It should never have been possible for an ideology of this quality to co-opt all these orthogonal communities and organizations and workplaces. This climate of fear, intimidation, and dog-whistle-whistling is unacceptable if we're going to have a decent civilization. I think those of you who disagree with leftist ideology need to be a lot more vocal about it. When your employer, of all things, tries to shove this ideology down your throat, say No. Hard no. Make it clear that you're no more interested in such indoctrination than you would be in a Scientology brown bag or a mandatory prayer break. You need to surface your ethical and substantive disagreement with this political ideology, and to make it crystal clear that it is in fact a partisan political ideology that is being "taught".
This has gone on long enough. It's time to push leftists into the normal cult boundaries that any civilization must have. I think we need to take civilization a bit more seriously than we have – I wouldn't assume that civilization can survive arbitrary ideological assaults. And the stress that leftists are causing everyone, including themselves, is a non-trivial harm and ethically relevant.
It's enough of a third-rail-topic that I can't even respond to this with my normal account; we're already seeing enough attempts at crime-by-association (SSC and the latest accusations) that combined with an apparently welcome tendency to examine all past actions for transgression, even if I thought I had something to say that was currently within the overton window I'd be hesitant to put it on the internet because of how the winds seem to be blowing.
I _certainly_ would not speak negatively of any of these programs at work, that would be an excellent way to end my career (putting this bluntly, you have more leeway than a white man does in speaking up about these things at this juncture; but even that has limits, look at the diversity chief of Apple who was let go.)
I worry this becomes a vicious cycle. We're already past the point that many reasonable voices disengage out of fear, so there is very little pushback until this has gone far enough to become untenable. (And this shouldn't be taken as some right wing dogwhistle, there have been HN articles lately detailing papers showing that this fear is present across the spectrum; and it's somewhat emblemic that I need to clarify this point.)
We're watching the iron law of oligarchy played out in an ideology.
I don't want a society where white people are told at work they need to "be less white," or are forced to admit they are "gatekeepers of white supremacy." It's morally wrong--it's racism. But it's also contrary to my self interest as a brown guy with a beard living in a majority-white society. My mom, an immigrant from a Muslim country, texted me Trump's ban on critical-race theory training when it came out, apropos nothing. She thought it was a good idea, because it was "evil." My dad, who almost became a professor, is a bit more blasé--he thinks "this is just a weird academic idea and it's fine as long as it stays in academia."
But at the end of the day, white progressives who control the newsrooms of places like the New York Times decide what people of color to platform and amplify, and they don't pick people like my parents to speak for people of color. They pick people like Ilhan Omar, who has extreme views. (My dad noted the other day, again apropos nothing, that he was upset the media had turned Omar into the "face of Muslims in America.")
If white people feel free to agree that we should tell white people to "be less white," but not to disagree, if they feel free to agree with Ilhan Omar, but not express views like my parents, then people of color who agree with the common-sense view are effectively silenced.