The Emerging Religion of Wokeness

Sometimes when you are in the middle of a forest, you can't see the trees except for those in front of you. You are blind to the rest of the forest. In this case, I would say the same thing for atheists and woke-ists. They can't see themselves as being part of a religion. But, they are. And, it's a fundamental crazy religion that is cruel, hateful and deadly as Stalin, Mao and others have done. Their beliefs were what drove them to insanity.

 

What "good?" There is no good in anything they are doing. They attack white people as being racist for just being white. They attack gender as though there is no science that says there are two genders, male and female. That's because the Bible says so and they can't have that! Can they? In our language, a husband has been defined as a man and a wife as a woman. It would be proper for a gay man to introduce his significant other as "my husband" but never as "my wife." Wife denotes woman. A lesbian's significant other would only be a "wife." But, wokeism believes that people are general neutral and we can't distinguish between male or female. That's idiotic! Tell me, what do you thing is good in wokeism?

 

Honestly I don't see much future in a discussion of wokeism between us. There are a million miles between our beliefs. I'll leave you to yours and I'll keep mine.

 

Consider that 50% of your (and my own) nation is prepared to vote for leaders who fete 'feelings' to the exclusion of practicalities - even when doing so does demonstrable harm. If they're prepared to vote that way, you can be very sure that they're conducting their private lives and relationships in keeping with that ethos.

Just think about what that does - when you're born into a family and/or society that tells you you're very very special, and that every last thought and feeling you experience is everyone else's business and concern.

 

My perspective is that atheism denotes a lack of IDEOLOGY, period. Doesn't matter whether an ideology is theistic or political .. the mechanics, ritualised thought, and emotions are identical (from a psych perspective).

IOW there are atheists, and there are ideologists. My prefernce is to separate State from ALL ideologies - whether religious or political.

 

Here is an excerpt from my Encyclopedia of Philosophy under the entry for ‘Atheism”. It rather supports your position.


No definition of "atheism" could hope to be in accord with all uses of this term. However, it would be most confusing to adopt any of several definitions which can only be regarded as eccentric. These would result in classifying as believers many people who would not regard them-
selves as such (and who would not commonly be so regarded) and in classifying as atheists many people who have not usually been thought of in this way. Thus, Fichte, in denying the charge of atheism, wrote in "Uber den Grundunseres Glaubens an eine Göttliche Wettregierung” that the
"true atheist" is the person who, instead of following the voice of conscience, always calculates consequences before acting in a moral situation. Friedrich Jodl, who was himself a positivist and an unbeliever, similarly remarked that "only the man without ideals is truly an atheist," implying, no doubt, that, although he did not believe in God, he was not a "true atheist (Vom Lebenswege, 2 vols., Stuttgart and Berlin, 1916-1917, Vol. II,
P. 370.).

 

That's a good explanation, thank you. I agree that only the 'absolute pragmatist' can really be an atheist - as per my bolding above. These are who we need in politics - people who "always calculate consequences before acting". We can only ever see the value in an action in its consequences, so the true atheist will consider any solution or action which produces the desired consequence - without ideological bias.

 

The woke declarations that "whiteness" is racism and that you are white. There is no way for you to not be racist under this ideology, if you are white. You can bow down at every football game, chant and march in parades, and you will still be white (assuming the reader of this is). And as a non-white person, I'm not supposed to forgive you for it or see beyond it, according to woke ideology.

Also, I can't be racist, because I am not white and racism equals prejudice plus power. So I can say all sorts of (actually racist) things about any race I want, and since my race is underprivileged, I can't be racist. Convenient for me, isn't it?

 

Woke religion makes the same mistake traditional racism does in mistaking group averages for individual members of that grouping. That's why the poor white kid in the trailer park owes the rich black kid in the mansion reparations.

And it is why if I apply for college I'm likely to be told "we have too many of your kind already" (sounds racist, does it not?) if I tell them I'm asian. But I'll get in much more easily if I tell them I am black. As a dark skinned Filipino, I can pass as either, so I think you can guess which box I'd check.

The same category error of "black equals poor" applied in a prejudiced way to a given black person is the cause of both "driving while black" traffic stops and lower standards for black folks getting into college. They see your race, and they make assumptions, not recognizing that giving that rich black kid in the suburbs easier entrance to the college isn't going to in any way help the poor black kid in the ghetto.

 

Do you think the position described in the first post of your two most recent posts is a common position? I have definitely heard the claim that non-white people can’t be racist but how widespread do you think it is? How can you pinpoint how widespread a belief like that is?

I’m as white as an imperial swine. I live in one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world so I definitely feel racism toward me.

 

It is an emerging religion, not yet a dominant religion.

But it is quickly growing, has made its way into colleges, companies, and government, and shows no signs of slowing down.

Recall when people responded to "Black Lives Matter" by trying to be inclusive and saying "Yes, all lives matter" and were scorned and shamed for doing so? It showed a call for race war instead of a call for acceptance and cooperation. I think that was one step on the way to what we are seeing with the woke religion today.

 

could be, used to only be rich kids like Trump that became narcissist, maybe it's cause they were always told they can do anything cause they are a Trump all their lives, now we tell poor and middle class kids that too, interesting idea

not sure why we have more narcissist in society today, but is also interesting that you notice it in your country too

maybe it's processed food?

 

Tribal thinking is a natural state for all people. Learning to feel empathy for people from other tribes is a challenge that requires education and consideration.

Maybe that is why, even though I sort of agree with the article, I sort of don’t agree with the article. It tries to make me feel like I should be afraid of this other group.

The way it depicts being a vegan is a good example. I know some vegans can be nutty. Tribal thinking occurs when media succeeds in making the behaviour of the most extreme, nuttiest people in a group seem like the norm for that group. I live on a plant based diet but I don’t consider it a religion as some people want to make it seem. I have solid health based reasons for my choice. It’s not an identity, it’s a diet. So when I read an article like this that tries to make me sound like a flake for being part of that group it is a bit annoying. There is some leaning toward pantheism in my philosophy too so I had to laugh when I read it.

 

agree, same happens on the other side, I am keto and some want to tell me I am destroying the world due to cow farts, I too have solid health based reasons for my choice

we also have many examples of Trump supporters displaying cult like behavior, 1-6 as an example, but not all that voted for Trump are like that

the article tried to tie it to the left, not all the left is like that

nothing wrong with being 'woke', but it too can be taken to extremes by a few

your right though, this happens to many many groups

 

When all one has is a Catholic hammer (the author of the essay is a Catholic) everything looks like a religious nail, I suppose. While some of his views are indeed valid, all this essay really does is showing only some aspects of wokeism. His biggest mistake is concentrating on American wokeism to the exclusion of everything outside the US, even though wokeism roots (except its name) grew on foreign soil. The brightest star of the wokeist pantheon was, for a while, the very British Jeremy Corbyn, still mourned by many on the left as the greatest "dear leader" he wasn't allowed to become.

Wokeism is the distorted offspring of communism. When it became clear that communism doesn't deliver as promised - eradication of social classes and economic prosperity for all - the disoriented left needed another ideology to rally disappointed old Marxists and new recruits, another enemy to blame for world's ills, another path to save humanity from itself. Yes, wokeism offers a path to salvation, albeit to collective - not individual - salvation for the whole of humanity.

The main reason for the striking resemblance between religion and wokeism is the way the human brain is wired. It would be odd to assume that only religious people have ideals or hold some things sacred. To someone not beholden to any religion it should be obvious that secular totalitarian ideologies are the result of the same thought patterns as religions, of the same desires for meaning, for order, for stability. Resemblance is not identity though. I totally reject the premise of the essay that wokeism is a religion, but I accept that it unfortunately has some of the worst characteristics of religions, like the eons old good vs bad dichotomy allowing for atrocities against "the bad" to protect "the good".

The real and immediate danger from wokeism resides not in its mere infiltration of state structures, as Patterson fears, but in its unholy alliance with the US' - and democracies' in general - worst enemies. The more woke one is, the more one loves oppressive dictatorships opposed to Western civilizations. The transnational nature of wokeness makes it even more dangerous, shifting loyalties form country to ideology, from nation to ideals. The radical left has always seen the US as the quintessential enemy. Wokeism goes even further, dividing whole nations into bad privileged and good oppressed, with the US leading the bad and American allies vilified even when they qualify for good non-white groups, like US-friendly Arab states.

It's very hard to fight against an ideology that uses the language of human rights to disguise its bigotry and intolerance. Still, wokeism has to be defeated, or it will destroy democracy from within while claiming to fight to preserve it.

 

Queue the communist threat.

I see a lot of hand-wringing in this thread but few real examples. Who is “woke” who promotes oppressive dictatorships?

 

Unfortunately, I didn't see "YES, all lives matter". I saw "All lives matter". I didn't see that people were trying to be inclusive - I saw that people resented BLM. Its important to understand the origins of why the BLM slogan began. Only then will the response be seen as offensive and dismissive of a group that genuinely wanted to see change.

 

I will agree that the response to "all lives matter" should have been "yes, all lives matter, including black lives, that is the point"

but let's not pretend the "all lives matter" was to be 'inclusive' by many that used it

 

Did anyone catch the Dave Chappelle special on Netflix? That’s a pretty good example of wokeism gone awry in the LGBQT ETC community.

 

Didn't think you had an answer to this. Wokeism pollutes the minds of 80% of the people because they are not leaders. They are followers. The other 20% are leaders leading people towards wokeism and against wokeism. The key is, how to lean the 80% to reason or feel your way is the best way. Wokeism destroys societies. They break down into anarchy until one side takes control and ends this weakness against humanity. Go ahead and run away. As I said, wokeism is weakness and refuses to stand up to God.

 

How would you separate the State from politics. The bases for the State is political and ideological. And today, it has become tribal.

 

I don't think it is considered 'running away' when one recognizes there is no common ground for discussion. I have no desire to criticize you or your views, and I said as much. That you want to continue to bash others for thinking differently than you is your right. Enjoy it.

 

All includes everyone. All is inclusive. That's what the word all means. And I did see "Yes, All lives matter".

Did you ever ask anyone you heard say "all lives matter" if that (obviously) includes black lives? Or did you immediately presume, project and insist them to be bigots who don't care about black people being killed? If the former, you are a rational human being. If the latter, you are Woke.

Sure, some who said "All lives matter" were probably bigots who don't care about black lives, but then saying "All lives matter" does not show that. It actually is them saying they do care, even if they are lying. And if they are lying, then that shows the social norm and expectation is to care about black lives.

Meanwhile, others who said "all lives matter" said it genuinely, and hoped to be inclusive and colourblind on the matter, and the Woke immediately demonized them, pushing away potential supporters, and demonstrating themselves to be racist.

Many saw BLM as fanning the flames of race war, thought they were the same as Antifa, etc. The media pushed this. So did the Woke with much of what was said by them and spread around by the media.

And just as important to understand how it was coopted by the woke religion.

Yes, there were and still are people frustrated with police racist profiling, and there were and are cases of racist police officers abusing people, including many black people. It seemed as if the police didn't think black lives matter, so the slogan was born.

Then the Woke religion took this narrative, deified it, vilified police generally, ignored that other non-black people (would be allies) are also abused by the police, and excluded them by scoffing when people said all lives matter, and eventually abandoned the issue of police brutality entirely making it all about fanning the flames of race war.

Statistics and facts no longer mattered to these Woke offshoots of BLM. It did not matter if the black victim was a thug who attacked the police or a pacifist entering their own home. They were held up as martyrs. And it did not matter when people of other races were killed or abused by the police or what the statistical comparisons were. The narrative was established like a holy dogma and was never to be questioned.

The laudable BLM people still exist, but now have to struggle to be seen amongst the Woke offshoot. Liberals in general also still exist today, but we are becoming more and more obscured by the Woke, and that is why I started this thread.

I am a liberal (actually liberal) atheist. I stand for free speech, free association, etc. The Woke stand for censorship and cancel culture, forced speech, racial segregation, etc. I stand for equality under the law and for the concept of judging people by their character. The Woke push for the progressive stack caste system, prejudging people by race, etc. There is a vitally important difference here.

Conservatives and centrists often can't tell us apart, and that dilutes the effectiveness of the liberalism that I fight for. The alternative identity politics, racism, censorship, cancel culture etc, pushed by the religious right should not be to do the same in the opposite direction. It should be to stop doing it.

And when I try to make this argument to the Woke, I am not met with logic or reason, but with chanted slogans and dogma. It isn't much different from having scripture quoted at you.

The Woke are a mirror image of the old Christian Right, with the same base assumptions (group judgment, collective guilt, prejudices based on race, censorship, forced speech, cancel culture, etc). And Woke racist identity politics play directly into the old racist identity politics of white supremacists, etc.

"All lives matter" should have and could have been seized upon by BLM, to highlight the goal and display the imbalance. And some folks in BLM did that, even chanting both these slogans together, but those who were heard instead fanned the flames of righteous racial hatred.

 

In fact I did engage in conversations with folks who countered with 'all lives matter'. Their stance was that they were offended by BLM, believing it to be racist and non inclusive. I didn't see it that way. And I've often said that the 'slogan' should have been 'Black Lives Matter Too' - that would have saved a whole lot of crap from rising.

As for your views of 'wokeism', you have every right to your opinion. I also see the extremists and the damage they've done, but when I think about being 'woke' in my own life, it is about inclusion, fairness and common decency.

 

I just explained why it's happened. The damage done to young psyches by SJW culture and the politics it's aligned to, has created a generation of narcissists. They believe themselves entitled to have every mood and urge catered to, and they also feel entitled to avoid "boring and unpleasant" things in life - expecting that some working stiff (doing a boring and unpleasant job) will pick up their slack.

And yes, it's everywhere. All over the First World.