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A Washington state agency provided days-long training to employees to defend diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, accusing those opposed as not being educated enough. The training even claimed “perfectionism” is based on white supremacist culture. The organizing agency, the (OFM), spent $31,000 on the training.

The was held across four days in early to mid-June. It featured several sessions by left-wing consultants, including “Disrupting Perfectionism: A Tool for Liberation” and “DEI in an Age of Backlash.”

What it really showcased was the alarming intellectual laziness and elitist condescension that permeates the modern DEI industry, all on your dime. OFM says 4,254 registered for the optional training.

Disagree with DEI? You’re apparently uneducated

Dr. JP Anderson, aimed at helping DEI “practitioners” navigate the so-called “backlash,” hosted “DEI in an Age of Backlash.”

He spent over an hour dissecting the “anti-DEI message” and offering “strategies” to defend against DEI criticisms. He argued the criticisms were part of a well-funded push by a number of conservative groups, including the Heritage Foundation and the Pacific Legal Foundation.

The core takeaway from the training was that if you disagree with DEI, it’s not because the ideology is flawed or divisive, but because you’re simply uneducated or easily manipulated. This insulting premise is the bedrock of what amounts to little more than a DEI echo chamber designed to gaslight those who dare question the agenda.

A right-wing lie?

Anderson’s seminar began by acknowledging the “backlash against DEI” as “rhetorical, judicial, legislative, social, and political.” Yet, instead of an introspective look at why such a broad backlash exists, he immediately dismisses it as an “organized and well-funded movement” with “no evidence that this is a grassroots movement.” (Unlike, I suppose, the DEI grifters who aren’t making money off of sowing division.)

This is a classic, lazy dodge. When everyday Americans express concerns about being labeled, shamed, or excluded by DEI programs, they are not “grassroots” enough for Anderson. They’re just pawns in a grand conservative conspiracy.

DEI actively promotes disparate treatment based on race, sex, and gender identity, exactly what our civil rights laws were designed to prevent. But that’s merely a right-wing lie, according to Anderson. He diminishes the anti-DEI criticism, saying it boils down to: “DEI, no matter how it’s practiced, is always unfair,” and that “equity always comes at a cost, and that cost is unfair.”

‘Education education education’

The most egregious moment of snobbery came when Anderson pondered why this so-called “strategy” doesn’t “work” on him and his audience of like-minded DEI adherents.

“The reason why it’s not going to land on me is because of my education, and I didn’t entirely choose to become an educated person. I’m a recipient. That’s a privilege that I have, right? You know, I remind myself of that. To not get caught up in contempt and judgment for the people who do resonate with this message, because I don’t think that gets us where we want to go. So I really try and lean into my empathy, recognize, okay, I have the privilege these folks don’t,” Anderson explained.

Anderson then asked the group of Washington state staffers to explain why the conservative criticism doesn’t convince them to ditch DEI.

He then read audience comments, proudly noting, “Education, education, education. Education is coming up a lot… I am the recipient of a higher education. I have a privilege.”

Your taxpayer dollars are funding seminars where “experts” claim that those who don’t agree with their divisive ideology are simply uneducated. It’s a thinly veiled insult to every American who finds these trainings and programs to be a waste of time and an affront to common sense.

‘Perfectionism’ is ‘white supremacy culture’

Inclusion consultant Niké Aurea hosted the training workshop, “Disrupting Perfectionism: A Tool for Liberation.” She tackles “disrupting systems of oppression, unpacking identity, and doing the deep internal work that’s necessary for collective change.”

According to Aurea, the concept of perfectionism is “insidious” and “deeply rooted in white supremacy culture, capitalism, anti-Blackness and colonialism, [and] the legacy of slavery and exploitation.”

“During enslavement, black people were punished for perceived mistakes or imperfections. And then that’s deeply rooted in how black professionals and community members are often scrutinized more heavily even today,” Aurea explained.

The evils of perfectionism

In the context of the workplace, Aurea argues is centered around fear of making mistakes in the workplace. She says it’s often confused with “accountability,” when it’s merely “reinforced by systems that value control, compliance, and performance over humanity.”

She also claimed research links perfectionism to “anxiety, depression, burnout and shame, especially amongst racial minorities who ‘often feel pressure to overperform in predominantly white spaces to prove legitimacy or avoid scrutiny.'”

Not-so-veiled contempt

Anderson’s and Aurea’s worldview, which seems shared by Washington state employees, isn’t empathy; it’s not-so-veiled contempt.

The seminar exposes the heart of the DEI problem: it’s an insular, self-justifying echo chamber that dismisses legitimate criticism as ignorance or malice, and lowers standards over performance because of an unrelated historical sin disconnected from any American’s experience or behavior.

While DEI consultants pat themselves on the back for their “sophistication” and “empathy,” the reality is that they are pushing a divisive agenda that wastes taxpayer money and fosters resentment in our workplaces.

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