Cenk Uygur: evaluation

Transcript context

…So again, it’s about balance, but what do you think about DEI policies say in academia and companies? So the movement as it has evolved, where’s that on the balance? How far is it pushing towards equality of outcome versus equality of opportunity? So now we’re getting into social issues. So this is where we all rip each other apart, and then the people at the top laugh their off at us and go, we got them fighting over trans issues. They’re killing each other. It is hilarious. And they’re so busy, they don’t realize we’re running the place. Right? Okay, but let’s engage. Some people will look at DEI and go, well, that just gives me an opportunity just like anyone else. I love DEI. And other person will look at it and go, no, that says that you should be picked above me. And I hate DEI. So the reality of DEI is a little bit more complicated, but you got to go back. So first, did we need affirmative action in the 1960s? Definitely. Why? All the firefighter jobs in South Carolina, as an example, are going to white guys. All the longshoremen jobs in New York, LA, wherever you have it, are all going to white guys because that’s how the system was. Yes, also in the north. So we now are in a civil rights era. We decide we’re going to go towards equality. Minorities, in that case, mainly black Americans, had to find a way to break in. If you’re a longshoreman and it’s a good job, you naturally pass it on to your son. I get your instinct, I don’t hate you for it. But we got to let black kids also have a shot at it. So you need it in the beginning, but at a certain point you have to phase it out. So when I was growing up, it’s now in the late ’80s, early ’90s, I hated affirmative action and I’ve been principled on it from day one. And to this day, I’m not in favor of affirmative action. I say it on the show all the time. Why? I’m a minority. Being a Turk. I grew up Muslim, I’m an atheist now, but generally speaking, a Muslim is certainly a minority in America and pretty much a hated one overall. But I didn’t check off Muslim or Turkish or any ethnicity when I applied to college because I believe in a meritocracy as we were talking about. But we don’t really have a meritocracy now, so I can come back to that, so I didn’t check it off because I didn’t want an unfair advantage, because I want to earn it. I want to earn it. So now I’m in law school and I’m hanging out with right-wingers because at that point I’m a Republican, and one of the guys says to me about a black student going to Columbia, he says, oh, I wonder how he got in here. school and I’m hanging out with right-wingers because at that point I’m a Republican, and one of the guys says to me about a black student going to Columbia, he says, oh, I wonder how he got in here. God, that is the problem with affirmative action. It devalues the accomplishments of every minority in the country. You have to transition away from it. If you don’t, it sets up a caste system. And that caste system is lethal to democracy. So does DEI go too far? In some instances, yes. But is it a boogeyman that’s going to take all the white jobs and make them black as Trump would say, black jobs, and give minorities too much power, et cetera? No. The idea isn’t to rob you and to give all the opportunity to minorities. The idea is to make it equal. But as the pendulum swings, did it swing too far in some directions? Yes. The left can’t acknowledge that and the right can’t acknowledge that, of course, at some point you got to give a chance for others to break in so they have a fair chance.…

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