The DEI propagandists at Bloomberg and NYT block a study on DEI that shows DEI increases woke conflicts.
Colin Wright at Reality’s Last Stand explains why a Groundbreaking Study on DEI Was Silenced.
In a stunning series of events, two leading media organizations—The New York Times and Bloomberg—abruptly shelved coverage of a groundbreaking study that raises serious concerns about the psychological impacts of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) pedagogy. The study, conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) in collaboration with Rutgers University, found that certain DEI practices could induce hostility, increase authoritarian tendencies, and foster agreement with extreme rhetoric. With billions of dollars invested annually in these initiatives, the public has a right to know if such programs—heralded as effective moral solutions to bigotry and hate—might instead be fueling the very problems they claim to solve. The decision to withhold coverage raises serious questions about transparency, editorial independence, and the growing influence of ideological biases in the media.
The NCRI study investigated the psychological effects of DEI pedagogy, specifically training programs that draw heavily from texts like Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist and Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility. The findings were unsettling, though perhaps not surprising to longstanding opponents of such programs. Through carefully controlled experiments, the researchers demonstrated that exposure to anti-oppressive (i.e., anti-racist) rhetoric—common in many DEI initiatives—consistently amplified perceptions of bias where none existed. Participants were more likely to see prejudice in neutral scenarios and to support punitive actions against imagined offenders.
These effects were not marginal; hostility and punitive tendencies increased by double-digit percentages across multiple measures. Perhaps most troubling, the study revealed a chilling convergence with authoritarian attitudes, suggesting that such training is fostering not empathy, but coercion and control.
The implications of these findings cannot be downplayed. DEI programs have become a fixture in workplaces, schools, and universities across the United States, with a 2023 Pew Research Center report indicating that more than half of U.S. workers have attended some form of DEI training. Institutions collectively spend approximately $8 billion annually on these initiatives, yet the NCRI study underscores how little scrutiny they receive. While proponents of DEI argue that these programs are essential to achieving equity and dismantling systemic oppression, the NCRI’s data suggests that such efforts may actually be deepening divisions and cultivating hostility.
This context makes the suppression of the study even more alarming. The New York Times, which has cited NCRI’s work in nearly 20 previous articles, suddenly demanded that this particular research undergo peer review—a requirement that had never been imposed on the institute’s earlier findings, even on similarly sensitive topics like extremism or online hate. At Bloomberg, the story was quashed outright by an editor known for public support of DEI initiatives. The editorial decisions were ostensibly justified as routine discretion, yet they align conspicuously with the ideological leanings of those involved. Are these major outlets succumbing to pressures to protect certain narratives at the expense of truth?
Research cited in the report highlights how many DEI programs rely on untested theories or unverified self-reports, with little oversight or accountability. A 2021 meta-analysis found that some initiatives not only fail to reduce prejudice but actually exacerbate it, fueling resentment and perceptions of unfairness. The NCRI study’s findings echo these conclusions, suggesting that far from fostering inclusion, DEI programs may perpetuate a cycle of suspicion and punitive retribution.
Yet, as troubling as the study’s findings are, its suppression may be even more consequential. The decision to withhold this research from public discourse speaks to a larger issue: the growing entanglement of ideology and information. In a moment when public trust in institutions is already fragile, the media’s role as a gatekeeper of information becomes all the more worrying. When powerful outlets like The New York Times and Bloomberg withhold stories of such significance, they fracture trust with the American people.
No Surprise
Wright’s article is superb. It contains many charts that highlight the blatant bias of the New York Times and Bloomberg. No one should be surprised by this.
MSNBC, CNN, and the Washington Post are equally guilty of similar actions.
In general, mainstream media (non-mainstream media too) is a cesspool of biased reporting.
The cesspool of right-wing reporting is in response to the cesspool reporting on the Left.
Those of us who attempt to cover news items fairly get blasted by the Left and Right. So be it. I choose to comment on the news based on policies, not persons or political parties.
In one sense it’s easier because I don’t care much for any politicians. I am a free market, mind your own business, genuine small government, balanced budget advocate.
Trump is not close, but the Democrats are all much worse. It’s one of the reasons Trump won.
DEI Policy Is Racist Policy
It’s important to note that DEI hiring and training is inherently racist policy.
People should be hired and promoted on the basis of merit, not race. Gaining diversity by racial discrimination is still racial discrimination.
The worst aspect of this madness is the study shows that DEI policy increases racial tensions. Thus, not only does the government (and corporate) hiring result in inferior performance, racial tensions increase in the process.
DEI is so counterproductive that one has to wonder if the real goal of DEI is to increase racial tensions.
Ending DEI in government policy and hiring is one of the things Trump is going to do right. Trashing DEI can’t start soon enough.


To all those with hyperactive Woke think.
Not every pile of manure contains a pony. (Old joke).
Repeat to yourself 1000 times – every morning.
“You can’t fix stupid.”
Harvard Business Review also pushes the DIE nonsense as boosting corporate profits.
DEI did a lot of damage to military recruiting. Women have lower standards but are promoted on fast tracks. Males are usually on the no track promotion ladder. A friend’s daughter is probably average at best but preparing to retire as a lt colonel with no degree or qualifications. When you see fat, unfit women as infantry platoon leaders, leading young men there is a problem.
This is actually good. It will discourage White men from enlisting, sending the diversity hires into futile meat grinders. Eventually, even the politicians will realize they are militarily useless. When people stop the military worship, the politicians might even cut military spending, though the Israel Lobby surely might get nervous.
You don’t need to waste time doing a study. It is intuitively obvious that DEI policies are going to elicit anger by a lot of someones.
And illicit glee from women and minorities. Why don’t women have to register for the draft? Now, that is equality.
I had to do a group sexual harassment training. One of the videos was an extremely attractive, pleasant, and intelligent young woman very politely asking a co-worker:
1) can we have dinner together sometime. He said ‘no’
2) well then, lunch to get to know each other a bit. He said ‘no’.
3) well, maybe get a cup of coffee? He said “no, I’m gay’
Of course, this was sexual harassment on her part.
I raised my hand during the discussion and said ‘nobody is that gay’.
I took some heat, but it was worth it.
Diversity is war. That’s why those hostile to a cohesive function society WANT it.
QED
As the kids say, “Its a feature, not a bug…”
On a very basic level it’s hard to understand how anyone can justify trying to deal with bias in a system, whether real or perceived, by introducing more bias into that system in a blatantly overt form.
If I’m not mistaken, the first political party that implemented “Identity Politics” (the establishment of different rules, laws and decrees for different identities), was the German Nazi party.
You are in fact mistaken.
This kind of thing goes back at least to Biblical – ancient times.
Identity politics is a buzz word that ignores the causal forces.
When people hold different values and beliefs, and do not accept other values and beliefs as commensurate (therefore inferior), they act to enforce.their (superior) values and beliefs.
The same open minds that enable critical thinking also (necessarily) accept other values/beliefs as ‘good’ for those who hold them. Not better, not worse, but different.
Like Cordoba, Spain before the Inquisition.
The Soviets had a “Nationalities Office” that implemented affirmative action.
No, I think it was a group of homeless folks following a fellow named Moses.
Those of us who knew the same outcome as the study, using our common sense, must be the most intelligent people on the planet. That makes the DEI pushers the…
aw…. and we were so looking forward to this report..
Who would’a thunk?
Everybody must be astonished at this outcome.</s>
I knew the woke c.r.a.p must have been centrally planned as it is being pushed from every orifice, but thanks for the confirmation. The politbiro of the USSR was much better at it, but who constitutes the politbiro of today?
It comes straight out of the Little Red Book and Chairman Mao Tse-tung
I refer you to the philosophy of Sum Ting Wong.
D.E.I. got a big push forward under the Obama administration. It morphed into some form of Caste system. Fortunately enough voters were not interested in supporting the Caste system offered by the Democrats. We can observe Caste systems in other countries to know it only divides a Country..
My sense is we still have 48.4% of people supportive of DE&I.
Lest you think 48.4% have TDS, PEW says even more are positive on DE&I (56%):
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/05/17/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/st_2023-05-17_culture-of-work-dei_0-02-png/
PS – you won’t find sub-categorization of Mishtalk readers….obviously are “R”-leaning. I’ll chalk up the survey to US brainwashing … US schooling teaches obedience and regurgitation of authoritarian pablum.
Dam. That was good. One of your finest hours mish lol
The purpose of DEI policies was to promote tribalism; us versus them. Call DEI what it is–accentuate differences, elevation for it’s own sake, and exclusion if you are not part of the newly elevated tribe. I have had close black friends at different times in my adult life. Now I have none since their is a mutual feeling of distrust because differences are emphasized, not our commonalities. This is obviously what would be the result.
DEI-visivism
This could be your most important post Mish. Discrimination-Exclusion-Indoctrination is killing the West. Thank You for all you do.
Fire all professional sports players. Fill the teams with random fans and pay them the salary of the former players. That is DEI. Those who came up with it knew EXACTLY what would happen.
What is a “woke conflict”? Are we just making up words now?
A conflict caused by being woke. Seems easy to understand.
… if you’re fluent in gibberish.
What is “gibberish”? Are we just making up languages now?
Grow up
You might try reading the article first.
“The study, conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) in collaboration with Rutgers University, found that certain DEI practices could induce hostility, increase authoritarian tendencies, and foster agreement with extreme rhetoric.”
Woke conflict are interpersonal conflicts generated by the practice of woke ideology in the form of DEI training and policy, i.e., induced hostility, increased authoritarianism, and extremist rhetoric as conflict-generating outcomes.
As Midnight notes, “[s]eems easy to understand,” and it’s quite clear. The notion of it being “gibberish” says more about the mind of the person who finds it so.
Not at all.
Woke is a condition.
DEI is all about putting short people, fat people, birth people, and handicapped people on every basketball team.
Im offended there aren’t more Asians in the NBA. Obviously racist.
I got money on Guatemala to win gold in Olympic basketball.
They will never beat mighty Nauru!
I have long been offended by the lack of black linegirls in the NFL.
It’s about putting ugly people in beauty contests, men in women’s toilets, adults in diapers, the incompetent in positions that require competence, those lacking in judgment in positions that require good judgment, declaring obese ill people as healthy, making racist policies compulsory to stop racism, defying the laws of physics and biology, holding up 4 fingers and demanding the public say there are only 3 because the party says so, DEI is about a boot stamping on a human face, forever.
DEI is ducktalk and Orwellianism, and Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 all rolled into one, and bankrolled by a cadre of elite, transhumanist, sexually deviant overpaid narcisissists, who want to live forever and have you pay for it.
No, it’s about much deeper and worse things. Don’t stop at the superficial level, look closer.
No on your nelly.
“…serious concerns about the psychological impacts…”
Of coarse DEI is going to cause negative psychological impacts. DEI is racist. It is also clear that the Democrat Party is racist, as it supports this discrimination against employees of a certain race, just because of the color of their skin. With Trump receiving a substantial increase of the minority vote, Democrats are now criticizing them for not voting their race. I don’t vote white. I voted Jackie Lacy over Gascon for DA, last time. Voted for Herman Cain, over Obama and McCain.
… so you’re not racist, but they are?
Sure, Jan.
Objectively, the evidence for DEI being racist, or probably more accurately, racialist is quite compelling. The Democrat Party has been quite supportive of DEI across the board from the federal government to the states and localities. So, the charge is not an inapt one.
Which then begs the question: what evidence do you have for RonJ being racist? Are you saying directly that his objection to DEI or noting that the Democrats have favored DEI in recent years is prima facie evidence of racism?
Oh the irony is completely lost on you with that statement… priceless…
DEI should stand for “Don’t Employ Idiots.”
“When powerful outlets like The New York Times and Bloomberg…”
Not for much longer.
Trump may not be a free market advocate (I disagree), but he chose two libertarians to dismantle the US bureaucracy that oppose free markets.
They have no power to do anything. This is a nothing burger to distract you from the grift.
Seems to be true of nearly all politics above the local level (or precinct level, if the locality is of substantial size…say 250K or more).
*also true at the local level in some cases
The Democrat grift or the RINO grift?
How about we wait and see what happens? You’ll probably get a sorely needed lesson in humility.
Trump is not a free market advocate. The free market is what made America great, yet he doesn’t seem to be able to recognize that fact.
The central concept for Marx’s critique of capitalism is “surplus labor.” Capital is unfairly distributed because owners siphon off profits from worker’s labor. This is abstraction at its finest. How do you measure this surplus labor? Include all of the factors which go into creating, managing and executing in a business, including risk and reward. Marx uses a superficial reading of Hegel and directly applies Hegel’s dialectic to capital, where surplus labor is an internal contradiction which will cause capital to fail and lead to communist utopia where all workers are … equal! This is the “system” which is itself an abstraction and poorly thought out at best. The USSR tried it and the only way to control production was to impose harsh authoritarian measures. Another form of infantilization.
Marx plagiarised all this junk from middle-class Engels, whilst Marx sponged off him.
Marx was fat, sweaty and wreaked of pork fat and spoiled cabbage … Engels was dumber than Marx.
Aside from the possibility that unqualified people get positions, it puts a cloud of doubt over any minority that actually got their position via merit.
Ding ding ding
DEI is a sad form of infantilization. Children are often unable to control impulses, but as kids mature they internalize rule based behaviors. If the rules contain internal contradictions, problems arise. DEI has taken abstractions and created a rules based order with internal contradictions. The abstractions are political fictions. If one cannot internalize a set of rules where those rules contradict empirical reality and its analysis, the rules will be imposed from without! Many think, “Hey, teacher! Leave them kids alone”! All in all, just another brick in the wall. Diversity by itself is divisive. A diversity of opinions requires an open forum but it also requires a certain level of reasoning to evaluate those opinions. Equity has taken a notion of equality and extended it as an absolute regarding results, trying to erase differences, which then creates a contradiction with “diversity”. Now add in “inclusion” which is the authoritarian implementation of power from without, the state, the police etc. You are all children without impulse control, so we are going to control you for your own good. Mr. Rogers as Stalin. Or ObamaBidenCo. Kendi is a pathetic charlatan, about as keen a thinker as the women on The View. None of this is new. Plato had it pretty well mapped out 2500 years ago. Take a look at the allegory of the cave in his Republic.
OK, MISH. I see your “awaiting approval” shit going on here. ARE YOU ACTUALLY CENSORING PEOPLE. I will spread the word on this if you are, you fucker!
lol
Miss! Miss! he said a naughty word! Miss!
^ an example of DEI
Try rephrasing your comment, that usually works for me when I occasionally see those dreaded words.
Trump Orders Republicans to Kill Journalism Shield Law They Had Supportedhttps://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/25/trump-orders-republicans-to-kill-journalism-shield-law-they-had-supported/
Trump Orders Republicans to Kill robbyrob Im back because he’s literally Hitler https://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/25/trump-orders-republicans-to-kill-robby-rob-Im-back-because-hes-literally-hitler/
50 cents says he clicks on the link… any takers?
#BREAKING: Mexican president announces she is stopping the migrant caravans from arriving at the U.S. southern border after Trump’s tariff threat.
The announcement came only 12 hours later.
Haters btfo in less than a day
All of this talk about DEI and the WOKE-ISTS and in the meantime I am smelling a Global Financial Crisis brewing.
THE DXY is going to possibly break out. Mish, can you poke around and do some analysis on REPO MARKETS, DXY, THE EURO/USD, and so on?
I see a major break in the DXY above 108.972. We are sitting at 106.9 right now. I am seeing a break at a 61.8% line (I teach retired guys how to read charts – – pals around the world).
I have been trading my own book for over 35 years. NOT BRAGGING, as I have certainly been through heart-jerking times with my portfolio.
There is noise about BONDS, DOLLAR STRENGTH, THE REPO WINDOW, EURO WEAKNESS, MARKET VALUATIONS (TOPPY)….you name it.
BIDENCO papered over EVERYTHING, with the Fed in compliance (sure, they are not political! HA)….now Trump is in.
MR T. can’t do shit against this backdrop. Fasten your seat belts!
Wait, did you ask Mish to do poke around and do some analysis on financial markets before or after you called him an effer? Asking for a friend.
I’d like to hear more about why the world would end if the DXY was 2% higher?
Also would note that DXY is BS these days since it excludes CNY entirely, and underweights other key trading-nation currencies. CNY is no longer hard pegged and should be included like EUR and JPY are … all are tacitly managed
My former employer forced DEI training constantly, including on microaggressions and other such nonsense. As the white male CEO and his white male CFO in concert with his white male COO lectured to me, my repeated reply was always, “Stop! I was hired in 1993 by a black man who worked for a black man who reported to a Wo-man.” It was crazy to hear those 3 white men lecture when the reality was that we were already diverse and arguably being led by a less diverse leadership team 30 years later. In my entire time at that enterprise I never felt we weren’t diverse enough other than at the very top and even worse, that leadership team and the white male CEO before him, had cost us billions in poor decisions and yet remained at the helm. We needed diversity in thought not on other human attributes.
I also used to ask “how much diversity is in China where the bulk of our products come from?” (none) “How much diversity (prior to very recent history) was in Finland when Nokia ruled the planet in the telecommunications space?” (none) Arguably Scandinavia used to be considered very desirable by the very progressives who pushed for DEI silliness and yet that area was one of the least diverse on the planet.
“We can’t make a business decision today, we’re missing the Jew and the Buddhist and we’ve yet to have a transgender Aborigine weigh in.”…said no one ever!
Diversity, in theory, may have benefits but it’s elusive and fleeting because humans are diverse in uncountable ways. It’s the dog chasing its tail or the mule trying to reach the dangling carrot suspended in front of it–it’s impossible to achieve. To the Progressives you cannot be diverse enough but to pragmatists it’s a concept that, taken to an extreme, is doomed to fail as unachievable.
And the hypocrisy exhibited by the progressives that have been pushing it is off the charts. No divesity at the Fed. No diversity in MSM messaging or coverage. No diversity at the institutions of “higher” learning. 5 year olds know that meritocracy is the only way when, after cleaning their room, their sibling who did not still got dessert–instant outrage.
We want equal opportunity to succeed, freedom to make good or poor choices, equal justice under the law.
My current quite large and recognized employer went full speed into DEI since the pandemic, and I would love to sell my story if I could. Required attendance on anti-racist, white fragility, trans education, Alphabet advocacy, forced pronouns in your emails and even paid those author crazies to attend. Promoted far too many people into positions that destroyed the servicing and implementation teams, and even now, the company is trying to resolve it through “new” initiatives that basically take us back to where we were without acknowledging they screwed up back then.
HR was literally the employee of the year “proud that 80% of the promoted and new hires are from under-represented communities”. That “community” had job requirements that adjusted to the employee’s performance to guarantee success while the rest of us had to prove we could do the job before we’re promoted.
“While proponents of DEI argue that these programs are essential to achieving equity and dismantling systemic oppression, the NCRI’s data suggests that such efforts may actually be deepening divisions and cultivating hostility.”
No Sh!t? WoW, who would’ve thought that would be the result of constantly telling the “oppressed” that they have been and always will be “oppressed” by straight, white males!
My Gawd…
This so called oppression is systemic? What system?
“The Man”, man
Oh man, its the man keeping us down!
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
My last employer (just retired) was big on DEI. The goal was to increase sales to minority communities by including minorities in product design and marketing. The other goal was reduce staff turnover which was highest among minorities. Apparently many of our minority employees cultural backgrounds hindered their success, so we set them up with executive mentors or successful non-minority mentors. Overall, the effort was successful, though execution could have been better. It was a learning experience. But we did have to take a lot of time to listen to our non-minority blue collar workforce who felt they were being cheated out of opportunities. And to a degree, they were. There were a few positions that came open that we purposefully filled with minority candidates (yes, they were qualified) as a signal to minorities that you could be successful if you stuck around. The DEI thing isn’t about race, it is about profits. Though I can imagine in non-profit organizations (government, education) it can easily become that. And I can assure you, when companies say they are abandoning DEI in the face of conservative opposition, they aren’t. They’re just changing the name. It is too successful.
Reverse racism sells.
“It is too successful.”
Maybe in this limited example in trying to target minority (sorry, under represented communities), but it wreaks havoc and is far too expensive in far too many industries to continue without pure political force.
I suppose you would endorse offering positions preferentially to non-minorities for increasing sales to non-minority communities?
Of course. Ever wonder why they put black folks in commercials?
Sorry, LeVonn, while you are our most talented and accomplished candidate, we are putting Bill on this account, as it is primarily white people who buy the product. Bill’s record, frankly, can’t compare to yours, but hey, you are getting the Jheri Curl acccount, congratulations.
lol (“it is about profits”) lol
The leftists always love DIE.
Until they need the very best surgeon and he happens to be straight, male and jewish.
Then, thou does not protest…
With their right makeup Justin Trudeau and former governor Ralph Northam would be big hits.
Great credo Mike:
‘In one sense it’s easier because I don’t care much for any politicians. I am a free market, mind your own business, genuine small government, balanced budget advocate.’
Let that sink in + live it! I do
I don’t believe in censorship of any kind (unless it is akin to pornography or yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded room). Let the recipients of news decide for themselves the veracity of such reporting.
It’s pretty bad with when I start trusting ‘The Onion’ & the ‘The Weekly World News’ more than the mainstream outlets.
DEI is about to die just as more investors, funds and companies reject ESG
The aim of DEI was always to pit one race against the other.
It certainly full filled that objective, if that’s what they were shooting for! I see nothing positive, valuable or meaningful in chasing such ghost movements. As these made up letter movements, blow by like dust, it should make one realize how absolutely ridiculous nearly all of them are.
People are not what you want or wish them to be, unless it’s against their will for the most part. We have our own thoughts, ideas, goals, and objectives for ourselves. A good reason why, when you try to force it down people’s throats, they recoil and reject the premise, or those more vulnerable and less educated may go along blindly, but wake up when they are lonely and destitute, and realize they have been totally played emotionally, and in many cases financially as well…
Trust in the media at generational lows. For good reason
Maybe being Frauds, Liars and Manipulators played a role?
The reason that trust is low is due to more people understanding “media” is selling a story. Muckraking and yellow journalism are not new. Hurst and Pulitzer helped push the USS Maine tale to increase sales, a trustworthy act if ever there was one.