We now live in something similar to Brezhnev’s Soviet Union. Being politically incorrect won’t get you executed. But it will destroy your career. Here’s a Russian joke from that era:
Foreign reporter: What is your opinion on farm collectivization?
Soviet citizen: I agree with the policy of the party.
Foreign reporter: What is your opinion on the steel production goals?
Soviet citizen: I agree with the policy of the party.
Foreign reporter: What is your opinion on the increase in food prices?
Soviet citizen: I agree with the policy of the party.
Foreign reporter: Don’t you have any opinions of your own?
Soviet citizen: Yes. But I don’t agree with them.
If it is still there (I downloaded the audio), there is a great You-Tube clip of Reagan telling Soviet jokes which he collected while on a visit there.
There was an old joke some years ago....
American: I can walk into any government office and complain about the policies of the American government.
Soviet: We have the same right.
American: How so?
Soviet: I can walk into any government office in the Soviet Union and complain about the policies of the American government.
Still alive today in Russia. Just watch on-the-street interviews with ordinary Russians. Typical answers:
“I’m not political.”
“It is best not to have opinions on such matters.”
“I don’t follow those kinds of stories.”
The story in the article correctly focuses on where the rot is: Human Resources Departments.
Look at the organization charts of any large business. They are special staff and usually have a direct reporting relationship to the executive suite. More importantly, they do not typically turnover when leadership changes. They are also insulated from accusations of responsibility for creating or sustaining these politicized environments by pointing out that all the policies, directives, etc. were reviewed and approved by executive leadership, corporate counsel (a very important enabler), special study committees, etc. They, the HR leadership, will, in response to criticism, point out in defense that their actions all flow from decisions meant to implement those approved policies.
It’s what could (and perhaps, should) be called the “Adolf Eichmann defense:” ‘I am just a functionary carrying out orders.’” (Students of history will note that the “just following orders”’defense was first used (unsuccessfully) by defendants at the original Nuremberg trials in 1945-46; well before justice caught up with Eichmann in the 1960s.)
it would remiss not to point out that HR Departments normally have significant - if not dominant - percentages of liberal-leaning minorities, LGBTQI, and women on their staffs.
The only time HR departments get thoroughly cleaned out is when external events cause a change in top level leadership. Normally this follows - although not always immediately - the loss of a very expensive lawsuit.
Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law usually applies here and the dismissed HR staff simply spread the infection to their new companies.