Billionaire entrepreneur and X owner Elon Musk tried several times to explain the inherent risks of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in medicine to Don Lemon, but the former CNN anchor just didn’t get it.
Musk argued that forcing DEI could potentially lead to lowered standards for medical school and board certification exams — and said that if standards were lowered, the end result was likely to be more people dying because the care they were receiving was substandard.
WATCH:
Elon Musk tries to explain how lowering the standards for doctors could result in more deaths.
Don Lemon is unable to grasp the concept.
This entire exchange is incredible. pic.twitter.com/QJ3efuvVAb
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 18, 2024
“I believe that if we lower the standards for what it takes to become a doctor —” Musk began.
“If we lower the standards,” Lemon interrupted. “Do you believe people are dying because the standards are being lowered?”
“I don’t think that it’s yet an issue, but it could become an issue,” Musk replied.
“Ok, but the actual evidence in history shows the exact opposite,” Lemon claimed, although he did not provide any such evidence. Instead he argued that DEI was needed because of the racism inherent the medical system.
“If you look at how minorities are treated by the medical system, most doctors — most doctors now are white, and there are lots of mistakes in medicine,” Lemon continued, saying that he did not understand Musk’s logic.
Musk replied with an example, saying that if standards were lowered, surgeons who were not qualified under the previous — higher — standards might be able to pass their board certification exams. That, he explained, was likely to result in a lower standard of care at best — and, at worst, patients dying.
“The probability that someone will die, I think at some point, is high,” he said.
Lemon said he understood that, but that it was simply a “hypothetical” situation. “That doesn’t mean it’s happening.”
“I didn’t say it was happening,” Musk shot back.
“You didn’t say it was happening,” Lemon repeated.
Musk shrugged: “I said it will. I said if we lower standards, people will die.”
Lemon, visibly frustrated, asked why Musk would “put something out there” if it had not yet happened.
“Because I don’t want it to happen,” Musk pushed back.
Lemon pivoted back to his claims of racial discrimination in medicine, noting that the majority of American doctors are white and only 5% are black.
“If the majority of doctors are white, are you saying that — and there are still these inequities, right? And people still — there are still mistakes. Are you blaming DEI for that?” Lemon asked.
“No,” Musk said, repeating again that he was only predicting the logical outcome if standards were lowered to accommodate DEI initiatives. “More people will die than if we don’t lower the standards. Therefore we should not lower the standards.”
Lemon tried once more, asking Musk whether he believed that standards would be lowered for minority doctors or for women.
“That’s what that article suggested, yes,” Musk replied. “At Duke University.”