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February 23, 2023

As I perused a list of rules the British Royal Family must follow, one rule in particular jumped out at me.  The Royals cannot express any political opinions.  They cannot vote.  They can’t even speak publicly about politics or run for political office of any kind.

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With companies around the country increasingly perpetuating political stances, I thought of how appropriate it would be for companies to take a similar stance to the Royals, by not taking political sides.

A political side we see being heavily pushed at companies is neither Democrat nor Republican, but rather Marxist.  The teachings by Frankfurt School academics have evolved into Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, cultural appropriation, and a variety of other academic theories.  These theories are disseminated through what you may be more familiar with in the workplace as Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DIE).

The Frankfurt School was founded in 1932 as a philosophical and sociological movement with the aim of developing Marxist studies in Germany.  After the Nazi takeover in 1933, the Frankfurt School relocated to Columbia University in New York City.  The main focus of the Frankfurt School has been Critical Theory, which is primarily focused on critiquing modernity and capitalist society.  Failing to attract converts to communism due to capitalism’s abundant material wealth, they instead focused on the cultural Marxism of Critical Theory, with the intent of perpetuating populace discontent.  Critical Theory divides people via race, sex, and class, with individuals falling into either oppressed or oppressor roles.  The many academics who were disciples of the Frankfurt School expanded on these theories in the 1960s and 1970s, putting them into action starting in the 1980s.

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To be clear, the implementation of DIE being pushed at broker dealers and the workplace in general is a political stance (progressive leftism).  A company is certainly free to impose these theories on employees but should realize there are repercussions to taking sides. 

In my field of expertise, financial services recruiting, a financial adviser in a recent interview requested (as he put it) “an alternative firm that is less WOKE.”  His current broker dealer had required him and other advisers to attend a Zoom conference call that comprised Human Resources staff indoctrinating advisers in the intricacies of DIE.  The adviser found this Zoom meeting inappropriate, insulting, and a turnoff, to say the least.  

This is not an isolated situation.  These DIE Zoom calls have been commonplace at the wirehouses (like Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley) for several years, where the advisers frequently refer to Zoom calls as “anti-white calls,” but they are newer to smaller Independent Broker Dealers (IBDs).  You see this trend in many industries, where large firms are deeper into indoctrinating DIE, small and midsized firms to a much lesser degree, if at all.  Further evidence of the intrusion of these theories into IBDs is newly created staffing positions at broker dealers.

 In 2020, we saw the first independent broker dealer to advertise a new hire under the title “First Chief Diversity Inclusion Officer.”  The primary role of this position was stated as “to ensure the corporate workplaces feel safe for everyone.”  This broker dealer is playing into intersectionality theories, heavily practiced on college campuses that mandate policing people’s feelings because those individuals who are established victims (females, minorities, handicapped, etc.) are so very fragile.  Everyone must walk on eggshells for fear that someone may say something offensive, which could trigger the oppressed and cause permanent damage to their psyche.

Life is hard, and humans are resilient, not fragile.  Through all forms of adversity, we grow, learn, and become stronger…not weaker.  Cocooning people from adversity impedes their ability to deal with life conflicts.   

Polarization From CRT