"The Church of Woke is primarily centered on the three horsemen of the liberal apocalypse: race, gender, and climate..."
What these have in common (and in common with all the problems expounded upon by the Left) is that, we are told, more government regulation will fix them. That's the leftist solution to all problems: More government control of the rest of us.
Could it be that justifying more government control is why the leftist invent these "problems" in the first place?
"The belief that order must be intentionally generated and imposed upon society by institutional authorities continues to prevail. This centrally-directed model is premised upon what F.A. Hayek called “the fatal conceit,” namely, the proposition “that man is able to shape the world according to his wishes,” or what David Ehrenfeld labeled “the arrogance of humanism.”
That such practices have usually failed to produce their anticipated results has generally led not to a questioning of the model itself, but to the conclusion that failed policies have suffered only from inadequate leadership, or a lack of sufficient information, or a failure to better articulate rules.
Once such deficiencies have been remedied, it has been supposed, new programs can be implemented which, reflective of this mechanistic outlook, will permit government officials to “fine tune” or “jump start” the economy, or “grow” jobs, or produce a “quick fix” for the ailing government school system.
Even as modern society manifests its collapse in the form of violent crime, economic dislocation, seemingly endless warfare, inter-group hostilities, the decay of cities, a growing disaffection with institutions, and a general sense that nothing “works right” anymore, faith in the traditional model continues to drive the pyramidal systems.
Most people still cling to the belief that there is something that can be done by political institutions to change such conditions: a new piece of legislation can be enacted, a judicial ruling can be ordered, or a new agency regulation can be promulgated. When a government-run program ends in disaster, the mechanistic mantra is invariably invoked: “we will find out what went wrong and fix it so that this doesn’t happen again.”
That the traditional model itself, which is grounded in the state’s power to control the lives and property of individuals to desired ends, may be the principal contributor to such social disorder goes largely unexplored..."
- Butler Shaffer
The question to me is if people figure out it's not a "sense" of something wrong; that it's actually wrong because the people who create the "system" think they are equal to or better than "gods
The characteristic you are describing is, by some, called belief in the infinite perfectibility of humans.
The leftist authoritarians who insist on denying black people agency, forcing upon them an external locus of control, is not merely racist, but designed to keep them in thrall to an ever-more-powerful bureaucracy.
Brad, you call these people liberals. You are allowing them to define the terms of the dialog. They are not liberals; you are.
The Obama era was the final proof that American were not buying the liberal ideas of the Democrat party. Then Trump was turning the black community attention to the better ideas of a new GOP party that would improve their economic conditions. The Democrats noted this and took the only path they had left... to gin up chaos and rage. They got the black community to rage about racism with the George Floyd incident and BLM. The got the female rage all ginned up with the Dodd decision. This is all they have... using their media arm to stir up divisiveness and rage. It works. The sheeple are idiots that can be programed though media repetition. All GOPers are racist against blacks and other people of color except Asians, biased against non-binary sexual entities and misogynist bent on destroying women's (who cannot be defined) reproductive rights (right).
My thinking is that since woke is a true manifestation of racism (favoring one person over another because of race) and the feminist agenda is clearly anti-woman, and the sexual exploitation of children is clearly sex gender biased... we can and should just turn the tables on the Democrats and label them as ACTUALLY being these things.
Trump did turn the black community toward a new GOP concept that improved their economic conditions considerably, yes, but then the old GOP torched that chop-chop. So, what to do? The old GOP is not going to let Trump back on any stage without some specific individuals dropping out of view (Romney, McConnell, Graham, McCarthy, etc.) - the respective states that have been letting these grifters perform for decades need to pull up their britches and select someone else. I will never vote for an incumbent congressman or senator again - you can't tell me there aren't better people for those jobs than the same old bunch of slick lawyer liars.
It's never a bad time for some Eric Hoffer: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Somehow the Church of Social Justice is all three at once, a hydra that has wrapped itself around the throat of our society.
I think the root cause here is the role the Civil Rights Narrative plays in modern America, as it is the foundation of modern morality, both our Hero's Journey (how many stories have we all imbibed at this point about an Oppressed Other overcoming discrimination on their road to freedom?) and our Via Dolorosa, the road of suffering walked by our saviors, who serve as sacred lodestars and demand our constant prayers, tears, atonement.
And it's not that I disagree with any of the Narrative (at least in its pre-Social Media incarnation), but it's just that once a sacred narrative is created, mythologized and moralized by culture, then enforced by the State and society, it transforms from something designed in the name of compassion and liberty into its opposite: a rigid set of rules and etiquette that only blasphemers and heretics contradict.
So here we are almost 60 years after the Civil Rights Act, and the depressing truth (as Brad nails) is that white liberals desperately need us to live inside an eternal recurrence of the March on Selma, because it serves as a handy symbol for how caring and compassionate they are, how much wiser kinder holier they are than those other white people over there aka the Deplorables, and of course because you can't be a White Savior without an eternal cast of Black Victims.
"an eternal recurrence of the March on Selma"...very nice, wonder how many times I've seen the TV footage in various contexts over the years....it is a sort of sacred, ur-text of the movement.
i saw a photo this weekend of a "Drag March" in brownstone Brooklyn, home base of the progressive aristocracy without a Republican for miles around, and the marchers all had zeal in their eyes, they really imagined they were fighting once again for "Justice" etc against some iteration of Bull Connor and George Wallace...(for drag queens to read to kids in probably one of the wealthiest and most liberal places on earth?)
My point being that the ritual of cosplaying the Civil Rights movement has devolved into a sort of cargo cult, where all the emotional, social and political needs of the marchers precedes the cause and where actual tangible goals are not even raised and may not even have a place at all.
60 years ago we embarked on a plan to help uplift those in need. Many accepted the help offered, and we now have a vibrant middle class of people of color. Many have taken their talents even further. But there remains a large group who have not advanced, as the chaos in our inner cities shows. What to do? Certainly we can’t point out that people who live by the values of inner city culture will never succeed, regardless of skin color.
Almost from the beginning, the civil rights movement moved along two separate tracks. One, led by Martin Luther King, emphasized equality of opportunity and “the content of our character”. The other, exemplified by the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, was a militant, angry movement. No talk about character; the main point was vengeance. For decades, the MLK track was dominant. Progressive programs would uplift and help the descendants of slaves to full participation in American life.
About 10 years ago, when progressive programs for eradicating poverty proved incapable of transforming the lives of those who refuse to live by the values of civilized culture, the goal changed from “uplift and help” to “vengeance and retribution” for the evils of slavery. Progressives jumped all in on the militant track, abandoning the vision of MLK in favor of the 1619 Project. Now America is an evil country built on the backs of slaves, a sin for which current Americans must pay. The change was largely driven by militant progressives in academia, and seeped out to engulf the rest of society. Those in academia bent on vengeance nominated the perfect group to make atonement: innocent, defenseless children. They are turning the schools into hotbeds of the new progressive goals.
That's why I did not let my children get anywhere near a public school until they were college age - and then they all went into technical fields where woke-ism doesn't thrive all that well (because they were too busy studying trying to make acceptable grades to get too involved in social bullshit).
They're using race to PUSH us against each other....not pull us apart.
When the middle figures that out it'll force the Dems to marginalize the rabid race addled brains of the Leftards.
Until then, I wouldn't rule out more of this despicable race hatred baiting and the ugliness it cast.
It could get bad imo. My bet is the suburban virtue signaling, rose drinking soy boys and their wives will have no idea how dangerous it is until it gets to their neighborhood.
They're playing with fire without a shred of thought about the consequences....even as it relates to their wellbeing.
When the "fire" gets too close to their gated McMansions...it could be too late...
The left adores the unprovable. It drives arguement past objectivity, straight to ever-changing, subjective morality. Progressives spend all their time and resources moralizing. The bully pulpit facilitates the power grab
Republicans allowed the left to label them. They find themselves in a very difficult brand position. They don't yet understand the game. Most call it attempting to "win the culture war". In many cases, they own the public's view (eg, the trans/kids issue) and still lose brand position. Why? Because they're trans-phobes, they hate people different from them, etc
Repetitive attacks on "morality" and character, false as they are, stick. It's how democrats get away with running cities into the ground, at great harm to the very constituents they purport to help, and still get 90% of the vote. They're the good guys, remember? Those racist rural Republicans won't fund the school system properly. That's why they're broken. You have potholes? Republicans just want tax breaks for the rich. They'll never support infrastructure
Results clearly don't matter. People buy political brand just as they choose products. The left owes everything to the media, especially post-2016, though it's been ongoing for decades. You aren't allowed to leave your house! (Except for George Floyd, in which case you're also allowed to loot and fire bomb buildings. Oh by the way, law and order is racist)
All "good" causes receive go status. They happen to rather conveniently align with the progressive agenda. You can change your mind or policy at any time, as long as it's on the "good" side of cause de juer. Does anyone remember that Trump actually supported gay marriage before the democratic power brokers?
So what to do. First, recognize you're in a branding crisis. Quit allowing the opposition to control your own brand. It's like Coke writing script for Pepsi commercials. Solidify what you stand for. Not piecemeal, but relatable principles that drive decisions. It's why MAGA worked. Of course it was high jacked, and the brand owner does not often do himself favors. Nor did he transfer it in a meaningful way to the party. But it's brilliant conceptually. The GOP needs to start doing it, and fast
Brilliantly said! I just read Orwell's Politics and the English Language so high praise! No doublespeak here:"...allows Leftists to bear the mantle of righteous Good Persons™ rescuing black people to compensate for the utter absence of meaning and purpose in their lives." Exactly!
But the New Puritans have tired of black people, who keep ruining the narrative by being imperfect victims, and moved on to "protecting trans children" now in my neck of New England. No First Ammendment allowed for heretics who question gender ideology. The institutional capture is complete: schools, government, churches, police & military all drilled into submission with the DEI mantra and fear of cancelation. What can break the spell?
Perhaps "trans kids" will be what finally pushes it too far. Sexual butchery of children is a heinous, heinous crime. It's a pretty mainstream opinion to say the quack doctors who perform "trans" butcheries on children belong in prison, at very least.
I sometimes hear it referred to a the "Woke Mind Virus", which is very apt.
what makes this virus so successful is that it attacks our strengths instead of our weakness.
our strengths being: a melting pot of citizens that rally around the ideas of freedom and equality. a Civil Rights struggle that formed a new movement to enshrine the principles of the Declaration/Constitution for all members of society etc, etc.
we really are a tolerant country, but the successes of the past leave no more room for "Progress" and therefore no new Hero's journey for the modern White Liberal. therefore we are stuck in a loop of manufacturing struggle just to give our lives meaning. unfortunately for Black folks, White Liberals need them to be seen as so helpless, that they will never be successful without a constant, massive intervention from White Society. it's really so incredibly racist and patronizing.
Malcom X would be rightfully disgusted...and he would prolly throw in an "I told ya so"...
I grew up in the 70's and 80's and while race was a major issue, the psuh from the Progs was class based. The "haves" versus the "have nots." The last gasp of this was in the Reagan era and it totally died in the 90's. this left the Progs and the Marxists grasping for straws. Bush gave them a some hope when his insane policies allowed them to do an anti-war nostalgia revival tour and eat the rich moment but Obama destroyed all that with his drone strikes and big money backers. That is when they put race in the driver seat. Screw the poor, they betrayed the cause. and its been very successful. As I said before, replace the word "white" with "bourgeoise" and it all makes sense.
But of course they really do care about race. remember the reaction to george Floyd? Mayor Frey and DA Ellison, the corrupt pols who presided over that mess, were broomed out. New, enlightened, leaders passed reforms to help the community and the police work together to create safer streets and better relations. Minneapolis became a model for race relations. Um no. Frey and Ellison reman in place, stronger than ever, crime is way up, and the city is a shithole. and the people who put this all in motion are even more powerful.
"The Church of Woke is primarily centered on the three horsemen of the liberal apocalypse: race, gender, and climate..."
What these have in common (and in common with all the problems expounded upon by the Left) is that, we are told, more government regulation will fix them. That's the leftist solution to all problems: More government control of the rest of us.
Could it be that justifying more government control is why the leftist invent these "problems" in the first place?
Well said.
"The belief that order must be intentionally generated and imposed upon society by institutional authorities continues to prevail. This centrally-directed model is premised upon what F.A. Hayek called “the fatal conceit,” namely, the proposition “that man is able to shape the world according to his wishes,” or what David Ehrenfeld labeled “the arrogance of humanism.”
That such practices have usually failed to produce their anticipated results has generally led not to a questioning of the model itself, but to the conclusion that failed policies have suffered only from inadequate leadership, or a lack of sufficient information, or a failure to better articulate rules.
Once such deficiencies have been remedied, it has been supposed, new programs can be implemented which, reflective of this mechanistic outlook, will permit government officials to “fine tune” or “jump start” the economy, or “grow” jobs, or produce a “quick fix” for the ailing government school system.
Even as modern society manifests its collapse in the form of violent crime, economic dislocation, seemingly endless warfare, inter-group hostilities, the decay of cities, a growing disaffection with institutions, and a general sense that nothing “works right” anymore, faith in the traditional model continues to drive the pyramidal systems.
Most people still cling to the belief that there is something that can be done by political institutions to change such conditions: a new piece of legislation can be enacted, a judicial ruling can be ordered, or a new agency regulation can be promulgated. When a government-run program ends in disaster, the mechanistic mantra is invariably invoked: “we will find out what went wrong and fix it so that this doesn’t happen again.”
That the traditional model itself, which is grounded in the state’s power to control the lives and property of individuals to desired ends, may be the principal contributor to such social disorder goes largely unexplored..."
- Butler Shaffer
The question to me is if people figure out it's not a "sense" of something wrong; that it's actually wrong because the people who create the "system" think they are equal to or better than "gods
The characteristic you are describing is, by some, called belief in the infinite perfectibility of humans.
The leftist authoritarians who insist on denying black people agency, forcing upon them an external locus of control, is not merely racist, but designed to keep them in thrall to an ever-more-powerful bureaucracy.
Brad, you call these people liberals. You are allowing them to define the terms of the dialog. They are not liberals; you are.
The Obama era was the final proof that American were not buying the liberal ideas of the Democrat party. Then Trump was turning the black community attention to the better ideas of a new GOP party that would improve their economic conditions. The Democrats noted this and took the only path they had left... to gin up chaos and rage. They got the black community to rage about racism with the George Floyd incident and BLM. The got the female rage all ginned up with the Dodd decision. This is all they have... using their media arm to stir up divisiveness and rage. It works. The sheeple are idiots that can be programed though media repetition. All GOPers are racist against blacks and other people of color except Asians, biased against non-binary sexual entities and misogynist bent on destroying women's (who cannot be defined) reproductive rights (right).
My thinking is that since woke is a true manifestation of racism (favoring one person over another because of race) and the feminist agenda is clearly anti-woman, and the sexual exploitation of children is clearly sex gender biased... we can and should just turn the tables on the Democrats and label them as ACTUALLY being these things.
Nailed it
Trump did turn the black community toward a new GOP concept that improved their economic conditions considerably, yes, but then the old GOP torched that chop-chop. So, what to do? The old GOP is not going to let Trump back on any stage without some specific individuals dropping out of view (Romney, McConnell, Graham, McCarthy, etc.) - the respective states that have been letting these grifters perform for decades need to pull up their britches and select someone else. I will never vote for an incumbent congressman or senator again - you can't tell me there aren't better people for those jobs than the same old bunch of slick lawyer liars.
It's never a bad time for some Eric Hoffer: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Somehow the Church of Social Justice is all three at once, a hydra that has wrapped itself around the throat of our society.
I think the root cause here is the role the Civil Rights Narrative plays in modern America, as it is the foundation of modern morality, both our Hero's Journey (how many stories have we all imbibed at this point about an Oppressed Other overcoming discrimination on their road to freedom?) and our Via Dolorosa, the road of suffering walked by our saviors, who serve as sacred lodestars and demand our constant prayers, tears, atonement.
And it's not that I disagree with any of the Narrative (at least in its pre-Social Media incarnation), but it's just that once a sacred narrative is created, mythologized and moralized by culture, then enforced by the State and society, it transforms from something designed in the name of compassion and liberty into its opposite: a rigid set of rules and etiquette that only blasphemers and heretics contradict.
So here we are almost 60 years after the Civil Rights Act, and the depressing truth (as Brad nails) is that white liberals desperately need us to live inside an eternal recurrence of the March on Selma, because it serves as a handy symbol for how caring and compassionate they are, how much wiser kinder holier they are than those other white people over there aka the Deplorables, and of course because you can't be a White Savior without an eternal cast of Black Victims.
Great job, Brad!
"an eternal recurrence of the March on Selma"...very nice, wonder how many times I've seen the TV footage in various contexts over the years....it is a sort of sacred, ur-text of the movement.
i saw a photo this weekend of a "Drag March" in brownstone Brooklyn, home base of the progressive aristocracy without a Republican for miles around, and the marchers all had zeal in their eyes, they really imagined they were fighting once again for "Justice" etc against some iteration of Bull Connor and George Wallace...(for drag queens to read to kids in probably one of the wealthiest and most liberal places on earth?)
My point being that the ritual of cosplaying the Civil Rights movement has devolved into a sort of cargo cult, where all the emotional, social and political needs of the marchers precedes the cause and where actual tangible goals are not even raised and may not even have a place at all.
They want us divided because if we started talking, we might realize we're being screwed over by the same people.
Great article, and I'm always envious of your logo.
60 years ago we embarked on a plan to help uplift those in need. Many accepted the help offered, and we now have a vibrant middle class of people of color. Many have taken their talents even further. But there remains a large group who have not advanced, as the chaos in our inner cities shows. What to do? Certainly we can’t point out that people who live by the values of inner city culture will never succeed, regardless of skin color.
Almost from the beginning, the civil rights movement moved along two separate tracks. One, led by Martin Luther King, emphasized equality of opportunity and “the content of our character”. The other, exemplified by the Black Panthers and Malcolm X, was a militant, angry movement. No talk about character; the main point was vengeance. For decades, the MLK track was dominant. Progressive programs would uplift and help the descendants of slaves to full participation in American life.
About 10 years ago, when progressive programs for eradicating poverty proved incapable of transforming the lives of those who refuse to live by the values of civilized culture, the goal changed from “uplift and help” to “vengeance and retribution” for the evils of slavery. Progressives jumped all in on the militant track, abandoning the vision of MLK in favor of the 1619 Project. Now America is an evil country built on the backs of slaves, a sin for which current Americans must pay. The change was largely driven by militant progressives in academia, and seeped out to engulf the rest of society. Those in academia bent on vengeance nominated the perfect group to make atonement: innocent, defenseless children. They are turning the schools into hotbeds of the new progressive goals.
Well said. Bravo!
That's why I did not let my children get anywhere near a public school until they were college age - and then they all went into technical fields where woke-ism doesn't thrive all that well (because they were too busy studying trying to make acceptable grades to get too involved in social bullshit).
Damn straight Brad!
Because, you know, 6 months of "mostly peaceful" lootathons, according to our vaunted PHA'S, are absolutely essential for the health of hoodrats.
Who knew that ghoulish gangs ganking HiRez boob tubes was healthy for the very community the PHA'S were so concerned about?!?!
At least the masks came in handy for something.....
They're using race to PUSH us against each other....not pull us apart.
When the middle figures that out it'll force the Dems to marginalize the rabid race addled brains of the Leftards.
Until then, I wouldn't rule out more of this despicable race hatred baiting and the ugliness it cast.
It could get bad imo. My bet is the suburban virtue signaling, rose drinking soy boys and their wives will have no idea how dangerous it is until it gets to their neighborhood.
They're playing with fire without a shred of thought about the consequences....even as it relates to their wellbeing.
When the "fire" gets too close to their gated McMansions...it could be too late...
The left adores the unprovable. It drives arguement past objectivity, straight to ever-changing, subjective morality. Progressives spend all their time and resources moralizing. The bully pulpit facilitates the power grab
Republicans allowed the left to label them. They find themselves in a very difficult brand position. They don't yet understand the game. Most call it attempting to "win the culture war". In many cases, they own the public's view (eg, the trans/kids issue) and still lose brand position. Why? Because they're trans-phobes, they hate people different from them, etc
Repetitive attacks on "morality" and character, false as they are, stick. It's how democrats get away with running cities into the ground, at great harm to the very constituents they purport to help, and still get 90% of the vote. They're the good guys, remember? Those racist rural Republicans won't fund the school system properly. That's why they're broken. You have potholes? Republicans just want tax breaks for the rich. They'll never support infrastructure
Results clearly don't matter. People buy political brand just as they choose products. The left owes everything to the media, especially post-2016, though it's been ongoing for decades. You aren't allowed to leave your house! (Except for George Floyd, in which case you're also allowed to loot and fire bomb buildings. Oh by the way, law and order is racist)
All "good" causes receive go status. They happen to rather conveniently align with the progressive agenda. You can change your mind or policy at any time, as long as it's on the "good" side of cause de juer. Does anyone remember that Trump actually supported gay marriage before the democratic power brokers?
So what to do. First, recognize you're in a branding crisis. Quit allowing the opposition to control your own brand. It's like Coke writing script for Pepsi commercials. Solidify what you stand for. Not piecemeal, but relatable principles that drive decisions. It's why MAGA worked. Of course it was high jacked, and the brand owner does not often do himself favors. Nor did he transfer it in a meaningful way to the party. But it's brilliant conceptually. The GOP needs to start doing it, and fast
Brad, well said.
These truths need to be clearly articulated.
These myths need to be clearly exposed.
These lies deserve to be ridiculed.
And common sense needs to be advocated.
Good job on all counts.
Anyone who's spent time living overseas knows that Americans are about the least racist people in the world.
Brilliantly said! I just read Orwell's Politics and the English Language so high praise! No doublespeak here:"...allows Leftists to bear the mantle of righteous Good Persons™ rescuing black people to compensate for the utter absence of meaning and purpose in their lives." Exactly!
But the New Puritans have tired of black people, who keep ruining the narrative by being imperfect victims, and moved on to "protecting trans children" now in my neck of New England. No First Ammendment allowed for heretics who question gender ideology. The institutional capture is complete: schools, government, churches, police & military all drilled into submission with the DEI mantra and fear of cancelation. What can break the spell?
Perhaps "trans kids" will be what finally pushes it too far. Sexual butchery of children is a heinous, heinous crime. It's a pretty mainstream opinion to say the quack doctors who perform "trans" butcheries on children belong in prison, at very least.
I sometimes hear it referred to a the "Woke Mind Virus", which is very apt.
what makes this virus so successful is that it attacks our strengths instead of our weakness.
our strengths being: a melting pot of citizens that rally around the ideas of freedom and equality. a Civil Rights struggle that formed a new movement to enshrine the principles of the Declaration/Constitution for all members of society etc, etc.
we really are a tolerant country, but the successes of the past leave no more room for "Progress" and therefore no new Hero's journey for the modern White Liberal. therefore we are stuck in a loop of manufacturing struggle just to give our lives meaning. unfortunately for Black folks, White Liberals need them to be seen as so helpless, that they will never be successful without a constant, massive intervention from White Society. it's really so incredibly racist and patronizing.
Malcom X would be rightfully disgusted...and he would prolly throw in an "I told ya so"...
Brad - very well put, clear, and right on! Splendid article!!
I grew up in the 70's and 80's and while race was a major issue, the psuh from the Progs was class based. The "haves" versus the "have nots." The last gasp of this was in the Reagan era and it totally died in the 90's. this left the Progs and the Marxists grasping for straws. Bush gave them a some hope when his insane policies allowed them to do an anti-war nostalgia revival tour and eat the rich moment but Obama destroyed all that with his drone strikes and big money backers. That is when they put race in the driver seat. Screw the poor, they betrayed the cause. and its been very successful. As I said before, replace the word "white" with "bourgeoise" and it all makes sense.
But of course they really do care about race. remember the reaction to george Floyd? Mayor Frey and DA Ellison, the corrupt pols who presided over that mess, were broomed out. New, enlightened, leaders passed reforms to help the community and the police work together to create safer streets and better relations. Minneapolis became a model for race relations. Um no. Frey and Ellison reman in place, stronger than ever, crime is way up, and the city is a shithole. and the people who put this all in motion are even more powerful.