Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion (DEI} Comes To Jasper, Indiana Memorial HospitalÂ
By Richard Moss-MD
DECEMBER 26, 2023
The medical staff at our community hospital in Jasper, Indiana, a small, generally conservative berg in the middle of fields of corn and soy, received an email from hospital administration indicating that they would begin implementing DEI training.  I responded with the following:
“I received your email to the medical staff regarding the new DEI initiative at Memorial Hospital, including ‘talking points’ and ongoing ‘education and awareness training.’  I would like to share some thoughts with you, and others, about DEI.
“DEI”, as the world knows, refers to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This concept, like many seemingly innocuous-sounding slogans or acronyms, carries with it aspects quite sinister.  It is a phrase that has swept the nation and all of our major institutions, including our universities and schools.  DEI has become the new mantra, indeed, a booming industry and ethos, dominating our culture.  But contained within it are concepts that are alien and antithetical to the Christian mission of Memorial Hospital, of “being for others.â€Â  It is also hostile to the founding principles of the nation.
“DEI” is a hyperaggressive and politicized quota system, a radicalized version of affirmative action for certain so-called “marginalized†people.  It divides society into “groups†based on race, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, and so on.  It gives preference to certain favored groups, which include, in descending order: Muslims, transgenders, gays, blacks, Hispanics, and women.  It disadvantages other groups currently out of favor, chiefly whites, males, heterosexuals, and Christians.  Alas, there is another group that joins the list of the despised, perhaps the chief target of DEI hatred, the Jews.
Apart from being intensely divisive, it also reflects a worldview that is not compatible with our biblical tradition, which holds that each person is an individual uniquely made in the image of God.  This transcendent concept is peculiar to the West and accounts for its extraordinary success, chiefly here in the US, the greatest embodiment of Western thought and accomplishment, although certain alien ideologies, of which DEI is one, now threaten it.  But it is our emphasis on the individual, protecting individual rights and liberties, that has made Western nations in general, and America, in particular, so desirable and why all the world seeks to come here.  It explains our economic growth, standard of living, and extraordinary cultural and technological achievements.  It is based ultimately on the freedoms and protections of the individual precisely because we believe in the sanctity of each person.
“DEI rejects that.  It is an identarian ideology, a “caste†system, so to speak, that divides society into intersectional groups based on perceived wrongs committed by alleged dominant power centers in society, which it perceives as intrinsically racist or sexist or homophobic, and so on.  Within the DEI calculus, there are oppressors and oppressed, victimizers and victims, and, as noted above, so-called “marginalized people.â€Â  It emerges from standard Marxist ideology, except centered on culture or race rather than class, as originally conceived, hence the term “Cultural Marxism.â€Â  DEI is an extension of “Cultural Marxism,” part of the “intersectional†hierarchy of “oppression†that divides society into odd categories, placing the groups allegedly most “oppressed†at the pinnacle of the pyramid, say blacks, women, or transgenders, and those designated most guilty of “oppression†at the bottom (whites, males, Christians, Jews).
‘DEI represents a vision that discards eternal notions of good and evil with a new measure: the alleged ‘powerless’ were good, and the ‘powerful’ were bad. We replaced colorblindness with race obsession… People were given authority in this new order not to recognize their gifts, hard work, accomplishments, or contributions to society, but in inverse proportion to the disadvantages their group had suffered, as defined by radical ideologues.’ (Bari Weiss)
“Rejecting the individual, reduces American society into a collection of groups or tribes, hence the “tribalization†of society.  This tribalization (racialization) is based on certain immutable, physical traits such as skin color and sex. This, by the way, has been the norm for all of human history and throughout the world.  America was unique in that it rejected tribalization, group characteristics, and superficial appearance, and elevated the individual, which accounted for its historic success, and the reason so many sought to live here.
“DEI, furthermore, has no place in any institution that values standards and color-blind meritocracy.  If diversity becomes the driving force behind hiring and promotion, or even a small part of it, rather than skill, accomplishment, and merit, then it necessarily compromises standards. If the goal is diversity, and to have proportional representation in Memorial Hospital’s workforce, based on race, sex, sexual orientation, and other such trivialities, even in part, and do not contemplate the individual and his unique abilities and contributions overall, then the system collapses and becomes simply one of groups or tribes competing with one another.  Meritocracy necessarily dies in such a system.  You can have DEI or meritocracy, but not both.
“Shall we now have quotas for our doctors, nurses, technicians, and janitors based on DEI principles of proportional allocations for blacks, Hispanics, Gays, Lesbians, Moslems, and transgenders – over more qualified individuals of the wrong color, sex, or sexual orientation?  Shall we treat patients based on such considerations?  Such a concept is antithetical to the mission of the hospital.  It betrays the purpose of our institution and its religious and biblical basis for current fashionable, destructive, and divisive Marxist goals that have no place here and should be unequivocally rejected. Further, why is “diversity†a goal?  Diversity is a challenge to overcome in the pursuit of “unity,†which is a far more important aspiration.
“DEI has become a quasi-religion.  It is part of a cadre of similarly destructive and related leftist concepts such as “Critical Race Theory,†“Social Justice,†“Queer Theory,†and “wokeism.â€Â  DEI means the end of meritocracy, standards, quality of care, and the belief in the individual not as a member of a particular racial tribe but as a person forged in the image of God.  It is antithetical to our faith, traditions, and the founding principles of this nation. DEI prioritizes identity over excellence and balkanizes along racial and other lines.  Replacing hard work, initiative, and accomplishment with proportional representation of favored groups, elevates skin color, sex, or sexual orientation, over the sacred individual. It is also anti-white, anti-male, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-Western, and anti-American.  Dissecting a society by superficial appearance is divisive, not inclusive.  It is nihilistic and foments hate and separatism.  It is destructive of the mission of the hospital, of “being there for others,†which is accomplished by providing the highest quality of care based on employing the finest individuals regardless of race, sex, ethnicity, and so on – and treating everyone, patients and staff, equally, as individuals.  That is the ideal you should strive for – not scrutinizing trivial, surface features. It would help if you rejected DEI, a poisonous ideology.  It shifts power to a corrupt agenda and bureaucracy that threatens achievers of every race and ethnic background, and, ultimately, America itself.  You must rip DEI out root and branch for the sake of our institution – and the God we hold dear.â€
I sent this letter to the entire medical staff and hospital administrators including the CEO.  I also sent it to members of the hospital board.  I have heard nothing back and do not know if they plan to proceed with their disastrous plans.  I will continue to oppose it vigorously and must imagine that it is a small minority of leftist activists on the medical staff that pushed for it.  I will do all I can to ensure it does not stand.
FOOTNOTE: Richard Moss, M.D., a surgeon practicing in Jasper, IN, was a candidate for Congress in 2016 and 2018. He has written “A Surgeon’s Odyssey†and “Matilda’s Triumph,†available on amazon.com.  Contact him at richardmossmd.com or Richard Moss, M.D. on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
The City-County Observer posted this article without bias or editing. Â We welcome any similar or opposing views concerning this subject and shall publish them without opinion, bias, or editing.Â
References:
Samuel Abrams, October 27, 2023, Hardly Inclusive, Diversity Mandates Have Politicized Campus Life, AEI,
Jeffrey Blehar, September 10, 2023, The Crushing Costs of DEI on University Campuses, National Review
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-crushing-costs-of-dei-on-university-campuses/
George Leef, July 17, 2023, Squandering Time and Money on DEI “Training,†National Review,
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/squandering-time-and-money-on-dei-training/
Nate Hochman, February 23, 2023, The Left Already Knows DEI Is A Lie, National Review,
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/02/the-left-already-knows-that-dei-is-a-lie/
Scott Sturman, Joe Arbuckle, November 10, 2023, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Reign Supreme At The Airforce Academy, AMAC,
https://amac.us/blog/society/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-reign-supreme-at-the-air-force-academy/
Catherine Salgado, October 23, 2023, Former DEI Director: DEI ‘Deliberately Stokes’ Anti-Semitism at Colleges, PJ Media,
Robert Spencer, February 28, 2023, The Day Your Doctor Won’t Treat You If You Aren’t the Right Kind of Patient Is Closer Than You Might Think, PJ Media,
Bari Weiss, November 7, 2023, End DEI, Tablet
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/end-dei-bari-weiss-jews
