Over the past week, Boeing aircraft have been involved in numerous incidents, including air emergencies, leaking hydraulic fluid, a wheel falling out of an airplane when it left, pilots lose control of the plane halfway through the journey, and a plane suddenly plummet and injure 50 people. As a result, right-wing influencers and far-right extremists are once again spreading the conspiracy that Boeing’s problems are all due to the aircraft manufacturer’s supposed embrace of diversity.
But this time they go even further: Some even claim that the accidents are intentional, and that Boeing is deliberately failing as part of a global conspiracy to overthrow Western civilization and promote communism and countries like China.
These claims began earlier this year after part of a Boeing-built Alaska Airlines plane blew off during a flight. Far-right figures claimed that airlines were now more dangerous not because of errors in the production process, but because of errors in the production process because they enforced diversityThe Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policy that, conspirators alleged without evidence, resulted in the placement of unqualified flight crews in the cockpit. The same far-right figures now claim that Boeing’s support of environmental, social and governance (ESG) and DEI policies have led to plummeting standards in the manufacturing process.
“Boeing…could deliberately commit suicide as an organization,” James Lindsay, an anti-LGBTQ extremist who spreads conspiracy theories about communism taking over the world, said on the Joe Rogan experience podcast released Thursday. “It’s cutting corners, it’s caught up in this ESG/DEI thing.”
“Isn’t United run by a drag queen?” Rogan asked on the podcast.
Lindsay further explained that there is a new Chinese aircraft called the Comac C919, which is virtually identical to the Boeing 737, would be introduced as a replacement for the US-made aircraft. “So maybe you kill Boeing and you drop American production of high-end aircraft, and then the Chinese competitor is now the thing in the market that doesn’t have this bad report and this risk factor, maybe it’s a big dirty international business that actually happen,” Lindsay said.
The conspirator also claimed, without evidence, that Boeing executives allowed these accidents to happen to increase their own bonuses awarded for implementing ESG policies.
On his own podcast on Thursday evening, Donald Trump Jr. claimed that Boeing’s apparent demise due to diversity was a symbol of a broader collapse of Western civilization.
“This is American decline,” Trump Jr. said. “This is happening across our country. This is because of ridiculous policies, stupidity, DEI and all that. This is what is happening to America in a broad spectrum way.”
Boeing said yes collect more information about the incidents that took place last week, and has also repeatedly said that it wants to cooperate with a Criminal investigation by the Ministry of Justice in the Alaska Airlines blowout. Furthermore, the company’s latest diversity report, which covers the period 2020 to 2022, shows that the company is meeting the DEI goals it has set for itself regarding hiring women and black people.