Elon Musk criticized by civil rights groups for posts calling DEI initiatives unsafe
www.nbcnews.com
In several posts on X, Musk claimed without evidence that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives put airline customers in danger.

In several posts on X, Musk claimed without evidence that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives put airline customers in danger.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk drew a swift rebuke from two of the nation’s best known civil rights organizations Wednesday, after he criticized efforts by United Airlines and Boeing to hire nonwhite pilots and factory workers.

The criticism came after Musk claimed in a series of posts on X that efforts to diversify workforces at those companies have made air travel less safe. He offered no evidence for the claim, and one of his replies directed attention to a post by someone else speculating about the IQ of Black airline employees.

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, said Musk’s statements were “abhorrent and pathetic.” He noted that Tesla, where Musk is CEO, is being sued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for alleged abuse of Black employees, including claims of racial slurs and nooses found in the workplace.

“Musk’s company not only refused to investigate complaints or take any steps to end the abuse, it viciously retaliated against employees who complained or opposed the abuse,” Morial said in a statement to NBC News, citing allegations from the suit.

  • Szymon@lemmy.caEnglish
    1181·
    10 months ago

    Wait wait wait

    The white South African guy whose family profited during because of apartheid is RACIST?

    Are you sure about this?

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
    48·
    10 months ago

    So aside from the comments being a dick move, he’s not just wrong on the his assertion that diversity in and of itself adds to less safe conditions at the airlines.

    In fact, the opposite is true. I work in a field where failure investigations are routine. More diversity, especially in environments such as this where safety is paramount, is absolutely necessary to prevent groupthink. This isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact. The Navy and NASA have said as much.

    When everyone thinks alike, no one thinks at all. There are no dissenting opinions - this is what leads to accidents.

    But of course Elon doesn’t care - he wouldn’t allow the color yellow - for caution - and the backup beeps on things like forklifts at his Tesla plant simply because he “didn’t like” them. He doesn’t give a shit about safety.

    So whatever Elon, but maybe you shouldn’t be working in human spaceflight.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      6·
      10 months ago

      I have no study to back this up but I have noticed the same thing. There is a reason why when we are struggling at work that I grab everyone I can. The paper pushers, the specialist engineers, the old timers, the techs, the interns. I want everyone to look at this problem and suggest ideas. It’s a cynical maybe but humans are a resource, and what you do with resources is exploit them.

      Groupthink sucks. That’s why you get companies circling the drain for decades. Making the same product over and over again while the rest of the world moves on.

      • Sabin10@lemmy.world
        143·
        10 months ago

        Scared white men think the initiatives mean they’ll be passed over for a less qualified diversity hire. They don’t understand that jobs have been going to less qualified white men, instead of more qualified minorities for decades.

        • 0000011110110111i@lemm.ee
          11·
          10 months ago

          They don’t understand that jobs have been going to less qualified white men, instead of more qualified minorities for decades.

          They certainly do understand that. That changing is what scares them so much.

  • Granite@kbin.social
    15·
    10 months ago

    At this point, I assume he’ll start spouting inaccurate and disgusting “science” that non-white brains are literally smaller any day now.

    1. Anyone want to tell him that the inclusion of who is white has changed drastically in the last century and will again?

    2. Fucking Neanderthals had bigger brain capacity than we do today.

  • athos77@kbin.social
    11·
    10 months ago

    Man was raised as a rich white boy in full-apartheid South Africa and never grew up - of course he’s going to be scared by people who don’t look like him, or act like him, or thing like him.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    101·
    10 months ago

    Yes, Elon. Airlines should only hire white people. Because white pilots have never crashed an airplane. Logic.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
    9·
    10 months ago

    I remember when you had to do Jackass/Tom Green stunts to get noticed for being an offensive asshole without a skillset.

    So freaken lazy these days. All you have to do now is be born rich and say dumb offensive stuff on twatter

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    81·
    10 months ago

    Member that time when they were like “what’s the main problem with everything, Elon” and he got all freakazoid looking and was like “THE JEWS” member that? Like, I think maybe in hindsight Tesla and SpaceX and the related US Government agencies and everyone who still has an account on whatever the fuck it’s called now should have peaced out.

  • ira@lemmy.ml
    61·
    10 months ago

    Maybe Musk should work harder on making his own automobiles not the most accident-prone cars on the road.

  • theprogressivist @lemmy.world
    52·
    10 months ago

    It’s funny how he is falling in line with “Russolican” ideology. I’m sure his private call with Putin has nothing to do with that.