hey @mattyglesias.bsky.social, the piece that you link to here — my piece — does not say that “all DEI critics want to reimpose segregation” and i would appreciate it if you didn’t lie to your audience about what my work says.
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the explicit argument of my piece is that FOR THE POLITICAL RIGHT, and specifically the Trump administration, the anti-DEI crusade is anti-integration.
Good for you for calling this out! Your words should not be twisted and turned to what somebody thinks they should mean as opposed to what you're trying to convey!
MattY intentionally misrepresents black and progressive writers routinely to cast them and their ideas as unreasonable. It actually feeds into the Right's argument and shifts discourse on every issue right. He did the same thing on the discussions around cancel culture and defund. He's dishonest.
You don’t want diversity?
So you want uniformity - one same person.
You don’t want equity?
So you want favoritism and prejudice.
You don’t want inclusion?
So you want exclusion, division, & omission.
The anti DEI folks need to just put on a Klan outfit already.
(Also, not sure any dem candidates anywhere are running on DEI platforms. Just lazy punditry equating Dems with Hr depts or academic policy makers or whoever)
There's a whole rhetorical framework of how one characterizes Dems and Repubs that is built up in American punditry that rests on provably false assumptions, but ppl shy from challenging them because then they would have to stop relying on lazy, pre-constructed narratives and instead do actual work.
And there are 78M people incapable of critical thinking — this is what the hollowing out of our public schools gets us. For dick|tators, this is a vital step. No different than priests being the only educational source in the Middle Ages.
Oh he gets it. He’s very concerned one white man somewhere may lose out to an equally qualified Black person because of equity policies. Read his work over the years, or his manifesto, or his assumptions about federal hiring.
Like people on the left saying it's performative and hasn't helped is way different then Trump and Co that basically just use it instead of a slur of some kind. They're 100% re-segregationists.
I think they want to do way with anything and everything that could have helped Obama become qualified to be president and to stop another one of us from ever getting close to that much power again. They will fail. We're already in the door.
it's very interesting that you say "misinterprets shit," because he was notorious during his time at Vox for never washing his hands in the office bathroom
This is exactly why I blocked him once I started using this app more. I have no desire to read his out of touch, condescending, know-it-all takes. He’s just another elitist mainstream media hack posting garbage opinions on social media with an air of confidence and knowledge.
I unsubscribed from The Weeds when I realized that he could have Lind and Coaston on and he was still easily out-talking both of them combined. Grating shit
Usually that corporate DEI programs are used as fig leaves and reflect a very shallow commitment. Or that the particular structure of a certain program is counterproductive.
I would think that running on what the democratic party can do for farmers might work better. There are a lot of people in North Dakota that are not all that big on the whole fracking thing. We don't all have to have identical beliefs but some stuff we agree on.
It’s a little like ObamaCare. When they say ObamaCare the republicans hate it. When you talk about what it does, removed from the triggering acronym, they’ll probably agree with every bit of it.
What Matt is really saying is that Democrats should lie about their policies like Republicans do, so they can get elected and enact a different agenda than they claimed to have.
To Yglesias: Odd, that being strident did not hurt MAGA. So, the voters are fine with strident bigotry and superstition, but for the sake of the fragile white racist, let's not have any commitment to fighting bigotry. When you fight bigotry of all forms, you better be strident.
Matt and people like him are exactly what got the Democratic Party here, and he will never be big enough to admit that his entire career has been a complete waste of time now that Democracy as we know it is over.
Agreed, most DEI critics simply don't know what it actually means. They are just parroting what they're hearing on fox news and x.
Some however, are pure unadulterated racists.
Still hoping Hollywood will produce an animated/live action feature of the Pillsbury Doughboy, so they can cast Yglesias in the lead role. Then he can retire from punditry altogether...
Also, and this feels important, you writing an op-ed for the Times is not "Democrats, as a party." This is more "democrats have to answer for the words of every liberal online but republicans don't have to for their own actions in power"
You may have not said it but the reality is that most of them do. As clearly DEI has become a slur of the caliber of the N word but just more “inclusive”, meaning includes everyone who is not a white straight men 🤷🏻♀️
Oh-so-common tactic of these lying propagandists: stretch the truth so it still seems believable (if you don't think about it too much), then beat up your opponent over things they never said or did.
And ALWAYS act like there are only extremes, no middle ground.
Thats on purpose. These far center newsletter mills need to be seen as big umbrella DEI critics cause thats what trips triggers, flags the algorithm, sells. Realistically, they cant concede DEI critic IS too broad, and they are case by case writing a small sliver. They dishonestly cape dei critic
The word "equity" appears in the Old Testament at least 19 times. Will they ban the Bible too?
The concept of inclusion is architecture is what allows the wheelchair bound gov of TX to access the gov mansion. Yet, he bans DEI in his TX. Just cruel, cruel people flinging around hatred.
Naw, they’re going to come up with the New Improved American Translation where the word “equity” is re-translated as “shut the f*** up you stupid n***** b**** f****** r***** [etc etc].” Jesus is love my ass.
You made the mistake of expecting Yglesias to be capable of reading comprehension and critical thinking. It's a common mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.
I don't think we need to compromise on viewing anti-DEI as equal to anti-desegregation. It's #Racism and they will adopt whatever coded verbiage redefined as they want.
TBH I don't think the Dems' problem is that they aren't sufficiently conciliatory to white nationalism, if anything it's that they throw too much liberalism under the bus to appeal to corporate power
Complexity poses a challenge to a lot of people on all sides of the aisle. If it didn’t we’d have better leadership and greater support for effective strategies to tackle the issues. Now, we’ve often got a lot of noise from people who only think they understand.
I considered him to be young and stupid back then, so he got a conditional pass for the pushing for the Iraq war, but his behavior ever since shows that he was just stupid.
I don't think you should look at a Harvard-granted degree and assume intelligence. NBER has a paper on their 43% legacy rate.
Straw men are made for and by men with weak arguments. You did not say all DEI critics want to reimpose segregation - almost no one says that. Or that global warming will lead to human extinction. Both are straw men.
🤣🤣🤣 Oh my God! Has Matt "The South Made No Money From Slavery" Yglesias made it to Bluesky? I was sooo hoping I left his disingenuous, bad faith-y, commentary back at the Hellsite.
@mattyglesias is blocked by the MAGA trash mod list. Don’t feed the 🧌
Check out
@squirrelturd.bsky.social
For various mod lists to keep Bluesky a decent place to be
I read what he posted, he’s right and you’re wrong, in the sense that you’re trying to impose your own preferences on others instead of being content to moderate your own Bluesky experience to your liking.
Block lists are powerful. You need to be EXTREMELY careful when you subscribe to one. Make sure you know the person, their background, all that. Bad actors are trying to lure people in with blocklists that seem correctly targeted, and then change the targets. In this case, this guy is MAGA.
I subscribe to all of his block lists
He vets everyone ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
And I know he looks closely at each one ‼️‼️‼️
Cuz he rejected two that I thought she be blocked
Lots of people coming for my fav columnist @jamellebouie.net lately.
I discovered Jamelle during the election and he instantly reminded me of some of my most brilliant sociology professors in college. He’s such an important voice and they know that. They feel threatened. And they can all fuck off
Progressive who lives in North Dakota here. I bet if Democrats figured out how to no longer be neoliberal and learn to connect with the working class again, then they wouldn't have any problem.
Maybe but when that working class is electing unionbusters to the head of the most prominent union in the country, I dont think connecting with them is gonna fix that part of the problem
Please refer to the below thread, which outlines the editorial positions of the Internet's Worst Matts List, the internet's only ranking of worst Matts, now presented exclusively on Bluesky.
Please refer to the below thread, which outlines the editorial positions of the Internet's Worst Matts List, the internet's only ranking of worst Matts, now presented exclusively on Bluesky.
Please refer to the below thread, which outlines the editorial positions of the Internet's Worst Matts List, the internet's only ranking of worst Matts, now presented exclusively on Bluesky.
further, Matt Yglesias has a popular podcast, a Bloomberg column, 40,000 paid subscribers to his newsletter, appears regularly on one of mainstream liberalism's most prominent podcasts, and was read regularly by Democratic leaders in the White House and congress.
Please refer to the below thread, which outlines the editorial positions of the Internet's Worst Matts List, the internet's only ranking of worst Matts, now presented exclusively on Bluesky.
I am curious what he thinks about gerrymandering? Should a neutral party draw up district maps, or a party majority that had gerrymandered that majority, why or why not?
I appreciate that this is the story that has stuck with a lot of people about him, but for me it was the bit about cleaning up after himself being beneath him that really did it
As long as Democrats keep talking about that mythical center, which DOES NOT EXIST, they're doomed to failure. It's always nothing more than a trap to move the Overton Window ever rightward, and if that's what you want, then vote for Repubs. IT IS A FAILED STRATEGY AND PATHETIC MESSAGING.
The problem with moving rightward to get votes -- Matty is just regurgitating Third Way policies from Clinton here -- is it never stops, and every step to the right the Dems take is a step further to the right the GOP takes to create daylight between the two.
I don't agree (with the repost). Go to these places and find out why they vote for Trump. Then engage with and educate them: make them part of the solution, not the problem. They are only lost if we allow ppl like Trump and MAGA to find them.
First of all, why not? Because they definitely DO.
Second of all, this is a complete garbage take from Iglesias. He's basically doing "The best way to deal with bullies is to be super nice and try to make friends with them" as a political strategy. It's weak, it's timid, and it's not worth reading.
Having the strength of your convictions and the courage to stand by them, and speak them loudly and unapologetically resonates better with voters than having EXACTLY THE RIGHT convictions or saying all the right things. Most of us have known this for years; Trumpism has proven it decisively.
I hate this for a lot of reasons but ‘have some mild complaints about dei programs as practiced’ and ‘dei is evil and discriminatory and should be dismissed via a scorched earth method’ are wildly different positions
Where can I read your full piece please? Sorry if this has already been answered. I did my best to go through the comments to find it. I might have missed it.
Well, brain-addled folks have a problem comprehending whole sentences, much less paragraphs! They write or read words but don’t understand meanings, context or nuance. Not their fault! This is not politics, but a massive medical crisis: pathological brain addlepatism!
Climate change will lead to human extinction and opposing DEI will lead to discrimination against women and minorities. It's a fact, we can't compromise on the facts.
We need to stop using the acronym and start spelling it out. It is not DEI, it is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It is easy for people to tear down a grouping of letters, but when they have to explain that they oppose diversity, equity, or inclusion their bigotry becomes clear.
And before he or any other “critic”cites standardized test scores, let me say as a 60 something Harvard grad who still remembers my (high) SAT scores, that I and my fellow high scoring Black students confronted that skepticism during our entire time in Cambridge. 2)
I also wish that these “DEI” critics would interrogate the basis for their criticism. There is an underlying assumption that it means “lowering standards” or hiring “unqualified people,” which is rooted in anti black racism. 1).
If expanding the coalition by embracing “moderation” results in demonization, devaluation, and diminution of rights, ethics, and civic society, then fuck it.
Also “fossil fuel extraction” and “DEI programming” are so broad and vague as to be meaningless. EG people across a wide political spectrum support the right to install renewables, and support teaching the history of people of color. The policy specifics matter.
Wow, do people not know that Earth is at risk of becoming like Venus through runaway greenhouse effect? How can anyone scoff at the risk of human extinction? That's the whole ballgame.
Along with a strong helping of “it’s immoral to force people to do anything they don’t want to” and “humans are smart enough to solve all problems as they come up”.
From talking to family members who don’t know enough science to evaluate it themselves, their argument is basically “the things to solve climate change are all things democrats wanted to do before it was an issue, so I strongly suspect they’re overstating things to get their way.”
Anyone, who thinks the democratic party needs to move more to the right, to compromise with republicans more, that coming together is the way to win more elections is lying. To themselves if not to all of us. We want healthcare, ranked choice voting, money out of politics and govt out of our wombs
But most of all what we want is accountability from the people at the top of society, the politicians, the CEOs, the pundits, the hedge fund managers and the insider traders. We want people who break the law to go to jail, regardless of how many 0s are in their bank account. And a livable climate
Yglesias is bad for democracy. Obviously the trolling, but more so disingenuously occupying the center in the name of leftist goals. “You can’t move left because strategy” prevents both leftward progress and rightward moderation. It’s a big part of the stagnation that’s killing the country.
What does that have to do with this other guy? I’d love to know but don’t really trust you to not be viciously condescending so I think I’d prefer to just live my life wondering wtf you’re talking about
Dude- you’re not reading clearly either. He’s NOT speaking for the “entirety” of the Democratic Party. He was positing chances of hypothetical candidates then he was defending HIS OWN WORK against sloppy critique of.
Yes and Whet is using “Didn’t know you spoke for the entire party” as a way of saying essentially “Did you see that? He just wrongly attributed your analysis as an individual columnist to the entire Democratic Party. What a goof!”
And not even Jamelle's real argument, which was more like "there are multiple definitions of DEI and that disagreement is an asset to people who want to get lots of people to agree to oppose it, and among that group are people who want to reimplement segregation."
Guys like Matt Yglesias or Thomas Chatterton Williams feel entitled to just say anything they want about you, but when you respond then you are the meany.
Blocked them after reading so many posts that were far from progressive. Seems to be right wing (at least) in terms of what righties used to be before they got insane.
Beyond the lying, is his point that a winning democratic coalition is one that is just based on whatever the majority wants? Do minorities not deserve representation?
Question
Is there a tent big enough 'at the margins' to gather in the 60% who don't vote - even 1% of them would win elections now being won by tte 20% - and lost by the 20%?
Anyone who can convince a few people that it matters who gets elected can win in a landslide
honestly I wouldn't even think of this as that egregious of a strawman. even if he greatly misconstrued your argument, the notion that anti dei folks are generally anti integration is not even like that bold of a claim
“I think most people on the left agree that [a bunch of stuff I made up].” I hate this kind of writing. It reeks of its own bias. “DEI programming.” Claiming insight to a broad swath of people he clearly doesn’t belong to. Just another “Dems are too far to the left!” screed.
Did not follow either; wasted a few minutes looking at his posted content, and it was apologist trash or pretend (I’m not a rightie) - appears to be right of center from what centrist used to be in the USA.
Then blocked.
What the fuck is wrong with these people? Hegseth said he hasn’t washed his hands in 10 years at least. Disgusting. And giving white ppl a bad name too. I also love trans ppl lol.
I consider my myself a Liberal conservative. I don’t care what you do or who you it with. I think money should be spent responsibly. Why would that be suspicious?
I can't speak for you, but for years, Republican Conservatives have constantly repeated that they stand for "fiscal responsibility." Where has that gotten us? Excuses for defunding essential services & now, looting of the Treasury. A lot of harm can be done in the name of "fiscal responsibility."
I’m not for defunding needed services to help people survive. I believe in educating people to be the best they can be.
I also think it’s wasting money when you replace a road without actually prepping it properly. (The county just replaced a road without doing this last fall and now it’s cracking.)
I think the bigger issue with how he represents your column, although I can assume he’s talking hypothetically, is that you are giving your opinion, which was never intended to represent what Democrats are saying “as a party”…
I think that’s a pretty big underlying thing with Yglesias. He’s always writing with “this should be the platform of the US Democratic Party, nationally” rather than “this is what I think” or “this would be good for my city or state.” That’s not always how others write columns.
Wait, also, the "climate change will lead to human extinction" part? Like no one is saying humans are going to go extinct. But it is obvious our well-being will be threatened. Is Matty also downplaying climate change?
Yeah people in NoDak couldn’t possibly benefit from a healthy climate and a level playing field. I’m sure the racists of the North Central Plains will be happy to hear that Dems will continue to pander to them
Comments
So you want uniformity - one same person.
You don’t want equity?
So you want favoritism and prejudice.
You don’t want inclusion?
So you want exclusion, division, & omission.
The anti DEI folks need to just put on a Klan outfit already.
People at Vox made him mad and now its the reason Trump won
His grandfather, though… very VERY famous.
"Does it matter? It's Mattytown."
https://gandalf.fee.urv.cat/professors/AntonioQuesada/Curs1920/Cipolla_laws.pdf
Maybe stop writing buddy
Some however, are pure unadulterated racists.
And here is the Yglesias piece:
https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/the-path-forward-for-common-sense
And ALWAYS act like there are only extremes, no middle ground.
Many children don't buy this crap.
The concept of inclusion is architecture is what allows the wheelchair bound gov of TX to access the gov mansion. Yet, he bans DEI in his TX. Just cruel, cruel people flinging around hatred.
“I hate such and such race, skin color, ethnicity”
Simply removing DEI can lead to segregation when those so called critics support segregation or not. It’s systemic!!
He’s just more shameless about it now
I don't think you should look at a Harvard-granted degree and assume intelligence. NBER has a paper on their 43% legacy rate.
Cut him some slack.
Check out
@squirrelturd.bsky.social
For various mod lists to keep Bluesky a decent place to be
It's even crazier to tell someone not to write about *somebody with a large audience lying about them*
He vets everyone ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
And I know he looks closely at each one ‼️‼️‼️
Cuz he rejected two that I thought she be blocked
I discovered Jamelle during the election and he instantly reminded me of some of my most brilliant sociology professors in college. He’s such an important voice and they know that. They feel threatened. And they can all fuck off
Let Me Count the Ways
https://bsky.app/profile/thequeso.bsky.social/post/3lgrjop5hrc26
Nah.
https://bsky.app/profile/thequeso.bsky.social/post/3lgrhktswec26
https://bsky.app/profile/thequeso.bsky.social/post/3lgrhktswec26
https://bsky.app/profile/thequeso.bsky.social/post/3lgrhktswec26
He is a leader liberal thought.
https://bsky.app/profile/thequeso.bsky.social/post/3lgrhktswec26
Because it seems that Trump could literally declare himself king and they would criticize the left for overreacting.
And why is that guy talking about 'marginal' policy changes ? Supporting the working man is going to take radical changes.
Are you familiar with the alt-right playbook? Because it seems like you don’t understand how they play.
TBH, I didn’t know he was still around until you mentioned him.
Second of all, this is a complete garbage take from Iglesias. He's basically doing "The best way to deal with bullies is to be super nice and try to make friends with them" as a political strategy. It's weak, it's timid, and it's not worth reading.
Shocked
With you on your actual point, of course!
Now I want gum to chew…
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:mml7iyrgii3zxyvlf43a7to3/lists/3lblifk2bf32f
Someone should ask her if all of this banning of words around DEI programming is Cancel Culture.
We know she'll say it isn't somehow, but make her do the mental gymnastics anyway.
matty y is a clown.
congrats on the morals and ethics of a turd!
Are you Matt’s burner acct?
Is there a tent big enough 'at the margins' to gather in the 60% who don't vote - even 1% of them would win elections now being won by tte 20% - and lost by the 20%?
Anyone who can convince a few people that it matters who gets elected can win in a landslide
In my observation, no cares to
Don't use DEI.
USE THE POWERFUL WORDS!!
“Non-white people?”
This guy @mattyglesias.bsky.social
is whack.
We KNOW Republicans want to segregate Women.
We call it #ClimateCatastrophe
#ClimateDisaster
If crops fail, humans will starve.
Then blocked.
I also think it’s wasting money when you replace a road without actually prepping it properly. (The county just replaced a road without doing this last fall and now it’s cracking.)
http://www.mrdestructo.com/2013/04/destructo-salon-does-matthew-yglesias.html
What a weirdo