You can often gauge how strong an argument is by the number of words needed to explain it.
It’s nothing new. The 14th–century friar William of Ockham is credited with coming up with the principle of Occam’s razor. The idea is that, when there are two competing ideas to explain the same thing, the simpler one is usually the better one.
Leftists love to launch convoluted arguments that blur word definitions to frustrate people who are ready for a debate about the subject at hand. Elon Musk, who needs no introduction because he is the richest man in the world, and Mark Cuban, the minority team owner of the Dallas Mavericks, demonstrate the effectiveness of Occam’s razor on Musk-owned social media platform X.
The subject of their disagreement is the conservative-dreaded concept of DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion. Cuban is all in for DEI in business.
According to Fox News, Musk started the fracas on X. His argument was to the point. He wrote that DEI was “just another word for racism” and “shame on anyone who uses it.” It’s hard to argue with that. If people are hired or not hired based on their skin color, it’s racist. There’s no way around it.
Writer Ed Krassenstein posted that DEI had major flaws, and Musk responded with the comment, “discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism.”
Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 3, 2024
Cuban’s leftist sensibilities were singed. He had to respond. And he did so in the typical lefty fashion, by presenting a mini-lecture on X as if he was auditioning for a professor job at an Ivy League university — and if hired, a sizable endowment from Cuban would be assumed.
Cuban began his mini-lecture with the old favorite, “Let me help you understand,” as if whoever might disagree with his diatribe was a Neanderthal starving for Homo sapien wisdom. And then, according to Fox, he laid out “five separate points” to provide enough cover for the lack of substance of his argument to hide in.
Let me help you out and give you my thoughts on DEI
1. Diversity
Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed.
You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various… https://t.co/L00fl6ggUD— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 3, 2024
I don’t want to bore you with Cuban’s meandering response but it’s to make a point. “Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed,” Cuban rattled on.
“You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration. By extending our hiring search to include them, we can find people that are more qualified. The loss of DEI-Phobic companies is my gain.”
Cuban then made the bewildering remark, “treating people equally does not mean treating them the same.” What does that mean? Treating people equally does not mean treating people equally? I thought that was what equity was all about. Is Cuban arguing for equity, or equality, or conflating the terms, or emptying them both of meaning?
Whatever the case, Cuban claimed to be arguing in favor of equity — a woke term that defies definition. It’s the “E” in DEI.
“Equity is a core principle of business, “Cuban droned. “Put your employees in a position to succeed. Recognize their differences and play to their strengths where ever possible. It is not a hard concept. But it is not easy to implement. Most workforces don’t have the depth of management to do this well. When it’s not done well it can create tension and resentment.”
OK. Enough. We get it. Only woke demigods like Cuban are capable of implementing DEI, let alone understanding it. Blah, blah, blah.
Musk didn’t take the bait. You could spend an hour or so dissecting the pitfalls in Cuban’s vapid defense of DEI. Musk doesn’t have time for it. He simply asked a question, “Cool, so when should we expect to see … short white/Asian women on the Mavs?”
Cool, so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian women on the Mavs?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 4, 2024
And there you have it. Occam’s razor in action. In one question, Musk exposes the soft underbelly of DEI. At the end of the day, it’s a stupid concept. It would be insane to have a short woman play on an NBA team, and yet there’s a true lack of short women in the NBA. Where’s the diversity?
Jettisoning excellence in favor of some cockeyed scheme to manufacture political moral high ground is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It’s a fool’s game.
Evangelist Franklin Graham commented about another recent interview with Cuban, in which the billionaire said going woke is just “good business.”
“Sin has always been good business,” Graham responded on social media. “That’s why Hollywood sells sin. The Bible says, ‘… for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it’ (Matthew 7:13)”
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Graham was right: DEI might be seen as good business for wealthy white woke men, but sin has always been good for business. Racism is a sin.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
