I enjoyed this chapter and look forward to your book. When reading through the tenets of woke ideology, is there a current set of (or) system of beliefs (ideas) that act as a counterweight? Or, if this was a pot of boiling pasta, is their a strainer that I can pour it in to keep the noodles and get rid of the hot water?
Generally, I would say Marxist class analysis would be the counterweight, though it needs a stronger iteration right now and doesn't really have a strong enough moral framework at the moment to unravel some of these problems.
For instance, taking the matter I cite regarding whether or not it is transphobic or even "fascist" to not date trans people, Marxism doesn't really have much to say. A moral framework that insists a person's desires and personal choices about their bodies and relations (basically, bodily autonomy) must always be respected, which is compatible with Marxism, would suffice for this. But there isn't much attempt to argue this sort of thing except by Marxist feminists such as Silvia Federici.
Elsewhere in the manuscript (in parts that will remain) I mention Adolph Reed, a black Marxist, and look into his analysis as a counterweight or response to woke iterations of "anti-racism." I think especially on the matter of race, the Marxists have a much more robust analysis. His view is that the focus on race only reifies it and makes it impossible to talk about larger economic processes which create and maintain a massive (and multi-racial, including white) underclass.
The manuscript itself tries to offer that counterweight. Here's hoping it's successful.
Jul 13, 2022·edited Jul 13, 2022Liked by Rhyd Wildermuth
I am in a WOKE epicenter, Portland OR. Was living with another 'white' woman and her mixed kid (now a 20 year old). The kid went to downtown Portland and 'helped' with the burning and pillaging of the buildings and statues, with his Moms tacet 'approval' in that she did not say a thing. My opinion was not considered valid. This went on for about 6 weeks straight in the summer of 2020. She bought him spraypaint for his art, sometimes on other peoples' walls. He used the n-word at me a few times, (he cannot filter it from his vocabulary) which (as I was paying half of his bills) i gladly accepted as a moniker, and called myself the n-word back at him. If you call me a name, I will gladly take that name you have given me so generously. 3 months ago, I got the nerve up to kick him out of my house, since he seemed to also hate living here. Better now. Maybe he and his mom will both die early from the jabs, dunno. But I am done accomodating the wokeness and am glad it is out of my house. I stand my ground.
Thank you for that, it has been....queasy. The M. monniker, that could be quite useful, thanks jt...funny tho, M Sauriol was my dad Maurice...but i could get over that....Maurice Guy, said M-Gee with a hard G....by his fams...from Quebec...best from Oregon
On the radical Left, you are one of the only writers I know of who addresses class issues. As a Marxist, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate this. Your analysis of Woke culture is really important. I can't wait to read your book!
is there not some way to write about this without giving credence to the right wing's misappropriating the term "woke" from AAVE that means "staying alert, aware of surroundings, literally awake"? what is "woke" actually supposed to mean in this context? it's not defined.
Woke isn't a misappropriation by the right wing: radicals used it to describe themselves for years before the right wing picked it up. Of course, now that the right wing has taken it up, the people the term describes mostly don't use it anymore.
The problem is that they usually just define themselves as "leftist," and one of the thrusts of this book is showing that it isn't leftist at all.
Brilliant piece! The only thing I'd add is that Wokeism is not only oblivious to class consciousness, it's overflowing with contempt for the Proletariat. Consider how many wokesters who would never use the N-word regularly call Trump supporters as "white trash" and make jokes about missing teeth, incest, trailer parks, etc.
The current flap over "LGBT groomers" and its attendant backlash could have been avoided were the modern Left capable of speaking to working-class people with anything other than sneering dismissal. As it is, American "Rainbow Capitalism" has set things back decades for queer communities around the world. It's noteworthy that the people who complain about Institutionalized Structures of White Supremacy have no issues with using institutionalized structures of LGBT Pride to press contemporary Western sexual mores and beliefs on poorer subjects at home and abroad. And are then shocked, just shocked, when the natives revolt.
Brilliant chapter, and very well written. I knew next to nothing about the Woke ideology. I feel like I've learned something useful. I'm going to think twice now before making blanket statements about the white supremacy and structural racism :-) At this premature stage of my understanding, I also feel like the class analysis is more robust and relevant than the Woke ideology, but I could be wrong.
For instance, my landlord called me 'a ... immigrant who can't even speak the language' although she is herself an immigrant. And while she's been here for much longer than I have (40 years?), a friend told me her own knowledge of the local language is rather poor. She probably believes her socioeconomic status (landlord/property owner/long-term resident) is enough for her to assert some sort of superiority over me, which led to her judgement. It may occur to her that we may have had similar experiences of discrimination because we're both immigrants, but she seems to have internalised any kind of past or current oppression in favour (or because) of her socioeconomic status.
While your chapter eloquently reveals some gaps in the Woke ideology, racial prejudices, homophobia, gender, ability and class discrimination remain real concerns to me, in our so-called 'evolved' society. 'Some' Black or indigenous people wouldn't be alone in thinking that there is a structural element to it. However, and as usual with any kind of ideology, caution must be exercised. The majority doesn't necessarily define the norm (which, if I understood correctly, is one of your arguments). Personally, I'm concerned about some 'totalitarian' - e.g. possibly, racist - aspects of this ideology (I'm mixed-race). Yet, I'm sure not everyone who self-refer as 'Woke' or affiliates with the core ideology condones them.
But how much actual political power do the dreaded "woke" actually have?
Do they have the power to start wars, or to "create" the next sacrifice zone where entire cities, regions and countries are decimated, as described in the book by Naomi Klein titled The Shock Doctrine.
Do they have the power to prevent the destruction of the environment which has now been given full slather approval by the US Supreme Court.
Do they have the power to appoint judges in the US court system, judges who have life time tenure.
Do they have anywhere near the power of the US Federalist Society, which was instrumental in the appointment of such, the leader of which is an Opus Dei operative. Opus Dei operatives were very active in the machinations described in The Shock Doctrine.
Re the insidious nature of Opus Dei and its behind-the-scenes economic and political power check
Do they have anywhere near the political power exercised by The Family, the behind the scenes machinations of which are described by Jeff Sharlet in his book titled The Family
Are the "woke" any more deluded than the normal dreadfully sane every person who are highly propagandized (even brain-washed), participating in a "culture" of illusions, and, effectively, self-destructing. And, furthermore, at present, a "culture" of total war, a "culture" of death, is ruling, while the people are engrossed in self-destructive consumerism.
But what about the millions of dreadfully sane Americans who participated in the culturally destructive Tea Party movement, and now the even more destructive and deeply psychotic MAGA movement fomented by the Trumpenfuhrer.
Also check out this essay which points out that the current mass psychosis is a combination of the nightmares described (and prophesized) in Brave New World (and Revisited) by Aldous Huxley, and !984 by George Orwell - http://www.truthdig.com/articles/2011-a-brave-new-dystopia.
As Woke Ideology has now become the governing aesthetic of both corporations and international (non- and actual) governmental organizations, and now that it has paralyzed any potential leftist resistance to war or to expansions of capital, I’d say quite a lot of power.
It’s like Christianity just at the point of its capture of the Roman elite, just waiting for a Constantine to enact the wars they want, rather than the wars others wanted. John Gray’s naming of it as the “successor ideology” to neo-conservative politics is correct.
I enjoyed this chapter and look forward to your book. When reading through the tenets of woke ideology, is there a current set of (or) system of beliefs (ideas) that act as a counterweight? Or, if this was a pot of boiling pasta, is their a strainer that I can pour it in to keep the noodles and get rid of the hot water?
Glad you liked it!
Generally, I would say Marxist class analysis would be the counterweight, though it needs a stronger iteration right now and doesn't really have a strong enough moral framework at the moment to unravel some of these problems.
For instance, taking the matter I cite regarding whether or not it is transphobic or even "fascist" to not date trans people, Marxism doesn't really have much to say. A moral framework that insists a person's desires and personal choices about their bodies and relations (basically, bodily autonomy) must always be respected, which is compatible with Marxism, would suffice for this. But there isn't much attempt to argue this sort of thing except by Marxist feminists such as Silvia Federici.
Elsewhere in the manuscript (in parts that will remain) I mention Adolph Reed, a black Marxist, and look into his analysis as a counterweight or response to woke iterations of "anti-racism." I think especially on the matter of race, the Marxists have a much more robust analysis. His view is that the focus on race only reifies it and makes it impossible to talk about larger economic processes which create and maintain a massive (and multi-racial, including white) underclass.
The manuscript itself tries to offer that counterweight. Here's hoping it's successful.
I'm looking forward to reading the whole opus you have written. When do we get to pre-order?
Thank You. Wondrous. Sorry it got cut, but can sort-a see why.
If that’s the chapter that didn’t make the cut I can’t wait to read the book!
I am in a WOKE epicenter, Portland OR. Was living with another 'white' woman and her mixed kid (now a 20 year old). The kid went to downtown Portland and 'helped' with the burning and pillaging of the buildings and statues, with his Moms tacet 'approval' in that she did not say a thing. My opinion was not considered valid. This went on for about 6 weeks straight in the summer of 2020. She bought him spraypaint for his art, sometimes on other peoples' walls. He used the n-word at me a few times, (he cannot filter it from his vocabulary) which (as I was paying half of his bills) i gladly accepted as a moniker, and called myself the n-word back at him. If you call me a name, I will gladly take that name you have given me so generously. 3 months ago, I got the nerve up to kick him out of my house, since he seemed to also hate living here. Better now. Maybe he and his mom will both die early from the jabs, dunno. But I am done accomodating the wokeness and am glad it is out of my house. I stand my ground.
I use “M.” like the French do, for Monsieur but ALSO for Madam and Mademoiselle EQUALLY. That’s just me.
Great praise to You, M. Sauriol! I'm sure it wasn't easy.
Thank you for that, it has been....queasy. The M. monniker, that could be quite useful, thanks jt...funny tho, M Sauriol was my dad Maurice...but i could get over that....Maurice Guy, said M-Gee with a hard G....by his fams...from Quebec...best from Oregon
:-)
On the radical Left, you are one of the only writers I know of who addresses class issues. As a Marxist, I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate this. Your analysis of Woke culture is really important. I can't wait to read your book!
Thanks, my friend. :)
is there not some way to write about this without giving credence to the right wing's misappropriating the term "woke" from AAVE that means "staying alert, aware of surroundings, literally awake"? what is "woke" actually supposed to mean in this context? it's not defined.
One of the reasons we are jettisoning this chapter is to try to do exactly that.
It's worth noting that no one really knows what to call it and it actively resists being named (see this post by Freddie DeBoer regarding this problem: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/please-just-fucking-tell-me-what).
Woke isn't a misappropriation by the right wing: radicals used it to describe themselves for years before the right wing picked it up. Of course, now that the right wing has taken it up, the people the term describes mostly don't use it anymore.
The problem is that they usually just define themselves as "leftist," and one of the thrusts of this book is showing that it isn't leftist at all.
Brilliant piece! The only thing I'd add is that Wokeism is not only oblivious to class consciousness, it's overflowing with contempt for the Proletariat. Consider how many wokesters who would never use the N-word regularly call Trump supporters as "white trash" and make jokes about missing teeth, incest, trailer parks, etc.
The current flap over "LGBT groomers" and its attendant backlash could have been avoided were the modern Left capable of speaking to working-class people with anything other than sneering dismissal. As it is, American "Rainbow Capitalism" has set things back decades for queer communities around the world. It's noteworthy that the people who complain about Institutionalized Structures of White Supremacy have no issues with using institutionalized structures of LGBT Pride to press contemporary Western sexual mores and beliefs on poorer subjects at home and abroad. And are then shocked, just shocked, when the natives revolt.
Brilliant chapter, and very well written. I knew next to nothing about the Woke ideology. I feel like I've learned something useful. I'm going to think twice now before making blanket statements about the white supremacy and structural racism :-) At this premature stage of my understanding, I also feel like the class analysis is more robust and relevant than the Woke ideology, but I could be wrong.
For instance, my landlord called me 'a ... immigrant who can't even speak the language' although she is herself an immigrant. And while she's been here for much longer than I have (40 years?), a friend told me her own knowledge of the local language is rather poor. She probably believes her socioeconomic status (landlord/property owner/long-term resident) is enough for her to assert some sort of superiority over me, which led to her judgement. It may occur to her that we may have had similar experiences of discrimination because we're both immigrants, but she seems to have internalised any kind of past or current oppression in favour (or because) of her socioeconomic status.
While your chapter eloquently reveals some gaps in the Woke ideology, racial prejudices, homophobia, gender, ability and class discrimination remain real concerns to me, in our so-called 'evolved' society. 'Some' Black or indigenous people wouldn't be alone in thinking that there is a structural element to it. However, and as usual with any kind of ideology, caution must be exercised. The majority doesn't necessarily define the norm (which, if I understood correctly, is one of your arguments). Personally, I'm concerned about some 'totalitarian' - e.g. possibly, racist - aspects of this ideology (I'm mixed-race). Yet, I'm sure not everyone who self-refer as 'Woke' or affiliates with the core ideology condones them.
But how much actual political power do the dreaded "woke" actually have?
Do they have the power to start wars, or to "create" the next sacrifice zone where entire cities, regions and countries are decimated, as described in the book by Naomi Klein titled The Shock Doctrine.
Do they have the power to prevent the destruction of the environment which has now been given full slather approval by the US Supreme Court.
Do they have the power to appoint judges in the US court system, judges who have life time tenure.
Do they have anywhere near the power of the US Federalist Society, which was instrumental in the appointment of such, the leader of which is an Opus Dei operative. Opus Dei operatives were very active in the machinations described in The Shock Doctrine.
Re the insidious nature of Opus Dei and its behind-the-scenes economic and political power check
this website: http://www.odan.org
Do they have anywhere near the political power exercised by The Family, the behind the scenes machinations of which are described by Jeff Sharlet in his book titled The Family
Are the "woke" any more deluded than the normal dreadfully sane every person who are highly propagandized (even brain-washed), participating in a "culture" of illusions, and, effectively, self-destructing. And, furthermore, at present, a "culture" of total war, a "culture" of death, is ruling, while the people are engrossed in self-destructive consumerism.
But what about the millions of dreadfully sane Americans who participated in the culturally destructive Tea Party movement, and now the even more destructive and deeply psychotic MAGA movement fomented by the Trumpenfuhrer.
Also check out this essay which points out that the current mass psychosis is a combination of the nightmares described (and prophesized) in Brave New World (and Revisited) by Aldous Huxley, and !984 by George Orwell - http://www.truthdig.com/articles/2011-a-brave-new-dystopia.
As Woke Ideology has now become the governing aesthetic of both corporations and international (non- and actual) governmental organizations, and now that it has paralyzed any potential leftist resistance to war or to expansions of capital, I’d say quite a lot of power.
It’s like Christianity just at the point of its capture of the Roman elite, just waiting for a Constantine to enact the wars they want, rather than the wars others wanted. John Gray’s naming of it as the “successor ideology” to neo-conservative politics is correct.