I'm lumping "woke" and DEI ideas into the same category. I'm not attached to this lumping, so I don't want to get side-tracked if all you want to do is some un-lumping. But let's try to keep the lumping / unlumping separate from the point of the OP.
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For the sake of this discussion, I'm happy to grant that the woke / DEI folks are well intended. You know "diversity, equality, inclusion", those all sound like good ideas! But the devil is in the details. For example, there is a HUGE difference between equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.
But what I see is that there is a powerful, vocal group within the woke / DEI community who push their solutions quite dogmatically and often intolerantly. Further, part of their dogma asserts that many of us aren't even allowed into the conversation!! E.g., regardless of a cis-white-male's credentials or expertise, he's not allowed to have a voice in the conversation.
This dogmatic approach is hurting ALL liberals. I've linked to a portion of a speech that DeSantis gave recently. IMO, because of the extraordinary claims and proposals of the woke / DEI crowd, someone like DeSantis can push back quite reasonably. He talks about "quality of character". As a liberal, I have to agree with that idea. He talks (indirectly), about problems with identity politics. Again, as a liberal, I have to agree.
So we need to be suspicious of all dogma, and especially post-truth, extraordinary, fuzzy-on-the-details, no discussions allowed dogma.
This kind of thing is giving easy fodder to the diseased right.
Try as I might, I cannot see what you see. I really can't.
Oh, I can agree that some people, no matter what the argument, go overboard, get too strident, refuse to argue with due consideration to the right of the other side to their opinions. (There's a reason for that, too -- and on both sides -- in that we humans far too often hold to our "opinions" and "beliefs" despite any and all evidence presented. That leads to arguments necessarily devolving into opposite sides striking attitudes and taking stands as if all-out war was about to break out.)
As an old guy, now, who was much involved in the efforts to bring rights to LGBTQ+ people in Canada -- including the right to marriage -- I know how important it is to keep the focus on the issue at hand, and insist, always insist, that those opposed make a case. Rather than spitting in their faces and calling them names, which doesn't work.
DEI is a very desirable societal value, when you live in a diverse world. It is not so valuable when your world consists of nobody body your close and semi-close kin, but that community is not going to accomplish much more than survive and produce new generations existing much as the previous ones. Diversity, the acceptance of the value of other voices, different ways of thinking are where creativity and growth come from. We build on the thoughts and discoveries and ideas of others -- others who might hold different viewpoints and modes of thinking than we do. That is what makes humanity the "top life form" on this planet.
But let's return to that close-knit, related social group I mentioned earlier. It is natural for them to be frightened of unfamiliar people and ideas, and to reject them as dangerous. And in my view, that is what DeSantis, and much of the Republican party of today is trying to sow -- fear to that very group, the group most likely to support them. And they are doing so for one very simple reason -- to capture their votes and thus acquire power to do --- well, to do whatever they heck they think they want to do, although they won't lay out much of a platform to tell their supporters what that is, other than make their fears go away.
"Woke" has been turned, by these politicians and their enablers, into a word inspiring terror in their base -- terror that somebody is trying to replace them ("the jews will not replace us!") or corrupt their children and "convert" them (
See Note).
These fears are essentially baseless, and anywhere in the world where you see more acceptance of diversity, you also see happier, more secure and more productive societies. Look to the Nordic countries, to Canada, and so on, where we are much less afraid of diversity. (Canada values a multi-cultural approach while the U.S. prefers the "melting pot.")
If you really are "liberal," as you say, then you must avoid the dogma that is most prevalant in your nation -- and that is the dogma of the religious right trying to inflame hatred against any diversity that either frightens them, or promises them another vote or two.
(
Note: that was not entirely true -- there are fringe elements who try to do such things, such as NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association, but they are not accepted by the more "main-stream" (if I may call it that) LGBTQ+ world. We know that they are pedophiles, and sick.)
