Veterans are not a Social Justice demographic

As a Veteran....I really hate the way that organizations lump Veteran efforts into their Diversity efforts these days. I honestly think leveraging Veterans is more of a marketing ploy for SJW crap than anything else. By wrapping their SJW efforts in with Veterans, they think they can blunt criticisms and get more funding. I don't think this is an accident. I think their hope is to wrap an American Flag as a wrapper on other Inclusivity efforts and keep conservatives from speaking out. If a conservative pushes back on DEI then someone will thrust the Veteran card out there and try to emphasize the Veteran aspect rather than all the other Affirmative Action stuff.

 

Trying to understand the issue. If you are a veteran and against the PC stuff like "an inclusive environment" wouldn't you want to know before you apply to Liberty Mutual? It would seem like that veteran is not their target candidate.

 

DEI is the phrase to use when you want to target a group that the media won't complain about.

 

Liberty Mutual was the example at hand. However, most large corporations are lumping Veterans into their DEI pool at this point. I don't like being lumped in to this effort at pushing a DEI agenda. I think of DEI efforts as a "special needs" kind of group and I don't like the connotation. Not to mention, I've seen a few programs leverage the marketing aspect of "Veteran" while really putting the money and resources to other SJW/DEI efforts.

 

I'd argue that they aren't targeting ALL Veterans. Some veterans value DEI. I'm at least one. If they ran a local add for Texans w/DEI as a focus to staff a San Antonio call center would you also take offense that they are lumping in all Texans to a DEI message?

I think the mistake is assuming that "Veterans" are a monolithic group. Personally, I think it's good for all companies to target Veterans for hire because that transition from military to civilian career can be challenging for many. Stating their company values DEI BEFORE a veteran joins and gets dissatisfied because of their company values is a good thing for everyone.

Liberty Mutual is based in Boston, MA. They also have a strong presence in Seattle from their Safeco acquisition. As you can imagine with large influences from both coasts in their employee base, they have a very progressive culture.

Starbucks works hard to hire Veterans too and they also have a very progressive culture. When I left in 2010 the Veterans group inside the company had ~600 inclusive of reserves, national guard and retired. They might be one of the most progressive company cultures in the retail industry. If you don't value DEI you won't be a good fit. As an aside, being a veteran IS part of DEI. Diversity & Inclusion isn't only about race/gender. A good friend of mine there was retired Army SF, worked in Howard Schultz' family protection detail (Asset Protection) then later decided he missed being an SF team member and re-enlisted. His wife was a Columbian he met while down there training military to fight the Narcos. He understood DEI and the value so I guess there are at least 2 of us.