Mark Cuban confidently flubs another defense of DEI — this time tripping over 'equity'

Mark Cuban's attempts to defend the organizational discrimination scheme known as DEI have not been going well.

Last week, an EEOC commissioner hit the race-obsessive billionaire with a reality check, noting he was "dead wrong" in thinking race-factored hiring decisions could fly under Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964.

Undaunted by this public humiliation, Cuban took up the mantle of DEI defender once again, intimating in a Sunday debate on X that critics of the discrimination regime have long misrepresented or at the very least misunderstood what is meant by "equity."

Cuban's apparent effort at moving the goalposts in the debate was thwarted with the unexpected help of Vice President Kamala Harris and corporate giants like Disney.

Total confidence

Billy Markus, the software engineer behind Dogecoin, wrote to Cuban toward the end of a lengthy exchange on X, "I would consider a good diversity program just a diversity program, and a bad one a 'DEI' program with 'equity' as its main goal."

Markus implored Cuban to "look into 'equity' as part of DEI - 'What is equity? Equity is about everyone achieving equal outcomes. We all have the same value and deserve a good life, but we all start from a different place.'"

The software engineer suggested that a proper understanding of the redistributive nature of "equity" would aid the billionaire in "understanding the more rational arguments against 'DEI' as opposed to the more hyperbolic ones. ... If taken more dogmatically, it is not actually about the best for the job or business but about providing equal outcomes for different races regardless of merit."

Cuban responded, "I can say with 100 pct confidence that anyone who believes 'Equity' is 'about providing equal outcomes' does not understand what the Equity in DEI is."

"'Equal Outcomes' is the disclaimer the Anti DEI movement uses to try to scapegoat DEI as unusuable and unsuitable," continued Cuban. "You will not find that in any corporate DEI program. Ever. (Feel free to provide a company website that says equality of outcomes to prove me wrong."

Cuban was so confident of the supposedly universal understanding of "equity" that he attacked the version of DEI that would embrace the alternate understanding.

"How would that even work?" wrote the Mavericks owner. "Have everyone who started the same day at comparable jobs all have the exact same career progression?"

The outcome

Cuban asked for examples and the internet obliged him. Community notes also slapped his declaration of confidence with a few examples for good measure.

The Rabbit Hole, a user who has repeatedly sparred with Cuban over the discriminatory nature of DEI, highlighted that critics' understanding comports with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' own understanding of equity.

In a Nov. 1, 2020, video post on X, Harris noted, "So there's a big difference between equality and equity. Equality suggests, 'Oh, everyone should get the same amount.' The problem with that, not everybody's starting out from the same place. So if we're all getting the same amount, but you started out back there and I started out over here, we could get the same amount, but you're still going to be that far back behind me."

According to Harris, "Equitable treatment means we all end up at the same place."

Since Cuban did specifically ask for corporate examples, critics found the billionaire a handful in short order, including examples from Disney and Microsoft, which New College of Florida board member Christopher Rufo previously highlighted.

According to the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, equity "takes into consideration a person's unique circumstances, adjusting treatment accordingly so that the end result is equal."

Deloitte has similarly made clear that "equity is not an initiative or a program — it is an outcome."

The accounting firm acknowledges in its equity imperative document that equity is an engineered outcome that factors in race.

The DEI peddlers at Diversio also suggest that equity "refers to fairness and equality in outcomes and not just support and resources."

The staffing and recruitment company HIRE Strategies readily admits that "equity is characterized by 'equality of outcome.' Equity recognizes that individuals may have different starting points and, therefore, tailors opportunities to align with each person's specific needs and perceptions of fairness."

A 2021 paper published in the American Journal of Law and Equality acknowledged that in "some current usages, 'equity' implies something more focused on results and on accommodation of individual differences. It is often used to call for systemic changes."

The paper noted, however, that another concept of "equity" — that ostensibly echoed by Microsoft, Disney, and the vice president — "calls for changing systems to produce something approximately equality of outcomes for groups defined along certain dimensions — chiefly race."

When prompted to explain the difference, Elon Musk's AI tool Grok answered, "Equality means treating everyone the same, while equity means providing people with what they need to reach an equal outcome."

Cuban took issue with various examples that were introduced into the debate as evidence, noting that many came from non-profit organizations or schools contra businesses.

He stressed that he doesn't "think DEI has anything to do with equal outcomes. ... And tbh as I have mentioned before, I don't follow how schools apply DEI."

"DEI is not an 'ideology'. It is a set of business processes that when done well makes a company more profitable," added Cuban. "When done poorly, like any other business process, hurts financial results and that company either resolves the problem or finds itself in a difficult position."

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