When DEI spells opportunity for all, it's not so scary

Why is DEI upsetting so many people when so few people seem to know what the heck it really is?

- Clarence Page

Such is the confusion I perceive in the dialogue that two well-known rich guys who love to tweet recently had with each other on X, formerly Twitter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk poked Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban on Thursday as the two got into a tweet spat over the hot-button issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion, known as “DEI” for short, in the business world.

Musk got things going on his X platform by writing that DEI was “just another word for racism” and “shame on anyone who uses it.”

Cuban responded with a string of tweets praising DEI.

“These are the same people that work for you or are your co-workers,” he wrote. “Everyone is entitled to their POV, but these same feelings, even if they are not said out loud, are heard loud and clear at work.”

Musk responded with a snippy reference to the makeup of Cuban’s Mavericks.

“Cool,” he said, “so when should we expect to see a short white/Asian woman on the Mavs?”