Tag: wokeness

The Hollow Men

 

…and hollow women, too.

I’ve been writing for years about the rise of toxic ideologies on America’s college campuses – totalitarian, anti-Israel, outright anti-Semitic – but still have been surprised by what has happened in these places since October 7.  We need to discuss the reasons why it’s gotten so bad.

Did Gov. DeSantis Get the ‘Stop Woke Act’ Wrong?

 

When I saw that the court’s Judge Walker rejected key parts of the “Stop Woke Act”(Individual Freedom Act) in Florida, I assumed that he was just another Leftist judge attacking the Conservative legislation. But then I saw that he was responding to a lawsuit brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) on behalf of a faculty member, a student, and a student group. FIRE is a highly regarded organization that champions free speech. You can review their lawsuit here. FIRE stated that the act was unconstitutional in that it disallowed free speech on public college campuses.

Judge Walker’s blistering criticism referred to the work of George Orwell:

[Member Post]

 

Glenn Loury and John McWhorter had an interesting discussion about the midterm elections.  Loury decided to ask McWhorter about all of the issues where McWhorter would appear to be in agreement with the Republicans, especially the “wokeness” issue.   I think McWhorter is not close to becoming a Republican.  But Glenn, I appreciate the effort here.   […]

⚠️ This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet's community of conservatives and be part of the conversation.

Join Ricochet for free.

Americans are understandably squeamish about official racial and ethnic classifications. Nevertheless, these classifications are ubiquitous in American life—and their boundaries are policed by the government.

On this week’s special episode, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and director of constitutional studies Ilya Shapiro moderates a panel featuring David Bernstein, professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School; Glenn Loury, Manhattan Institute Paulson fellow; and Adrienne Davis, professor at Washington University Law School. Bernstein’s new book, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America, is out now.

Beware the Whig Left

 

Despite what you’ve been told, the American left is not composed of people who hate the country and want to see its institutions burned to the ground in an orgy of rage. Oh, sure, those people exist — but they’re not the whole left. Not even most of the left. Nor are they, on their own, all that dangerous, since burn-it-down-style radicalism inevitably runs up against the natural human desire for peace and order. (Even in Seattle, CHAZ could last only so long.) No, the great majority of Americans who identify with the left belong to a different faction: the whigs.

When I say “whig,” I’m not talking about powdered faux hair or the Democratic Party’s long-lost rival or British parliamentary politics. I’m talking about those Americans — and there are many of them — who take a whiggish view of the country’s history. Such people consider themselves patriotic. They hang red, white, and blue flags from their porches. They watch fireworks shows and march in July 4 parades. They swoon at the sight of military regalia. They flock to old battlefields and can rattle off facts about Benjamin Franklin and the Constitutional Convention. They also believe that Elizabeth Warren is the fullest expression of the Lincolnian spirit and that gas-powered cars must be abolished, lest life on Earth end.

Quote of the Day: Corporate Smoke Screens Disguise the Left

 

“The fundamental problem with wokeness isn’t just that it offers the wrong answer to the question of who we are. The deeper problem is that it forecloses the possibility of shared solidarity as Americans. If we see each other as nothing more than the color of our skin, our gender, our sexual orientation, or the number of digits in our bank accounts, then it becomes impossibly difficult to find commonality with those who don’t share those characteristics. Yet if we define ourselves on a plurality of attributes, then we find our path to true solidarity as a people.”

― Vivek Ramaswamy, Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam

If we were honest with ourselves, most of us would acknowledge that we want to be seen as someone “unique.” But the Woke Left thinks that those attributes come from superficial factors, not from who we are and what we offer to the world. I could tell you that I’m a white woman, a writer, a Jew, a wife, a teacher, and they will give you a glimmer of an idea of what I’m made of and who I am. But in fact, I am much more than any of those characteristics.

This week on Hubwonk, host Joe Selvaggi talks with Noah Rothman, associate editor of Commentary magazine, about his recently released book, The Rise of the New Puritans: Fighting Back Against Progressives’ War On Fun, examining how the attempt to remoralize American culture mirrors similar social movements in the past and what concerned onlookers can do to better manage this frenzied phenomenon.

Guest:

Oliver Traldi joins Theodore Kupfer to discuss the role of expertise in American life, the origins and future of wokeness, and the sources of political belief.

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

[Member Post]

 

That’s a phrase Mock and Daisy (Chicks on the Right) use when something is so stupid, words fail to come to mind.  Well, I saw this article this morning, and I just can’t: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/pepsi-unveils-cracker-jill-version-cracker-jack-promote-womens-sports Preview Open

⚠️ This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet's community of conservatives and be part of the conversation.

Join Ricochet for free.

First Things editor Mark Bauerlein joins Brian Anderson to discuss the woes of Millennials and Zoomers, the technological roots of social dysfunction, and the elusive search for meaning in the twenty-first century. His newest book, The Dumbest Generation Grows Up, is out now.

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

Don’t Trust the Education Blob

 

In my state, the Republican-dominated legislature is moving toward a vote on two anti-CRT bills. Here, as in other places where similar bills are being considered, the state edu-blob is wringing its gelatinous nubs and screeching about censorship. Not long ago, Indiana teachers warned that a “CRT-inspired bill” could “drive them from the classrooms.” We can only hope! The College Board is threatening to withhold AP credit from schools in communities that adopt anti-woke policies. As bills like Ohio’s make it onto statehouse floors, I expect the controversy to ramp up.

Local media is behaving as you’d expect — holding a microphone up to the edu-blob’s mouth, publishing outraged op-eds written by professors, non-profit leaders, and “experts” on racism, sexism, ableism, disestablishmentarianism, and every other -ism under the sun. A typical example of the reaction is today’s episode of Today in Ohio, a news podcast produced by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. What do the hosts think of Republican anti-CRT bills? Here’s editor Chris Quinn:

[Member Post]

 

I’m going to pick on someone. Because I’m going to pick on someone, I’m keeping this post behind the membership wall. There’s no need to send a social-media mob after her. (Not that I have the power and reach to summon Twitter mobs, but still.) Today, I opened the Ohio Historical Society‘s website, as I […]

⚠️ This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet's community of conservatives and be part of the conversation.

Join Ricochet for free.

Oversensitivity to Wokeness?

 

When we got into my husband’s car this morning, a cute but older Nissan, the battery groaned in pain. It’s been very cold for Florida (mornings in the 40s) and we don’t drive his car very much. After a couple of tries, the battery finally kicked in and the car started and we were off to do grocery shopping.

After finishing our shopping, it didn’t occur to us that we hadn’t run the battery enough. This time it didn’t moan; it just coughed and died. We sat there quietly for a moment, and then my husband got out of the car resignedly and looked under the hood. At that moment, a couple in a large white truck pulled in the space directly opposite ours, and when they exited their car—a young woman and a smiling, robust young man—my husband approached and asked if the fellow could give him a jump. The man agreed with a smile, and my husband pulled out his jumper cable. I saw him speak to the man, who frowned slightly, then smiled and they got the battery going. Meanwhile, they exchanged a few friendly words before Jerry got into the car and the young man went to join his wife in Publix.

Contra Robert George

 

Madison’s Notes is a good podcast, and the latest episode is an interesting one — interesting not so much for its content, but for what it reveals about the conservative intellectual establishment. What it reveals is, of course, futility.

This particular episode is a recording of an event held in September and sponsored by Princeton University. The event, which featured back-to-back talks by Robert George and Ryan T. Anderson, was titled “The Baby and the Bathwater: Toward a Recovery of the American Idea” and was pitched as a rebuttal to the growing contingent of post-liberals on the right: the likes of Sohrab Ahmari and Patrick Deneen. The right shouldn’t throw aside the small-l liberal constitutional tradition, argue George and Anderson. We must “stay the course” and “keep the faith.”

This week on “The Learning Curve,” co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Bari Weiss, former New York Times op-ed editor and writer, and author of How to Fight Anti-Semitism. Bari shares what motivated her to write this book, its reception, and key lessons for teachers and students alike.

She also explains why we’re now seeing a rise in anti-Semitism, how educators can best combat it, and the connection she observes between the current upsurge in anti-Semitism and cancel culture. Bari discusses her experiences on the editorial boards of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and her courageous decision to resign from the Times, as well as the public praise and criticism she’s encountered since her resignation.

Charles Fain Lehman and Aaron Sibarium join Theodore Kupfer to discuss the sociology of “wokeness,” the roots of the diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracy, and the future of identity politics in an increasingly multiracial America.

Find the transcript of this conversation and more at City Journal.

On this episode of “The Federalist Radio Hour,” Libby Emmons, editor-in-chief of The Post Millennial, joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss how the rampant wokeness promoted by unchecked leftism could be progressives’ downfall.

Karma Is Relentless

 

First, I know very little about professional sports. The only sports I ever paid attention to were the ones in which I had a child participating….Little League baseball, little kid soccer, etc. I only know all the rules for high school football because I attended every home game of my children’s schools because I was a Band Mom for 12 years. You know…marching band? Halftime shows? I’ve never watched sports on television because I’m just not interested in the pros.

However, tonight when I was driving home I heard on my truck radio that the Atlanta Braves had beaten the Houston Astros in game three of the World Series so the next game would be played in Atlanta on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, at Case Western

 

Since spring 2020, pro-life students at Cleveland’s Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) have tried to organize a chapter of Students for Life. Case Western is a university, a land of complimentary flavored condoms and helpful instructional pamphlets about proper masking procedures during sex, so the prospect of an anti-abortion organization receiving either official support or funding did not go over well. Not at all. After the student government approved the nascent group’s petition, the woke on campus complained, demanded a referendum, and voted the new pro-life club out of existence. Its members reorganized, renamed themselves Case for Life, and continued to seek recognition. To its partial credit, CWRU finally approved the group late this spring, albeit narrowly. And two weeks ago, irate student journalists took to the pages of The Observer, Case Western’s campus newspaper, to vent their spleens in a piece destined to become a classic in the annals of SJW-ist rhetoric. It begins:

Here we go again. The fight for reproductive rights and privacy happens consistently throughout the world, and it’s no different at Case Western Reserve University — even though institutions should not infringe upon people’s right to choose what to do with their bodies.

Begone, Harmful Language!

 

Having cataloged and re-cataloged their stashes ten times over, and apparently lacking anything better to do, America’s archivists and librarians have found a new shiny bauble to be distracted by: combing through the accumulated detritus under their care in search of “offensive” or “harmful” language. The old card catalog in aisle 32B uses the term “colored person” rather than “person of color”? Say it isn’t so! Colonel Ellsworth Pratt of the 14th Battalion said something unkind about women in a letter to Lieutenant Roger Drake of the 15th Infantry Regiment? Oh, the horror! We must warn the poor dears! Amid the general wokification of 2020 and 2021, archives across the land quietly updated their websites with groveling “statements” apologizing for the sexism, racism, ableism, colonialism, trans erasure, xenophobia, queerphobia, fatphobia, islamophobia, arachnophobia, and sesquipedalophobia of their collections. “We must do better!” shriek the hostage statements in unison. It seems there isn’t an institution that hasn’t jumped on this bandwagon. Not even good-old Hoover:

Our collections deal in subjects that encompass a broad range of human experiences, including tyranny, genocide, displacement, and political conflict. To engage with our materials is to acknowledge that one may encounter content that reflects racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, and other forms of hatred and discrimination. In keeping with our mission, we believe that only through the retention and study of historical sources can the world hope to learn from its past mistakes and promote peace.