why the global politics are swinging strongly away from "liberalism-gone-woke", into what many call extreme right, which sadly also often seems to pair-up with 'allowing' violent hatred. A complete lack of political & public logic, pragmatism or true honesty.

[@FrankFrankston-kj4sx]

Joanna needs to call out DEI as "Fascist DEI exponents", * Fascist ESG Departments". Change the language back. Label the property "Fascist" because they are in fact Fascist.

[@garyrobinson6247]

I work hard to continue to use language I’ve always used and if people take offence when none is meant, that is their problem. I’m a useless eater (retired) so dont give two f ucks what others think.

[@francesbarratt993]

ESG? DIE? EDI? Language? Please explain the abbreviations so that it is immediately understandable . In written language the discipline of explaining the abbreviation the first time it’s used would help accessibility to this speech

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

Agreed, these three-letter acronyms (TLAs😂) are too much! One of the most destructive forms of Americanisms to have infiltrated our English language. Many texts are now pure gobbledy-gook. Often just two letters would suffice, such as "UK", but now generally a third is added. Here we use to have "MDs" (Managing Directors), now we have "CEOs" (Chief Executive Officers). Can you think of any recent acronyms which have only two letters? AI (Artificial Intelligence) is one that comes to mind, a rarity. To me as a farmer that means something different, again they have stolen a word or expression to re-purpose it, and ridden rough-shod over the previously accepted meaning

[@fretbuzz59]

You realize you're on the internet, right? Try a search. The people attending this event know these abbreviations, the fact that it's posted here is a bonus. (BTW--you know that one, yes?--DEI: diversity, equity and inclusion. EDI: just a different word order.)

[@WeAreAllData65]

The term 'Irregular' Immigration replaces Illegal Immigration - The Agenda'ists (using Communist thought/speech tactics) are asking legacy Brits to ignore/accept the swift demographic change we are seeing with our own eyes - One BIG example! Joanna, always spot on, as ever.. 👌✨

[@CharlesWhite-j4f]

What is a "Legacy Brit"?😂 Do you mean an Anglo-Saxon / Celt / Pict / Ancient Briton? That is verbal ethnic-cleansing in action, a hideous use of manipulative Woke neo-speak. It suggests that Anglo-Saxons are out-dated, in terminal decline, of no further use, obsolete, like for example "the legacy media" of the newspapers, when today everyone gets their news from screens on-line. Are we no more than the "Legacy Americans" who live in tragic poverty and despair on reservations in the USA? I'm a proud AS not an LB. What you call LBs have been in these Islands for over two thousand years, we are not a "legacy", we are the future. But only if we assert that in our speech and actions. Else we will all end up coffee-coloured as the globalist elites desire. Already we are seeing this in advertisements, not many "LBs" visible there, all have been ethnically cleansed.

[@trailertrish2587]

Why is it wrong to use gay to describe a homosexual woman?

[@capitanvonchickenpants8492]

It's a stolen and reappropriated word

[@James-v1o]

At my university we had to introduce ourselves with our preferred pronouns. What I said was "use whatever pronouns you think appropriate for me".

[@TheGenbox2]

"Young People". Anything to do with the 'youth market'? Does this reduce the adult modifiers of behaviour, especially the older generation and ye old extended family, elder of the village? Flatter people into small groups, and you can sell them more to satisfy their sense of disconnection? It's not kindness and empathy to create a linguistic confusion that reduces safety for children and woman, as well as it being an attack of masculinity, confusing it for hypermasculinity. Boundaries are important and Joanna Williams is clear in the reduction of the capacity to exercise common sense and genuine agency with reasoned debate. Liberalism stops being so with reasoned safeguarding.

[@jossgower]

As a follower of Christ i prefer words from the bible. Be not of the world. speak the words of the Kingdom. This is how i immunize myself. I do not play their word games.

[@jmac3327]

There is a solution.

[@joemarshall4226]

What about the word “ marriage”. Marriages revolved around “the marriage act”…..heterosexual genital intercourse….the act that begets people. If a spouse (not a partner) refused to perform the marriage act, the marriage was legally annulled….it never existed, it was fake, it was void. So gay “marriage”. Should be called something else…it is not real, it is void. Domestic partnership seems adequate, but the whole purpose of legally institutionalizing marriage goes down the drain. People have a RIGHT to marry in the real sense. To produce children and have authority over them. The state is doing everything it can to water that down.

[@BadDriversOz]

MY 'pronouns' are : Far & Cough!

[@f0xygem]

And yet she has no problem of throwing about the phrase "cultural elites". Who are these people? Well, she leaves it to each and every one of our imaginations. Talk about sloppy language!

[@rubentishkoff6971]

Right! 👍 Even if I agree mostly with what she says

[@edombre4637]

Very smart lady! But why why why is this change happening- to what end?

[@pierresosa6156]

3:59 - That is not accurate. The terms exist in academia because they need to be described, but their embrace and the insistence that they be used was initially pushed by the bottom. That leaders have started to use that language is allyship. Could it be better - of course. Can you still use "tomboy" - of course. Can you still say "sex" - of course. But we have a tendency to speak without "enough" precision, with too little detail. Like in so many other domains, we need more care. Care more. Care more about your language not having unintended meaning. The "compulsion" results in a net benefit for discourse.

[@danielrobertson8774]

I wonder if it fair now to look at the BBC today as a failing organisation An organisation failing to cope with multiple channel competition, hence language obsessions. A comparison might be the British Rail failures from the 60's and 70's, which just arrived in the 80's messed up. How to help an organisation which has guaranteed income 🤔.

[@4000Wiggins]

I’m not from the UK. What competition does the BBC have?

[@danielrobertson8774]

@4000Wiggins I am from the UK and indeed work nightshifts. The BBC just repeat highly edited pieces whereas before night news was very effective. As the BBC and Channel 4 have abandoned those schedules, many like myself are watching podcasts aimed at audiences with higher levels of education.

[@danielrobertson8774]

@4000Wiggins I'm off to work in 25 minutes. So good timing with your reply, as I don't normally reply for days. Enjoy life.

[@AmeliaBodilia]

Repeal Bill C-16. Pushback works.🤓

[@It_is_common_sense]

EDI is dead and companies that promote it will see their bottom line suffer. The common person in the street will not use those companies. That’s what I do. 😊

[@t28mcd]

DEI = Division Exclusion Intolerance

[@PhilLeith]

It's Orwellian, for sure.

[@rubentishkoff6971]

If my son needs to wear a badge or whatever form of propaganda to get to a spot at the Uni, then: 1 - he knows I left school at 16, I am a living proof Uni is not always useful 🤷 2 - as I made sure he speaks 5 languages (French & Mandarin, classics & English) from very very early, he will have NO difficulty to escape our own "Cultural woke revolution" and get a place in one of the top Chinese Unis... Where they will mind about his Maths and science qualification and not his "conformity". 3 - After that it will become ridiculous to come back to Europe 😏. Unless on holiday. He'll live in an Asian country where this woke nonsense is the antithesis of their culture based around the family circle ⭕ I escaped 🙏 Socialist France 🇫🇷 at 40, coming here with nothing. I will escape Britain's very soon as the pressure feels overwhelming 🤢, and becoming worse every passing day 😤. I am not British 🇬🇧, even if I love their attributes: independent mindset, respect to others, love of freedom ... Sadly I'll have to move to places which are becoming quickly much better for my family 🤷 And after living 4 years in China, please don't lecture me about their "lack of freedom" 😏 There is absolutely NO difference between the UK, US, France etc and China right now 🧐 Not even mentioning the US... I lived in this open air woke 🤡 prison 3 too long years 😷 We had everything, we'll be left with worse than nothing 🫤

[@peteypops]

Unfortunately, our language has been seriously changed by television and cinema…and the slack approach to speaking the English language by non native English speakers.

[@philipclemoes9458]

Get rid of D E I its rubbish.

[@HamilcarBarca-jm3ey]

DEI is Orwellian. That scares me a lot.

[@Frisbieinstein]

Latinx unite!

[@babyamyxo-o6c]

Did she really miss the most important, i.e., diversity instead of black?

[@grodesby3422]

Demanding others use some specific set of pronouns for you is obnoxious at best. People should be able to use whatever pronouns they feel comfortable with.

[@tonykehoe123]

Academy of ideas ? Hasn’t academia provided enough bad ideas ?

[@chaosme1ster]

Isn't that a bit one sided? Without academia (science) we'd still be dwelling in caves and dying at under 40. Figure of speech, obviously, but you get the point. And yes, without science we'd also not have cruise missiles. It's never all good or all bad.

[@fishhy9720]

Being kind is something ordinary people do instinctively. If you don't want to be kind, but rather sexist or homophobic etc, you can expect a negative reaction. As for DEI, I can assume that you don't care that most CEO's are men as long as the best person gets the job. I think the conservative 'right' have politicised this, to allow their bigotry and racism to appear normal.

[@hsmd4533]

You suggesting that the best person for a job should not get it? Or that it wooden woman would not be the best person for a CEO position?

[@matthewg.2221]

I don’t follow your point.

[@berniefynn6623]

Proves indoctrination and not education