cutting off their nose

I mean you're right that the parent comment was a bad-faith strawman of the opposing position, but you're verging on the same thing yourself characterising DEI as just a common-sense procedure to judge people on their abilities rather than their looks. DEI as constituted in early 2020s discourse is a specific political programme riddled with completely legitimate controversies. The ideology is embedded into the name of the concept, in the use of the word "equity" over "equality", a choice which advocates made very clear was all about focusing on equality of outcome as a preferred ideal rather than equality of opportunity. If you're not going to believe some random commenter that this is a real point of contention, take it from a professor of political philosophy: https://josephheath.substack.com/p/why-philosophers-hate-...