There certainly is a plethora of options that might fill that category. Each within that group can be devastating, no doubt. But some are easier to control, simpler to initiate, while several are just the deadliest of the group. I’m certain you can name a few of them:
- Political Correctness
- De-legitimization
- Cancellation
- The Racism “card.”
And the list goes on and on. This is certainly not a comprehensive assortment, especially since it seems today’s Left, along with the Mainstream Media, can weaponize a toothpick to use successfully against political foes! But there’s one tool in particular that has rocketed into the lead of all those easily weaponized political tools. We’ll discuss that one here today.
Wokeness
We have witnessed the “Wokeness” expression, and the many tentacles of its thought process creep into the public over these last years. It started as an annoying extension of political correctness, and it metastasized into an ever more present exercise in virtue-signaling after the election of Donald Trump. But now, it has expanded into a central factor in decisions made by everyone from the Democrat-run federal government to an all-in leftist media and compliant private sector.
Being “woke.” The full-strength brand of political correctness takes intolerance and ornamental displays of false virtue to a whole new level.
Wokeness is not like a political system in which a party wants certain things but can only get some of them because of those pesky voters. This is a belief system of a small minority that has metastasized seamlessly to the broader public. With the elite media doing its bidding, no compromise is necessary, so wokeness is increasingly being imposed upon normal, unwitting people who want to judge other people by their character’s actual content but can no longer see their way clearly do so. They exist in a world of “woke” where every single word is evaluated for its potential racist, white supremacist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic implications for those who bear the scarlet “W.”
While many people will buy into the generalized perspective of sensitivity to matters of race, gender, national origin, sexual preference, and all the other demographic factors that seem to inform every decision on the left these days, it is vital to dig well beneath the surface to understand the breadth and depth of full-on wokeness.
How do we do that? From whom can we accept a legal interpretation of the meaning of “Wokeness” and its uses?
Let’s choose someone who lives in the middle of the “Wokeness” target: the Republican Party. Want to narrow that down? How about let’s pick a politician that the New York Times recently used to ramp up the “cancel culture” attention of most Americans and, in its aftermath, opened the door to all-out “Wokeness.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) ripped apart the terrifying cancel culture that seeks to silence anyone who dares to disagree with leftist dogma. Cancel culture animates the vandalism against statues — including those of black volunteer troops for the Union fighting against slavery — along with the abortion of television shows and people’s firing.
Tom Cotton did not need to mention former New York Times op-ed editor James Bennet, who resigned amid backlash for publishing Cotton’s op-ed.
Lastly, the senator mentioned Ivanka Trump, whose commencement speech at Wichita State University got canceled.
“What is the logical conclusion? What is the end of the cancel culture? I will tell you what it is. It is right here in this city, Washington, the District of Columbia. That’s where it will end if we don’t put an end to the madness now,” Cotton warned.
“Just up the Mall is the Washington Monument. Are we gonna tear the Washington Monument down? Are we going to rename it the Obelisk of Wokeness?” the senator asked.
“Up the Hill is the Washington National Cathedral where so many times we have gathered as a nation over the years to mourn our great leaders, to pray for God’s protection and deliverance in moments of national strife and struggle,” Cotton continued. “Are we going to rename the Washington National Cathedral the ‘Temple of Reason’ as the Jacobins did to Notre Dame during the French Revolution?”
“And what are we going to call this city? Can’t call it Washington. Can’t call it Columbia,” he said, rejecting “Columbia” because it is a version of Christopher Columbus’s name. “Gotta come up with new names, all around.”“I will say this, the cancel culture, whether in its Maoist or its multiple forms, ultimately is animated by a single idea, that America, at its core, is fundamentally irredeemable and wicked,” Cotton concluded. “I reject that claim fully, wholeheartedly. America is a great and noble nation, the noblest nation in the history of mankind, that has struggled throughout our history, imperfectly but ceaselessly, to live up to our founding creed that all men are created equal. The single greatest defense against tyranny, against racism, against oppression. [Those are] the stakes of this debate.”
Do you see the tyranny of this relatively young tool being used to transform all of our political and social conversations? Heck, most conservatives today are too petrified to even engage in political conversations with others who they don’t know really well. Think about what happened to millions of Americans in the aftermath of the November election last year.
It was obvious to most that while election outright cheating was on its surface not proven to be fraudulent, the normal process of multiple investigations to get to the bottom of the issue prevented evidence from arriving in front of juries and judges. And, OMG, dare to “allege” outright voter fraud somewhere in public, and the Woke folks in positions of authority immediately loosed the mad dogs of Satan on the perpetrator! Take Mike Lindell as an example: the “My Pillow” guy. Mr. Lindell probably has more My Pillows stacked high in his Minnesota warehouse than Giza cotton plants in Egypt — you know, the exotic cotton used in Lindell’s new bedsheets. (Those are Giza cotton plants in Egypt pictured at the top of this page) Because of Lindell’s rabid support of Donald Trump, all the big chain stores dropped My Pillow products as a big item. In fact, he’s had contracts by the dozens canceled for one reason only: Mike ain’t “Woke!”
Summary
We could keep going all day, giving different examples of “Wokeness,” cancel culture, and dozens of other tools which the left choose to attack all who oppose them. I thought we’d complete today’s story with a list of a few that I’m certain will ring true with you. Each of these has been, and certainly will be again, used to attack folks who are NOT “Woke.” Of course, only those with official membership in the “Cancel Culture” Club for elitists are eligible to engage in battle with any of these (or other) “Weapons of War:”
- It is now racist for a white person to translate the work of a black person.
- It is now homophobic for a straight actor to play a gay character.
- It is now racist for a white therapist to treat a black client – because, of course, the cross-cultural dissonance would make it impossible for any white person to evaluate a person of color free from their own unacknowledged bias.
- It is now racist to have advanced high school programs – because that means some people would be hurt and demoralized by not being selected for the advanced classes.
- It is now transphobic for biological females to reject having to compete against trans women, i.e., biological males – even though they must compete in an environment the equivalent of starting every at-bat in baseball with two strikes against them – and have not even a faint hope of achieving a comparable level of physical strength.
- It is now Islamophobic to criticize any tenets of Islam – no matter how extreme or threatening.
- It is now science denialism to question the ongoing COVID lockdowns – just shut up and follow orders.
- It is now science denialism to question any tenets stemming from climate change alarmists – the debate is over, it’s settled science, shut up and listen.
- It is now bigotry to support the scientific method of adjudicating the scientific hypothesis – in plain language, that means ignoring the science. However, I did think that’s what the woke folk say that conservatives do.
- It is now racist to promote the ethos of individual dignity over collectivist identity politics – you are no longer an individual but either an oppressor or victim of oppression.
- It is now racist to criticize a noble person of color, be it a famous athlete or celebrity – because, of course, you couldn’t possibly begin to understand the depth of the struggle if you’re white and therefore should – here we go again – shut up.
- It is now transphobic to posit that only women menstruate – again with that pesky science.
- It is now racist to publicly proclaim your support for “wrongthink” black individuals such as Thomas Sowell or Larry Elder – they’re not real black people because they’re not woke.
- It is now misogynist or misogynistic to note that women greatly outnumber men in universities – oh, those unyielding statistics.
- It is now sexist to publish scientific research that yields sex differences that are contrary to accepted politically correct orthodoxy – of course. We can’t have men and women being different.
- It is now racist to point to FBI murder statistics broken down by interracial markers of victim and perpetrator – because we can’t trigger the woke folk with facts showing black on white crime dramatically higher than white on black crime.
- It is now racist to openly support national borders – because who are we to decide who gets to live among us?
- It is now racist to seek to curb immigration from countries that espouse deeply hateful and anti-liberty values.
- It is now racist to request that job offers be based on the merits of an individual’s dossier rather than on the use of immutable traits – i.e., your color and gender.
And we save the best for last, the one which proves once and for all the full-on depravity of the woke belief system:
It is now racist to argue that mathematics yields right and wrong answers – because that might damage our self-esteem, already so devastated from either the guilt of our whiteness or the victimhood of our non-whiteness. Nothing could better exemplify the toxic, fact-free culture of wokeness.
Are you “Woke?” Here’s a question: if your answer to that question was “yes,” how the heck did you determine you ARE “Woke?”
Am I “Woke?” I have no idea! Therein lies the proof that the Left has commanded the tool with which to obliterate all foes, no matter their source: “Wokeness.”
Seriously: Am I “Woke?” It’s killing me to know!
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