Staff Reports
In the latest circus act on MSNBC, the illusion of a “level playing field” promoted through Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs was paraded by guest Lauren Leader, a self-styled expert who is clearly living in a reality of her own making. As major corporations across America step back from their DEI initiatives following the election of President Trump, Apple shareholders decided to double down, leading to a segment that could only be described as a comedic performance worthy of prime-time television.
On the show’s latest episode, host Ali Vitali welcomed Leader to discuss the peculiar decision by Apple shareholders to continue funding its DEI programs. The questioning began with a suggestion that Apple was somehow brave for going against the tide of corporations realizing that DEI may not be quite the golden ticket it was once thought to be. Two words come to mind: corporate suicide. When evidence piles up showing that companies like Bud Light and Target faced backlash for pandering to niche audiences at the risk of alienating loyal customers, one has to wonder who is really swimming against the current now.
Leader, apparently undeterred by the reality of the corporate landscape, claimed that for consumer-facing companies like Apple, DEI practices are crucial for understanding the “marketplace.” This raises an eyebrow, considering the company’s history of dishing out customer experience that often sits on a precarious edge. The naive belief that prioritizing DEI will yield profits overlooks the glaring reality that companies frequently suffer financially when they ignore their core customer base.
One must ask how DEI can genuinely create inclusion when it does so through intentional exclusion. Leader and others in the DEI camp insist that equity is the holy grail, yet it fundamentally undermines the notion of meritocracy. After all, America’s success story was crafted not by lowering standards but by striving for excellence. The premise that everyone deserves equal outcomes ignores the age-old truth that hard work and skill are what truly level the playing field.
Furthermore, one cannot help but question the integrity of the narrative that’s being spun about equality. The left tends to conflate equal opportunity with equal outcomes, despite claiming it does not advocate for the latter. Their push for policies that actively discriminate against the more qualified in favor of meeting arbitrary quotas is more than just an agenda; it’s a systematic attempt to destabilize traditional values by undercutting merit in favor of an artificial notion of fairness.
MSNBC Guest Claims DEI Creates 'Level Playing Field' — Why That Worn-Out Trope Is Patently Falsehttps://t.co/bZFmkUbXkR
— RedState (@RedState) February 27, 2025
Amid the absurdity of this DEI dialogue, it seems that in an effort to raise the bar for diversity, the left is instead lowering expectations across the board. Eliminating requirements for high school graduation, college admissions, and even employment opportunities only serves to perpetuate a cycle of mediocrity disguised as inclusivity. Instead of fostering true equality, this movement exemplifies the soft bigotry of low expectations, where the mantra of inclusion becomes a crutch for incompetence.
In the end, while Apple’s decision may appeal to a liberal base, the reckoning for such policies is approaching swiftly. As more corporations realize that DEI is little more than a passing fad that undermines the principles of meritocracy, the future of these initiatives looks increasingly grim. Will Apple finally wake up and smell the coffee? The answer may very well lie in their ever-shrinking profit margins.
