If you have been paying attention to the culture for the past couple of years you have no doubt seen calls to “normalize” and “destigmatize” anything and everything.
My first experience with the Social Justice egalitarian steamroller was when I went to college to study Literature but was faced with something called "Cultural Studies", which states that no "text" or cultural artifact can be considered superior to another (High/Low is an oppressive imposition), thus a comic book is as worthwhile as Tolstoy and a fortune cookie is no different from one of Shakespeare's sonnets.
My first reaction was shock/surprise, because this was being taught by supposed English profs (meaning that they seemed to hate the subject they had been hired to teach), but then anger at the implication. For the Cultural Studies premise/project to work and be true requires the erasure and demonization of skill, rigor, talent, beauty, wisdom, erudition, transcendence etc.
The entire postmodern project is purely destructive (it's no coincidence that its signature product is called Deconstruction) and the goal seems to be the destruction of society, of everything lasting and beautiful, of tradition and history, of the sacred.
When people tell you nothing exists but Power and Oppression it is important to believe them and act accordingly: their greatest desire is to have the power to oppress you and it doesn't matter who or what gets destroyed in the process.
I don't know much about the development of post-modernist critical social justice theory, and Wokal may well have covered it previously, but there seem to be many parallels with Benthamite Utilitarianism. Bentham specifically claimed that (to use JS Mill's misquote) "pushpin (a long-forgotten game enjoyed by the working class) is as good as poetry", as long as the amount of pleasure is the same. Indeed, Bentham actually stated that there is rarely a bad game if pushpin, unlike poetry, so it might be that the game is superior to verse. In modern terms, Utilitarianism (especially that of Mill and his "harm principle") could probably be used by wokists to make their case than deontology.
god, all the rhetoric and flights of fancy that intellectuals have engaged in these past few centuries just to make believe they're "on the side of" the lower classes.
as someone from a working class background, i assure u (and him) that if everyone from Bentham to Sartre to Adorno had to live entirely among the workers 1) they would be bored stiff in minutes, and 2) all the people they claimed to be helping would laugh in their faces and tell them to get lost.
there are certain things so stupid only an intellectual can believe them.
An excellent overview of how wokeness is indeed designed to end in nihilism and anarchy - this is the "all cultures are equal" narrative which is clearly and demonstrably wrong.
That they would try to "normalize" obesity and being overweight when there's a pandemic which is almost exclusively dangerous only to people with comorbidities (then, of course, blame these "unequal outcomes" on racism) shows how utterly cynical they are and how very little they value individual human lives.
Agreed. Of course some things have to be prioritized over others, based on health and the ability to live a reasonably successful life - not based on the standards of a small group who are in power, but based on basic human ideals, such as being healthy and living life through old age, if possible w/o sacrificing other ideals; being able to have and raise children (not for everyone, but for many); allowing children to be healthy and live through old age; being free to enjoy basic joys such as good food, good sex, games, music and other arts; forming close relationships with others, wherein there is mutual love and support; having some intellectual stimulation; having a purpose in life (e.g. being a teacher, a doctor, an artist, an environmentalist, a parent, a chef, a comedian, etc.). Without listing every basic ideal, the idea is that these are not goals of only a few people in power and against the goals of oppressed individuals. Rather, these are goals of almost every person alive based on our shared commonalities. If we ignore obvious risks to safety and good health and sacrifice relationships and waste our time on pointless pursuits that take away from purpose and prevent us from fully embracing the joys of life, we are not fighting a power struggle, but are instead destroying the basic tenets of society that enable us to reach our potential. We are actively making things worse. Thus, while normalizing things like being gay is great because it allows a certain minority of the population to fully enjoy sexual pleasure and form romantic bonds w/o being ostracized or sacrificing other joys of life, normalizing things like chemical and surgical alterations of young, healthy bodies only serves to cause unnecessary pain and loss. Your explanation of what's happening in society is very articulate and understandable.
I knew they were sick, but I didn't know how sick until they started going after kids, mutilating, sterilizing and sexualizing. I did not understand the extent of the danger, until I realized the woke and trans have made common cause with corporations and WEF etc globalist transhumanists, that they might someday be the administrators of a global, programmable digital currency, the ultimate tool to cancel your enemies.
My first experience with the Social Justice egalitarian steamroller was when I went to college to study Literature but was faced with something called "Cultural Studies", which states that no "text" or cultural artifact can be considered superior to another (High/Low is an oppressive imposition), thus a comic book is as worthwhile as Tolstoy and a fortune cookie is no different from one of Shakespeare's sonnets.
My first reaction was shock/surprise, because this was being taught by supposed English profs (meaning that they seemed to hate the subject they had been hired to teach), but then anger at the implication. For the Cultural Studies premise/project to work and be true requires the erasure and demonization of skill, rigor, talent, beauty, wisdom, erudition, transcendence etc.
The entire postmodern project is purely destructive (it's no coincidence that its signature product is called Deconstruction) and the goal seems to be the destruction of society, of everything lasting and beautiful, of tradition and history, of the sacred.
When people tell you nothing exists but Power and Oppression it is important to believe them and act accordingly: their greatest desire is to have the power to oppress you and it doesn't matter who or what gets destroyed in the process.
I don't know much about the development of post-modernist critical social justice theory, and Wokal may well have covered it previously, but there seem to be many parallels with Benthamite Utilitarianism. Bentham specifically claimed that (to use JS Mill's misquote) "pushpin (a long-forgotten game enjoyed by the working class) is as good as poetry", as long as the amount of pleasure is the same. Indeed, Bentham actually stated that there is rarely a bad game if pushpin, unlike poetry, so it might be that the game is superior to verse. In modern terms, Utilitarianism (especially that of Mill and his "harm principle") could probably be used by wokists to make their case than deontology.
god, all the rhetoric and flights of fancy that intellectuals have engaged in these past few centuries just to make believe they're "on the side of" the lower classes.
as someone from a working class background, i assure u (and him) that if everyone from Bentham to Sartre to Adorno had to live entirely among the workers 1) they would be bored stiff in minutes, and 2) all the people they claimed to be helping would laugh in their faces and tell them to get lost.
there are certain things so stupid only an intellectual can believe them.
So true. The same stuff keeps coming around again and again, and always by people in vert comfortable positions.
This stuff is to cover up other agendas. Obviously, they have no real intention of helping the people they claim to help. https://open.substack.com/pub/justingaffneysamuels/p/womens-colleges-arts-programs-social?r=6512g&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Yes, indeed.
Time the public speaks out en masse.
An excellent overview of how wokeness is indeed designed to end in nihilism and anarchy - this is the "all cultures are equal" narrative which is clearly and demonstrably wrong.
Spot on Wokal! Never acquiesce to these purveyors of evil balderdash! DON’T accept their narrative and free yourself from the matrix!
That they would try to "normalize" obesity and being overweight when there's a pandemic which is almost exclusively dangerous only to people with comorbidities (then, of course, blame these "unequal outcomes" on racism) shows how utterly cynical they are and how very little they value individual human lives.
Agreed. Of course some things have to be prioritized over others, based on health and the ability to live a reasonably successful life - not based on the standards of a small group who are in power, but based on basic human ideals, such as being healthy and living life through old age, if possible w/o sacrificing other ideals; being able to have and raise children (not for everyone, but for many); allowing children to be healthy and live through old age; being free to enjoy basic joys such as good food, good sex, games, music and other arts; forming close relationships with others, wherein there is mutual love and support; having some intellectual stimulation; having a purpose in life (e.g. being a teacher, a doctor, an artist, an environmentalist, a parent, a chef, a comedian, etc.). Without listing every basic ideal, the idea is that these are not goals of only a few people in power and against the goals of oppressed individuals. Rather, these are goals of almost every person alive based on our shared commonalities. If we ignore obvious risks to safety and good health and sacrifice relationships and waste our time on pointless pursuits that take away from purpose and prevent us from fully embracing the joys of life, we are not fighting a power struggle, but are instead destroying the basic tenets of society that enable us to reach our potential. We are actively making things worse. Thus, while normalizing things like being gay is great because it allows a certain minority of the population to fully enjoy sexual pleasure and form romantic bonds w/o being ostracized or sacrificing other joys of life, normalizing things like chemical and surgical alterations of young, healthy bodies only serves to cause unnecessary pain and loss. Your explanation of what's happening in society is very articulate and understandable.
I knew they were sick, but I didn't know how sick until they started going after kids, mutilating, sterilizing and sexualizing. I did not understand the extent of the danger, until I realized the woke and trans have made common cause with corporations and WEF etc globalist transhumanists, that they might someday be the administrators of a global, programmable digital currency, the ultimate tool to cancel your enemies.
https://williamhunterduncan.substack.com/p/transhumanism-i
Is this Part 8 (2)?
Understanding Woke Tactics Pt. 8: Dirty Cop Logic.
Woke Tactics Pt 8: Normalize/Destigmatize