Yet there is barely a shred of credible scientific evidence to support DiAngelo's hypothesis that can be readily deconstructed and debunked. It is a flawed opinion, and a dangerous one at that. Worse, its long-reaching conclusions could advocate for a repressive regime of scientism that Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell warned about. Russell warned that "collective passions" have a penchant to inflame "hatred and rivalry directed towards other groups." He was acutely aware that "science is no substitute for virtue; the heart is as necessary for the good life as the head." And DiAnglo's screed falls into the dark abysmal waters of genetic determinism that gave rise to racist fascism. Russell further warned that this distorted over-reliance on faux science could be "a curse to mankind."
Perhaps, during its Icarus moment, wokeness will self-destruct under its own rashness and the internal fire of its undiscerning ardor. What carnage it leaves in its wake remains to be seen.
Yet there is nothing new or original in the cultural rebellion we are witnessing. This game has been played out before in previous acts striving for an adolescent and unreachable social perfection. It will have its blowback. In his Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton observed that for every action there is an equally opposing reaction. However, we have yet to witness how it will boomerang. But we will. In the meantime, a new class of wannabe priests is emerging within the woke movement, a priesthood David Hume warned about in his Essays, Moral, Political and Literary, which will in turn be an adversary to liberty.
Consider the backlash after Harpers magazine published a Letter on Justice and Open Debate that warned of "a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity." Signed by over 160 brilliant minds, academicians and authors - liberal and conservative -- including Noam Chomsky, Jonathan Haidt, Susannah Heschel, Steven Pinker, Gloria Steinem, etc, the letter gives a stark warning of the unwelcomed consequences of the new culture of censorship that the demonstration's leaders are ushering into the nation at large. The woke now demand retribution against its signers, in effect shutting down the nation's 200-plus years of free speech, the right to disagree and public discourse.
Have those rebelling in the streets and casting out of society those who disagree with them considered earlier precedents for their actions? It was the Spanish Inquisition. In principle, how many today are in effect labeled heretics and "witches" because they have spoke publicly in favor free freedom speech and to oppose censorship? May not the woke movement in turn become the harbinger of new Inquisition, a new platform of economic and social persecution by the powerful and wealthy waiting in the corridors after the cult of woke fizzles out?
The causal problems to our terrified culture is of course far deeper and has been identified and analyzed repeatedly in the writings of Chris Hedges and Henry Giroux. Our nation thrives on victimizing others, best exemplified by Trump's example. Now the once victims of the woke generation, erupting from the simmering of their silent angst and meaninglessness are determined to be the new victimizers.
What is the end game when a populist uprising demands by disillusioned and psychologically traumatized youth at the mercy of capitalism's parasitical march to claim more victims gets the upper hand. The movement has now evolved beyond its original demands for racial justice for the Black community who have been discriminated against by our institutions, particularly law enforcement and the private prison system. Now it is rapidly morphing into a massive autonomous cult of divisiveness and self-righteousness without a moral backbone that recognizes the essential values of forgiveness, reconciliation, and cooperative engagement for preserving a sane and productive culture that benefits all.
It is highly unlikely the demonstrations and revolt will slow down. More probable, it will be permitted to increase in order to further destabilize society to enable more repressive and draconian laws to criminalize thought-crimes and actions. Eventually, American democracy will be in name only. The plutocrats want it that way. Only then will the populace wake up and realize that the forces of power metastasized throughout the nation while the media kept us distracted and entertained.
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