Would You Work for a Company That Asks About Your Sexual Orientation?
I don't know about you, but I'm not too crazy about having to tell clients or employers anything about me, let alone who I like to bump uglies with.
This has been a rough year for my business. In reality, it’s been a rough few years for my business. I went from making six figures in 2019… to now being back to where I was revenue-wise when I launched.
I’m convinced that, just as COVID was planned, so too was the big ChatGPT announcement this year.
If there hadn’t been so much hubbub surrounding the AI, people wouldn’t have flocked to it in droves, feeding it with more data than it previously had access to. How else could it have gone from version 2.0 to 3.5 in a matter of weeks when it had taken years to get to where it was at that point?
ChatGPT wasn’t designed to make things better. It was designed to destroy creativity, ingenuity, and the middle to lower classes. You guys might not be feeling it yet, but it’s coming for everyone.
I know a lot of people on the right like to point and jeer at the Hollywood writers who went on strike, in part, because of AI content generators. But they’re not the only writers or creatives impacted.
I’ve lost 75% of my business this year because my clients didn’t have the money to spend after going crazy the last two years trying to make up for their 2020 losses. And they’ve now turned to AI to churn out a bunch of crappy content just so they have something to put out there.
That’s not the only reason my business is tanking though. I scour job boards and industry websites most days. A big part of the problem is that companies that once paid rates of $0.50 per word are now offering what they call a “competitive” rate of $0.05. And because writers are desperate, they take it.
There’s also the issue that companies that offer seemingly decent rates are asking for the world. I did a few test projects over the summer and lost weeks to them. I’ve never seen such convoluted processes before. Even if they offered me a top rate I couldn’t justify the amount of time it would take to work on their assignments.
There’s one more issue that’s hurting my business: DEI.
Wokeness As a Criteria for Employment
I was talking to someone recently about why I won’t date men who’ve gotten the clot shot. While I have some minor concerns about the shedding spike protein, my major concern is this:
I don’t want to be with someone who caved under pressure. I don’t care if it was because they believed the lies about the shots. Or they did it to save their job or pension. Or they really wanted to go on their Hawaiian vacation. Or their relatives wouldn’t let them see other family members or participate in family gatherings without it.
Whatever the reason, they gave in. If they can be persuaded to take a dangerous shot, what else could they be persuaded to do in the future? Switch to CBDC? Move to a 15-minute city? Report me for eating a delicious, medium-rare steak?
I want someone who will stand with me. And that sort of fortitude and principled approach to life seems to be in short supply.
So when I tell people that I can’t apply to jobs because of their DEI or other woke stance, they act like I’m crazy. That I need to get over it. That I’m the reason my business is going to ruin.
I’ve heard this all my life. Every job I’ve ever had, people have told me that I’m being difficult and that I just need to give in and do the stupid, wasteful, unethical, backwards, toxic stuff I’m asked to do.
Sometimes I feel like the only person willing to put their foot down when it comes to this stuff. I can’t be the only person who sees something like this and immediately recoils:
I was excited to see that Banza was looking for a customer experience associate. I spend so much time writing and it seemed like it would be a nice way to break things up… and to avoid the issues of not being able to find work due to AI and not wanting to play nicely with it.
But then I got to the application and saw section after section asking me to declare my demographics.
Gender Identity
First, they wanted to know about my gender identity. These were the choices:
Man
Non-binary
Woman
I prefer to self-describe (What does that even mean???)
Race
Then they wanted to know what my racial/ethnic background was:
Black or of African descent
East Asian
Hispanic, Latinx or of Spanish Origin
Indigenous, American Indian or Alaska Native
Middle Eastern or North African
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
South Asian
Southeast Asian
White or European
It’s no longer just White, Black, Hispanic and Asian. It’s South Asian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian. And don’t forget about Latinx, as if that’s not some made-up term that means the same thing as Hispanic.
Sexual Orientation
Next, they asked about my sexual orientation:
Asexual
Bisexual and/or pansexual
Gay
Heterosexual
Lesbian
Queer
I’m shocked they didn’t add things like sapiosexual, allosexual, skoliosexual, and so on. If you ask me, the list above just ain’t inclusive enough.
Transgender
Oh yeah, they also asked if I was a tranny. The options are “Yes”, “No”, “I prefer to self-describe”, and “I don’t want to answer”.
Disability
Once they determine that you have a disability, they want you to know what exactly a disability in 2023 is. It includes the following “conditions” besides the usual blindness, intellectual disabilities, mobility impairments, and so on:
Alcoholism
Cancer
Diabetes
Disfigurement
IBS
Depression
Migraines
ADHD
Dwarfism
Are these disabilities? Or are they just giving people a way to classify themselves as victims so they can go about feeling entitled to more than they deserve?
More importantly, why does any of this matter? Is it all just so they can submit some form to the government that informs them that, yes indeed, they are DEI and ESG and WEF compliant. That they employ 3 black asexuals, 14 white cisgender women, and 2.4 Southeast Asian people and midgets.
None of this matters. Any company that would begin a relationship with a contractor or employee this way is demonstrating that they aren’t worthy of taking money from either. Because if they’re playing around with this type of garbage, you know they’re not very principled to begin with.
For instance, the reason I liked Banza (before) was because they make a chickpea pasta alternative. This allowed me to be my Italian self and eat pasta while trying to follow a grain- and sugar-free diet. But what if it’s not entirely grain-free as they proclaim? What if it’s like a lot of these healthy alternative companies that have sold out and have compromised their once credible products all for the sake of a big payday?
They never just compromise their morals and principles for one thing.
Final Thoughts
I did not fill out that application. Nor will I fill out any application or take any gig that requires me to comply with this insanity.
I realize that my stubbornness is costing me a lot of work since most job posts and companies pledge some sort of allegiance to the Gods of Woke. But I will not play this game. Because if they’re going to ask questions like these or make statements about their diversity and equity upfront, it will eventually come up once you’re working for or with them.
At some point, more people are going to need to take a stand. Enough selling your soul to the devil just to collect a paycheck. I don’t care if you zone out during your mandatory DEI shame sessions or if you only took the first clot shot they mandated. When you give in or participate, you validate everything they’re doing. And that validation emboldens them to do more and more. Like ask how you like your sex. Or if you got your balls chopped off.
I recognize that times are tough. Hell, I spend $100+ every week on groceries and it’s just me and my dogs I’m feeding. But I’d rather drown in debt while I figure out a right and ethical way to make money than to take money from companies like these.
Seriously, people, when will enough be enough? Why can’t we all just stand together and say enough with this bullshit? There’s more of us than there are of them.
I agree with you -- don’t take any woke job that would ask you those questions