I see the opposite of Jefferson's wise approach commonly being celebrated on FB.
A few months ago, I was booted from a decades-long friendship by a woman who insisted, out of the blue, that I needed to acknowledge the unparalleled wisdom of the Roman Catholic Church. Ideological purity tests everywhere I look these days. This is exactly what Terror Management Theory predicts when death is in the air, when mortality is "salient."
At Twitter, the Woke Temple is is known for ridiculing Wokeness through the use of cartoonish graphics, but don't be fooled. Despite the cartoonishness, the lessons of the Woke Temple are well-researched and accurate. They repeatedly get at the heart of the misguidedness and perniciousness of the Woke movement. As I've researched the Woke movement over the past few months, I've come to appreciate all the serious work that goes into analyzing the Woke movement, then cleverly boiling down this unwieldy-looking movement into the brash-looking cartoons.
I agree with this approach. The Woke movement needs to be ridiculed because it is wrong-headed in numerous ways that are not obvious. The Movement consists of many well-intended followers, who are being intentionally deceived by many of its leaders.
But it can't be easily ridiculed because the movement has it's own language that has been developed for decades in critical studies departments at major universities. The movement often defines terms in ways that conflict with (or sometimes are the opposite of) the common meanings of words. The Woke movement abhors critical analysis and evidence, especially of its own concepts and tactics. It is a movement that thrives on ad hominem attacks, revised history, anecdotes in place of statistical analysis and the refusal to engage in good faith dialogue. It is a movement that celebrates the use of feelings in lieu of careful fact-gathering. It is a seductive movement that has taken root in many colleges, government offices and corporate HR departments. How does one clearly and quickly communicate the problems and dangers of the Woke movement with those who unfamiliar with what it is really about?
With that introduction, I'm pasting below The Woke Temple's recent graphic setting forth the Eight Stages of Critical Race Theory (one of several manifestations of the Woke Movement). These stages accurately capture my personal journey in trying to understand and engage with the Woke Movement. There is a lot of important information embedded here, so take your time in order to appreciate this:
Here's the latest chapter in Woke indoctrination of federal employees, reported by Christopher Rufo. View the actual training documents in the comments:
If you were told to throw away your (workable but imperfect) car and buy an entirely new one, you would demand to know the details about the new car before throwing away the old one.
It is stunning to see that Woke ideology urging professionals at the Department of Education to do the opposite regarding the current social order. This class is urging the audience to simply abolish society and have faith that something new and better will rise in its place. No details, no safeguards, no respect for traditions that have worked reasonably well, no assurances for the safety for people during the transition, no assurance that we won't be plunged into a society dominated by warlords imposing their will capriciously, a society much worse than our current situation. There's no consideration that we might possibly be able to reform the current imperfect society from within the current structure, reform that the U.S. Constitution invites in orderly fashion by the amendment process. This class is rife with vague terms and empty promises that would amount to a revolution that would lead to an unknown and violent place. It is specified to be a society in which people will be categorized by "race" and judged by skin color (and other immutable characteristics), as though it makes sense to judge each other by immutable characteristics. This is what is passing as education for our educators at the Department of Education these days.
The Science Femme poses a simple question. The many comments are worth a careful read. Some of them might keep you up at night in that the humor is laced with deep concern.
The Woke Temple provides an illustration of the Woke alternative to the scientific method using a real-life problem. This type of "reasoning" is ubiquitous these days:
Need I say this at the beginning of this post? Unfortunately, I might need to. On many topics I disagree with Tucker Carlson and his peers at FOX, or the current Republican Administration, because I lean left on many issues. That said, now on with the post.
I'm glad that Tucker Carlson is shining light on the use of critical race theory in the federal workforce. Carlson's guest, journalist Christopher Rufo, is gathering this information from hundreds of workplaces where CRT is taking the form of religious indoctrination. As Rufo indicates, "There is no place for this toxic, divisive, pseudoscientific ideology in our public institutions."
Rufo Tweeted yesterday: "In the past 18 hours, I've received more than 1,000 messages and 100 new sources for leaked government documents." Sunshine is the best disinfectant.
I'm posting Rufo's recent Tweet below, along with Geoffrey Miller's well phrased comment:
