Been gone from the blog for a while, but I need to be back. After a year of Covid, a chaotic presidential election, and a new crisis it seems every week, I need to vent and be heard.
It's hard to understand the chaotic times we are going through. It seems to me that it started to get noticeably more chaotic after the presidential election of 2016. President Trump was definitely an agitator who inflamed our country with his harsh and bullying personality. He brought out the worst in many people. American political discourse greatly coarsened with both sides resorting to exaggeration, hyperbole, and demagoguery. The American media essentially declared war on the President.
Then came COVID-19, and the summer of 2020's "racial awakening". Ironically, the negative perception of race relations in our country had been noticeably percolating to an ever higher boil, since the election of our first Black president Barrack Obama. However, the tragic death of George Floyd turned the heat up to full high. It was obvious that a "mob mentality" had essentially taken over the psyche of our country and a narrative that police were racist and out to hunt down and kill young black men all around the country. As I write this, it seems it must be an exaggeration, but in truth it is not. I heard this espoused by many people including the former First Lady, Michelle Obama.
This nosedive in "perceived" race relations really troubled me having lived through the 60's and watched the civil rights movement unfold as my parents, both children of the segregated south, narrated. As a young man I saw police departments in southern states beat and arrest truly peaceful civil rights protesters. I read stories in the newspaper about lynchings, burning crosses, and all white juries acquitting white men of the murder of black people when the evidence against them was overwhelming. AND I watched as America's ideals of equality and the rule of law overcame the pernicious evil that was Jim Crow. So these last few years as I have watched our media and politicians more and more freely accuse others of "racisim", I was puzzled.
Then I learned about being "woke". What being "woke" means is that one has "awakened" to the world view that America is built on a corrupt foundation designed to oppress non-white racial groups in our society. Essentially the declaration of Independence, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights are instruments of the white male patriarchy designed to enshrine and perpetuate "white supremacy". In addition, the "woke" view our economic system, capitalism,
as a tool for keeping maintaining the white oppressors at the top of the social pyramid. The only way to address the issue is to "deconstruct" our institutions and embrace the woke order. This point of view is repugnant to me, and obviously an existential threat to life as we know it in western civilization. I was amazed that it seemed to be gaining a significant foothold.
It appeared to me to be a political argument because it was most easily visible in our political discourse. The Democrat Party generally embraced and espoused "wokeism" in what appeared to me as normal pandering to various identity groups for votes while overlooking the deeper "anti-American" aspects. Republicans most vocally maligned the "woke" perspective in their efforts to garner votes as well. So, it's political, right? Now I don't think so. It is definitely reflected in our politics, but I believe that it is a cultural contagion that needs to be confronted.
What I could never understand was how these ideas can be growing like this in our modern liberal and free society. It would make more sense if the sociological data bore out their dark premise, but it doesn't. While there is sociological data that shows disparities between the races, the causal link of racisim cannot be demonstrated. The primary attempts to show cause and effect use the existence of slavery 156 years ago, the existence of Jim Crow laws not seen in almost 60 years, and "red-lining" a practice ended 40 or 50 years ago. None of these arguments are persuasive enough to explain the almost religious fervor that "woke" people exhibit in their beliefs.
I believe that this contagion is spreading because of the moral virtues that it encompasses. Eliminating racisim (which of course does exist, albeit to a minor extent and shrinking) is a powerful moral goal. Ensuring that all people feel included and valued is an admirable and virtuous goal. Making sure that people regardless of race, gender, or other potentially marginalized identity have equal access to careers, education, healthcare, housing, etc. is a powerful moral goal. Most all of us will agree that "diversity, equity, and inclusion" are good things to strive for. It is hard to argue against those words.
So what's the problem then? Eliminating racism, making our society more inclusive, and reducing or eliminating the disparities and gaps in achievement that currently exist fits well into the American Dream and our founding ideals. There should be ample common ground to work together to find ways to continue to improve the "American experiment" without "deconstructing" it.
That apparent high moral purpose is what also makes it a bad and dangerous thing. The virtuous and moral goals are very attractive to the American mindset. Without digging deeper into this phenomenon it is very easy to not see the danger behind the camouflage of beautiful words. Through inaction, or perhaps even unwitting support of this movement, we may assist in the "deconstructing" of America. It is the destructive meaning behind the beautiful words that we must resist.
This post is already too long, so I am ending it here. I hope you are not bored, and made it this far! I fervently hope that you might be moved to some stage of alarm for our country, and that you might be willing to discuss this with me over a glass of wine sometime. It matters.
That's All!
