Regular readers will be aware that I deeply despise uncritical belief in any ideology- religious, secular or even scientific. My views on this topic are largely the result of what can be best described as deeply cynicism, borderline misanthropy and a general distrust of anyone claiming special knowledge or authority. Consequently, I also have a much better bullshit and scam detection radar than most people. One ‘side-effect’ of this worldview is that I can see fakery, lies, bullshit and general incompetence much earlier and clearly than most others. This is why for example I saw public figures such as Richard Dawkins, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Yuval Noah Harari, Adam Conover etc as the pompous scammers they were years or decades before they were exposed. While I usually don’t advertise my contempt for such scammers, because there are so many, asking for my opinions about any given public figure will get you a straight answer.
With that out of the way, let us talk about the topic at hand. In the past 4-6 years, most of you must have come across a decent number of “activists” who have built a brand around their supposed “anti-wokeness”. While I too deeply detest all woke beliefs and ideologies, it is not the most important part of my identity- or even close. It is just something I find worthy of mockery and contempt in addition to a good source of entertainment. To me, the woke (activists and followers) are just secular versions of cult leaders and their braindead followers. To be honest, once you start looking past the laughable ideologies involved- the woke have much in common with Mormons or devout Catholics and Muslims than with normal people. However it also well known that all scams are run for the benefit of a minority and are often promoted by groups and interests who have something to gain- directly or indirectly.
Let us use that logic to understand who really provides the financial and other support for these anti-woke activists and what they intend to gain from such actions. But before we go there, it is worth revisiting two similar movements which gained some traction in the past 10-15 years, only to implode into nothingness. I am talking about ‘New Atheism’ and ‘Dark Enlightenment’, which most curiously share part of their cast of public intellectuals with the currently fashionable anti-woke movement. Let me be clear about something- I am an Atheist, but that is only a small part of my personality and not something I constantly talk about. Now contrast this to the ‘New Atheist’ bunch who could not stop talking about how belief in traditional religions was the cause of human misery and conflict. To be fair, they did so because they were selling lectures, books and public appearances- rather like those they criticized. But there was something else a bit odd about these ‘New Atheists’.
Even when I came first came across these ‘New Atheists’, I was struck by how much they focused their criticism of religion on Islam. This becomes more peculiar once you realize that most Muslims in the world don’t live in strict Sharia-based societies. Indeed the vast majority of Muslims live in societies that are about as religious and socially conservative as many catholic or orthodox Christian societies were as late as the middle of the 20th century. It is also worth noting that western (esp American) support for religious zealots to destabilize relatively secular Muslim countries is the major source of contemporary radical Islamic movements- just look at ISIS, Al Qaeda, Muslim brotherhood etc. So what explains the peculiar focus of ‘New Atheists’ on Islam? Well.. let’s just say that the surnames and public loyalties of its most widely promoted public intellectuals provide an interesting clue.
The more observant of you might know ‘New Atheism’ ceased to be a fashionable movement almost a decade ago, for a number of reasons beyond the scope of this article. But it is worth noting that a decent number of its public figures started another movement called the ‘Dark Enlightenment’. While the sequel was even less successful than its predecessors- it is notable for two aspects. Firstly, the cast of its promoted “public intellectuals” also happened to have certain surnames and loyalties to a certain middle-eastern country. Some might even say that they were trying to sell the old product in a new bottle. If somebody wants a list of those involved in promoting these bullshit ideologies and their overlap, I would be happy to do so later. My point is that both alleged ideologies were really fronts for promoting the interests and image of a certain middle-eastern country. Everything else was just window dressing.
Now, we can talk about the ideology and behind and interest promoting anti-woke activism. While any person with some residual level of critical thinking will find woke ideology and activism to be simultaneously comic and repulsive, it is important to understand that a large percentage of those promoting anti-woke ideology are grifters. Yes.. the fight is really between two groups of grifters. On one side you have grifters such as Ibram Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, less famous version of these grifters , almost every single HR and DEI employee in public and private sector. On the other side, you have grifters such as Chaya Raichik (Libs of TikTok), Twitter handles such as Babylon Bee, U.S. Ministry of Truth and Twitter personalities such as Jordan Schachtel, Michael Malice, Steven Crowder- not to mention old favorites such as Ben Shapiro, the Weinstein Brothers and a good part of the failed ‘Dark Enlightenment’ media and funder ecosystem. And yes, their surnames and obvious loyalties matter.
We cannot also forget the cast of artificially promoted “public intellectuals” for this cause such as Lex Friedman, Zuby, Nick Fuentes, Konstantin Kisin, Jordan Peterson, Tommy Robinson (new additions to the cast), Richard Dawkins, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and many other familiar faces. At this point, we have to ask ourselves an obvious question- why is this cast of activists and manufactured “public intellectuals” supporting an issue that was rapidly gaining in popularity before they got involved in this area? An easy clue to their real motivations can be found in the other causes they support, and have done so for years before they got involved in anti-woke activism. Ya.. it is really about associating Zionism with some other cause that is rapidly becoming popular. I should also point out that the people who fund and support these activists and “public intellectuals” also share that interest- and have previously tried to do so via promoting ‘New Atheism’ and ‘Dark Enlightenment’.
So what do I think about all of this? Frankly, I find it entertaining- if darkly comic. It is obvious that they are not succeeding in promoting their real cause, but it is fun to watch them try and fail. The only aspect of this which bothers me a little is watching these grifters take a lot of money from their hidden funders and gullible followers.
What do you think? Comments?
I think you are spot on.
Very odd how peterson could go from talking in his maps of meaning lectures about how enhanced victimization and the concept of class guilt ultimately led to genocide and the starvation of millions of people...to being a big fan of a certain middle-eastern country and supporting ongoing genocide.
Very odd how tommy robinson runs protests against illegal immigration yet his organisation...according to companies house...had the former name of THE ENGLISH & JEWISH DEFENCE LEAGUE (EDL) LIMITED and the only non british flag being waved at his protests is of a certain middle-eastern country.