Friday, January 29, 2021

I wish this were just a joke - but I've worked for companies like this

 

Scott Adams' Dilbert cartoon strip is usually funny, and sometimes very near the bone.  That was the case with yesterday's comic.  Click the image to be taken to a larger version at Dilbert's Web page.



There are any number of companies who, in the past, in response to social and political pressures, hired "token women" or "token blacks" or "token whatever" to give the public impression of complying with contemporary requirements.  However, those appointments were essentially meaningless.  No real transformation took place;  instead, they were a cloak to hide "business as usual".

The cartoon is funny, sure, and I laughed when I read it;  but it's also painfully true.  If you impose artificial requirements from outside, companies will meet them artificially, rather than in reality.  It's all a con game, from both sides at once.  It's all about giving the right impression, to get pressure off their backs.  After that, who cares?

Expect something similar in response to the Gamestop fiasco, which we discussed earlier this morning.  "Oh, dear!  Something terrible happened!  Let's appoint a commission of inquiry - but make sure it doesn't breathe a word about the real problem.  Let's put measures in place to stop it happening again - but they'll just be window-dressing."  Meanwhile, the people behind it will go right on making money any way they can, and ignore fairness, equity and the law - because the only thing they care about is the money.  The Teds of this world will be used, then discarded as soon as they're no longer needed or useful.

Peter


4 comments:

ruralcounsel said...

This is how Elizabeth Warren became an Indian, except she didn't object and it was her idea to begin with.

Noob said...

Indeed

The Lab Manager said...

I'm so sick of affirmative action. I'm also to the point where I hate the gay community. Now if a male wants to dress like a female and present themselves to your front desk meeting customers, you are a bigot if don't comply. Screw duh-versity already!

And yeah, I would bet South Africa was better under apartheid than now.

SiGraybeard said...

Do you watch TV? Maybe it's just few channels I watch, but it sure is a good time to be a black actor or actress. Suddenly they're everywhere.

Gay couples, lesbians, a sudden, whole new, mandatory change of the job market.