NPR Madness

I did it again. I listened to NPR. This time it was their “Marketplace” segment, thinking how can they possibly inject stock market analysis with their malignant brand of socialism. Wrong. Today's topic was a discussion of how the Supreme Court's decision to strike down affirmative action in higher education will put American businesses at a global disadvantage. How so you ask? They interviewed a former business school Dean who repeated ad nauseum that evidence shows that diverse “work teams”, and by ad nauseum I mean he repeated the words “work teams” over and over again as if he was somehow stuck without a thesaurus, are superior in performance to non-diverse work teams. Hold on a minute. What study is this?  Published in what journal?  If this is going to be the sole basis for your argument, then I want to see the data. Because it’s total nonsense, to be polite. Do you mean to tell me that a team made up of people selected solely on their racial makeup will outperform a non-diverse team selected on merit and qualifications? That’s just preposterous. How do you explain the Japanese, living in perhaps the most non-diverse place on the planet, dominating the automobile industry with the likes of Toyota, Lexus, Nissan, Mazda, and Acura? How about the Chinese? Does anyone doubt their prowess in business and manufacturing?  What about Korea? And although Germany has become a much more diverse nation, their management at BMW, Porsche, and Audi remain positively Teutonic. They seem to be competing just fine in the world marketplace. And as long as we continue to see everything through the lens of racism, and fail to adhere to the principles of meritocracy, they’re going to eat our lunch on the world stage.