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Over the past week, airplanes made by Boeing have been involved in numerous incidents, including midair emergencies, leaking hydraulic fluid, a wheel falling off a plane as it took off, pilots losing control of the plane mid-journey, and a plane plummeting suddenly and injuring 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 airplane manufacturer's supposed embrace of diversity.
But this time around, they are going even further: Some are even claiming that the accidents are happening intentionally, and that Boeing is failing on purpose as part of a global conspiracy to bring down Western civilization and promote communism and countries like China.
These claims began earlier this year after a 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 faults with the production process, but because they forced diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) policies which, conspiracists claimed without any proof, resulted in putting unqualified flight crews in the cockpit. The same far-right figures are now claiming that Boeing’s support of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies and DEI have led to plummeting standards in the manufacturing process.
“Boeing … could be deliberately committing 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 on Thursday. “It’s cutting corners, it’s locked in by this ESG/DEI stuff.”
“Isn’t United run by a drag queen?” Rogan asked on the podcast.
Lindsay went on to explain that a new Chinese plane called the Comac C919, which is virtually identical to the Boeing 737, was posed to be introduced as a replacement for the US-made plane. “So maybe you kill Boeing and you allow American manufacturing of high-quality aircraft to fall, and then the Chinese competitor is now the thing on the market that doesn't have this bad rap sheet and this risk factor, maybe it's big dirty international business that's actually happening,” Lindsay said.
The conspiracist also claimed, without proof, that executives at Boeing were allowing these accidents to happen in order to increase their own bonuses, awarded for implementing ESG policies.
On his own podcast on Thursday night, Donald Trump Jr. claimed that Boeing’s apparent demise as a result of 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 everything. This is what's happening to America in a broad-spectrum way.”
Boeing said that it was gathering more information about the incidents that took place over the past week, and has also repeatedly said that it was working to cooperate with a Department of Justice criminal investigation into the Alaska Airlines blowout. Additionally, the company’s latest diversity report, covering 2020 to 2022, shows that the company has not yet met the DEI goals it set for itself in relation to hiring women and Black people.
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But this hasn’t stopped the Boeing conspiracy from being spread and celebrated by the wider right-wing community online.
On X (formerly Twitter), far-right radio host Glenn Beck posted a video of the C919 plane, with the comment “When [Boeing] goes down due to DEI, look who is waiting with the wings. CHINA.”
“Boeing is essentially sabotaging its own operations, similar to the chaotic retreat from Afghanistan orchestrated by President Biden, which allowed China to fill the void left by America,” Michael O’Fallon, a founder of a corporate travel agency, wrote on X in a post shared by both Lindsay and Beck.
It’s not just public figures spreading these conspiracies, either—the baseless allegations have filtered into all corners of the internet, including far-right message boards, Telegram channels, and X. “Commercial Airlines and Boeing should have never been brainwashed by the WOKE radicals into DEI training & hiring where diversity was prioritized over merit with no regard for passenger safety,” a right-wing account on X wrote this week.
On Telegram, a similar narrative was shared, including claims that this entire series of accidents was an effort to stop Americans from flying.
“I am under the impression that this whole DEI program is a way to self-sabotage the entire airline industry, which will in turn scare the hell out of people from flying,” John Sabal, a QAnon influencer, wrote on his Telegram channel. Sabal baselessly linked the accidents to a global plot to undermine Western democracies. “Notably, UN Agenda 2030 places quite a few restrictions on flying for the general population,” he said, “As if the Globalists do not want you traveling. It’s far past time to start asking some serious questions.”
