Very well said. Sadly, I would go further. The present identity based "affirmative action" being directed toward members of protected classes, particularly women, actually has the effect of promoting people who would NOT be competitive on their merits to positions that, we must be honest, they did not earn and do not deserve. Those who still value and act on merit will compensate for this by seeing those promoted by affirmative action as unqualified "DEI hires" and ignore their supposed qualifications in favor of traditional merit based metrics. Sadly, the identify effect will be applied broadly and thus harm those members of protected groups who actually rose to their positions based on merit. This is why the path to a discrimination free society needs must include opposing Ibram Kendi's and feminists' form of discrimination.