Excellent post. I'll add that being woke is a sensible career strategy if you are stuck in your career behind established older bosses who won't retire fast enough to give you the increase in power and money that you think you deserve. There is an increasing number of people in that situation due to what Peter Turchin calls "elite overproduction." One can eliminate that blockage to advancement by claiming your boss is morally flawed by not being "anti-racist" enough, or whatever leftist tripe they are peddling this season, and creating organizational pressure to force them to retire.
“The Woke want to undermine transparent, non-violent competition so that they can become a new elite that extracts resources from society so they can build their utopian society (which for some reason, they never actually define).” - Because if you knew it will involve killing off huge amounts of people including you in it’s final stage, you wouldn’t go along with it.
I’m sorry but if you really think that the critical theory leftists ONLY want cushy jobs and to control the money and don’t want violent overthrow, you are asleep at the wheel. All of the things you described in this article are precursors to inevitable violent overthrow. They are using the “long March through the institutions” spoken of in the 1960’s(?) as a sort of “sneak up behind the distracted sleepy idiots and then ambush them. Be prepared to continue for the long haul to Victory.(which means making sure they cannot rise again.)” I’ve met one or two of them that when the veil accidentally fell, even though they were trying desperately to control themselves (and managed somehow to control their volume and some of their words) their nostrils still flared their eyes flashed, they clearly wanted to (actually) kill me. Don’t be a sheeple, please. They are just as dangerous as those on the far right. It’s just that somehow communism/socialism (especially socialism) never got the fully bad rap that its practice and outcome fully deserved. After WWII and Hitler/Nazi’s the concepts of the far right were always looked on with rightful suspicion (even though Nazi’s were “socialists” and considered “left” then. But even those terms, left and right, were not defined as they are now. 🙄 Anyway, you miss the boat if you don’t realize that many people will essentially be enslaved, tortured, and outright killed by the far left just as easily as the far right did. 😞
I did not claim that "critical theory leftists ONLY want cushy jobs and to control the money."
Critical theorists are not the ones working within the bureaucracies. They are typically politicized academics, many of whom are long since dead.
My comment was about those working in bureaucracies. And yes, that is a lot of what they want. They are not looking for violent revolution.
As far as I know, no Critical theorists openly advocated violent overthrow.
As I mentioned in other articles, the Long March is the result, but no one decided to work for 40 years in a boring desk job, thinking that was actually the best means to start a violent revolution.
What you were seeing with those people was Cluster B behaviors.
Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you. I am extremely worried, I see violence currently in the world that relates to the very things you speak of and I have as they say “skin in the game” which has heightened my concerns from theoretical to hard realities. There is, sadly, a very real possibility I could loose everything I dearly love and live for (not material things) whatever “method” is being used. 😭I’m afraid I can get shrill, I am sorry for offending you.
I sincerely hope you’re right, but I’m aware that we all kind of live in eco chambers. There are so many places where people get their information and ideas from. Someone just told me that almost all the current federal nominees & their families have been threatened (exactly how I’m not sure.) It doesn’t sound any tamer to me, but as you said, this is just the beginning. 🥴
:) with sincere support. You make rational arguments that typically carry insight.
The old tired ideologies of the 20th and their bastard children will not get us through the first half of the 21st. We will re-create a new, better common truth to share power, or we will enter a history bending internal war. Then if we're lucky, you and I may even get the same camp and have fun debates.
But it would be better, not to go to camp. And it's incumbent, perhaps even the Purpose, of those capable to construct these Truths. Which isn't happening right now.
This topic must be a blind spot vortex in which logic and reason instantly evaporates.
1. "Woke" does not equal Totalitarian.
2. The Marxist social economic critique of the late 1800s does not equal Communism.
3. Power structure critiques of this generation (e.g. Critical Theory) are not invalid; power structures work exactly by identity based division and unearned reward to in-power elites.
4. Critical Theory as stated here is a text book strawman
5. "How they will do this" section is paranoia right out of the 1950s. And it's inaccurate and riddled with presumption and false representations.
Overall - a missed opportunity to describe something that is happening.
We'd get much further in these debates, if both side were somewhat objective, understood the validity of the opposite positions, and in general took a "steel man" rather than strawman approach.
Another good start is understanding the ancient power inequalities that run rife in modern society and appreciate how rapidly growing inequality impact the permanently disadvantaged.
Then focusing the Conversation on "What do we do about it" and then do it better.
There are real problems with Critical Theory, areas of "woke" ideology, and DEI as practiced in addition to the general culture growing around these.
This may be off your regular topic, but I think it may be the single best thing I have read (from any source) this year. Bravo!
Glad that you enjoyed it.
Excellent post. I'll add that being woke is a sensible career strategy if you are stuck in your career behind established older bosses who won't retire fast enough to give you the increase in power and money that you think you deserve. There is an increasing number of people in that situation due to what Peter Turchin calls "elite overproduction." One can eliminate that blockage to advancement by claiming your boss is morally flawed by not being "anti-racist" enough, or whatever leftist tripe they are peddling this season, and creating organizational pressure to force them to retire.
“The Woke want to undermine transparent, non-violent competition so that they can become a new elite that extracts resources from society so they can build their utopian society (which for some reason, they never actually define).” - Because if you knew it will involve killing off huge amounts of people including you in it’s final stage, you wouldn’t go along with it.
I do not think the Woke are consciously trying to sponsor a violent revolution.
You are making them seem far more rational than they actually are. They are driven by non-rational motives:
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/radical-ideologies-feast-on-mental
I’m sorry but if you really think that the critical theory leftists ONLY want cushy jobs and to control the money and don’t want violent overthrow, you are asleep at the wheel. All of the things you described in this article are precursors to inevitable violent overthrow. They are using the “long March through the institutions” spoken of in the 1960’s(?) as a sort of “sneak up behind the distracted sleepy idiots and then ambush them. Be prepared to continue for the long haul to Victory.(which means making sure they cannot rise again.)” I’ve met one or two of them that when the veil accidentally fell, even though they were trying desperately to control themselves (and managed somehow to control their volume and some of their words) their nostrils still flared their eyes flashed, they clearly wanted to (actually) kill me. Don’t be a sheeple, please. They are just as dangerous as those on the far right. It’s just that somehow communism/socialism (especially socialism) never got the fully bad rap that its practice and outcome fully deserved. After WWII and Hitler/Nazi’s the concepts of the far right were always looked on with rightful suspicion (even though Nazi’s were “socialists” and considered “left” then. But even those terms, left and right, were not defined as they are now. 🙄 Anyway, you miss the boat if you don’t realize that many people will essentially be enslaved, tortured, and outright killed by the far left just as easily as the far right did. 😞
I am having a hard time following your logic.
I did not claim that "critical theory leftists ONLY want cushy jobs and to control the money."
Critical theorists are not the ones working within the bureaucracies. They are typically politicized academics, many of whom are long since dead.
My comment was about those working in bureaucracies. And yes, that is a lot of what they want. They are not looking for violent revolution.
As far as I know, no Critical theorists openly advocated violent overthrow.
As I mentioned in other articles, the Long March is the result, but no one decided to work for 40 years in a boring desk job, thinking that was actually the best means to start a violent revolution.
What you were seeing with those people was Cluster B behaviors.
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/radical-ideologies-feast-on-mental
I actually said that they are very dangerous. I am not sure how you missed it.
I also have an entire article on National Socialism:
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/was-hitler-a-precursor-of-anti-semitic
And if you call me name like "sheeple", I will ban you going forward.
Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you. I am extremely worried, I see violence currently in the world that relates to the very things you speak of and I have as they say “skin in the game” which has heightened my concerns from theoretical to hard realities. There is, sadly, a very real possibility I could loose everything I dearly love and live for (not material things) whatever “method” is being used. 😭I’m afraid I can get shrill, I am sorry for offending you.
I am not offended at all. I have a tough skin.
As for your concerns, I think the tide is turning, so there is less to worry about than two years ago.
I sincerely hope you’re right, but I’m aware that we all kind of live in eco chambers. There are so many places where people get their information and ideas from. Someone just told me that almost all the current federal nominees & their families have been threatened (exactly how I’m not sure.) It doesn’t sound any tamer to me, but as you said, this is just the beginning. 🥴
:) with sincere support. You make rational arguments that typically carry insight.
The old tired ideologies of the 20th and their bastard children will not get us through the first half of the 21st. We will re-create a new, better common truth to share power, or we will enter a history bending internal war. Then if we're lucky, you and I may even get the same camp and have fun debates.
But it would be better, not to go to camp. And it's incumbent, perhaps even the Purpose, of those capable to construct these Truths. Which isn't happening right now.
This topic must be a blind spot vortex in which logic and reason instantly evaporates.
1. "Woke" does not equal Totalitarian.
2. The Marxist social economic critique of the late 1800s does not equal Communism.
3. Power structure critiques of this generation (e.g. Critical Theory) are not invalid; power structures work exactly by identity based division and unearned reward to in-power elites.
4. Critical Theory as stated here is a text book strawman
5. "How they will do this" section is paranoia right out of the 1950s. And it's inaccurate and riddled with presumption and false representations.
Overall - a missed opportunity to describe something that is happening.
We'd get much further in these debates, if both side were somewhat objective, understood the validity of the opposite positions, and in general took a "steel man" rather than strawman approach.
Another good start is understanding the ancient power inequalities that run rife in modern society and appreciate how rapidly growing inequality impact the permanently disadvantaged.
Then focusing the Conversation on "What do we do about it" and then do it better.
There are real problems with Critical Theory, areas of "woke" ideology, and DEI as practiced in addition to the general culture growing around these.
LOL
Other than that, did you like the article?
I stand by my claims, and I do not really think that you understand Critical theory.
Spot on, Michael, and relatable process of thought you outline here.
A parody of DEI: https://open.substack.com/pub/mosby/p/heartily-we-decolonize-our-sport