It’s hard to be taken seriously in today’s foreign policy establishment when talking about the harms of what is broadly referred to as “woke culture.” Russia’s expansionist war in Ukraine, the ascendance of totalitarian China, the ever-present risk of jihadist terrorism, and many other threats would seemingly leave little room to focus on the American culture war. However, foreign policy specialists are now beginning to recognize that this is in fact a problem worth paying attention to.
As a foreign policy analyst and former Fulbright prof in the field myself, I thank you for this. The deletrious influence on our foreign policy of our ideological thought-suppression at home is something I have observed for years, seen the toll it has taken on relations with friends around the world, but despaired of other Americans noticing it. I am glad you have noticed it and called it to a wider attention. The costs have grown incredibly high. They go far beyond the costs of recent cases that you have found the space to mention here.
The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impressionable students that segregation is equity, grievance is justice, and truth is a social construct (unless the gatekeepers disagree with that 'truth' in which case its supporters must be deplatformed). These fields have no use for evidence, empiricism and fact-checking ideas - often they decry evidence as oppression - hence they run the risk of descending into demagoguery.
There is good news on the horizon - the academic bubble is going to burst and Academic excess will bring it about! First, these impressionable students are taking on an unsustainable debt burden for degrees in grievance & victimhood (which aren't marketable enough to pay off the debts - so these degrees are increasingly only accessible to the sons & daughters of privilege). Second, due to grade inflation (one way to bribe students into majoring in these fields is by giving away grades) employers no longer trust GPA's and Diplomas and assess skills and abilities of interviewees - and grievance studies majors develop few skills that employers actually want (these unfortunate students learn to write in 'academese' which is unsuitable for businesses). Third, companies are seeking more 'new-collar' employees - a new category of workers with valuable skills but no college degree - a lot of technicians and coders fall into this category. These, combined, signal a decline in University enrollment - we can already see it happening. Enrollments are dropping but the decrease is not uniform across all majors - STEM majors still see robust enrollments - Universities will cut back on departments which are not in demand. Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will wither and die due to their own selfish excesses - those Profs have been exploiting their students' trust to boost their own careers and they will learn that truly you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Also, I predict that within one decade we will see students file class-action lawsuits against Universities for 'selling worthless degrees.' Students who are deep in debt and unable to pay off the loans will realize that they were mislead by the educators that they trusted or even idolized. The excuse of 'broadening of minds' will ring hollow to those who are working 3 jobs to pay off debts and have no time to feed their mind. They will come to realize that Universities turned them into debt slaves - how ironic: their greatest grievance will be with those who taught them the culture of grievance.
Academia is digging its own grave - let's hope something new and beautiful grows from its compost!
You may be right. English departments used to teach how to read & write and how to appreciate literature which strengthened our society. Now they are evangelists of The Truth (tm) - which apparently consists of biting the taxpayers' hands that feed Profs & Universities...
I guess that is yet another reason Universities are headed toward catastrophe - people who work hard for their money tend to resent soft-handed fobs taking their tax dollars to tell their children how awful they are.
At my alma mater, where I did English once upon a time, they now have a course called 'Cancel Shakespeare'. Sounds like it might be ironic, but not really. They spend their time 'dismantling' the plays to find out how sexist and racist he was. The Truth, indeed.
Academia is a form of prolonged adolescence: They both have a knee-jerk opposition to traditional authorities, a lack of self-awareness, and the tendency to look down upon those who provide support.
In fact, Academia's delight in pointing out flaws in America's founders to patriotic Americans is similar to that of teens telling little kids there is no Santa Claus.
We should take the keys away from Universities until they learn how to behave!
University of British Columbia. Here's the link to the description. It's framed as a debate, but in news reports about the course, the instructor says he is using the 'lens' of critical race theory, which to my mind means there is no 'debate'. Here's the link.
Thanks! I read the link. Do you have a link to where he mentions CRT? I think I may want to take this on. I taught theater, and most useful was The Merchant of Venice.
Thanks, I actually wondered a couple of years ago if or when this would happen! Yes, the lens of CRT almost guarantees that there is no debate. Nice way to deal with the rigors of Shakespeare!
Jean-Michel Blanquer, said: “People who claim to be progressive and who…distinguish people by the color of their skin are leading us to things that resemble fascism.” It is fascism and the left with it’s authoritarianism are in control. They have taken over all of US society. With billionaire backing this can only be stopped with courage and backbone. My question for the author after he mentioned “authoritarians” on the right who is he talking about? What “authoritarian policies” are being pushed? I don’t see it. I just see the left PR orgs running the show
I agree who are the extreme right? This narrative has been pushed so hard for years that it has been accepted as truth. I need facts not feelings or accusations. Europe can blame this on America all they want, the left here are to blame. The democrats have demonized half of America in a concerted effort for years because of trump derangement syndrome. Repeat a lie, create chaos and sheep follow.
But I have spent a lot of time studying what has happened in America this past few years. The problems we face are the same in every western country. It all leads back to the globalist. All the same ideologies. Climate, race,gender,food,health and Marxism. The United Nations does the same. It has been embedded in universities for untold years.
I hear the exact same complaints from people in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, here as well as Western Europe. Until we all start following the money and the authoritarian characters in this narrative that is being brought down on us from democratics, we will be doomed.
I have heard many good people here from the left who are concerned but until we can all let go of the propaganda we have been fed and find each other to meet in the common ground I worry for the future of western civilization.
Excellent comment. I agree. It’s a trope used by the left and the PR machines of the DNC/elites. The billionaires fear growth of mankind. They cannot conceive how to control the world to keep them comfortable and in charge. So they bring out the catastrophes trying to scare people into submission.
On the right, I worry about Trump's cult of personality. There is a significant faction of Trump supporters who are voting for him no matter what he says or does. You may agree with some of his policies, but it is hard to deny that he is personifying and encouraging the worst of "you're with us or you're against us" political narrative that is taring the nation apart.
How can that be worse than the actions of the state against those who are vaccine hesitant or who don’t agree with any of the “woke” narratives? Anyone who doesn’t support the Ukraine war effort is labeled a Putin supporter? I do not see any non narrative person as having the heft to resemble any of the fascist actions on the left. Institutional capture is complete. Trumps blaring gets him heard but it in no way is the driver.
I think with Trump, it's the chicken or egg. I'm not a Trumper but I admire his ability to capitalize on the legitimate grievances of the suburban/rural white populations that are being constantly vilified and demeaned by the progressives. Successful polititions have used this strategy for millenia. The result however is that he is increasing the polarization in our society.
I agree it is not worse, but he contributes to polarization. I don’t see this country healing without a charismatic unifying president, and anyone with such credentials will be thoroughly vilified by both sides.
On the one hand his personality is what attracts and repeals people. His desire to stand and fight is appealing. His personal disputes are annoying. A unifying President that fights against the elites and the woke narrative? Can there be such a person.
It seemed to begin or accelerate with the death of George Floyd. This influence is commented on a lot in the UK as well. Here in Canada, it’s been taken up by progressives and become widely accepted dogma even though the history is quite different. Ultimately, what is at stake is not just American power, but Western civilization more broadly. The fundamentals of America are that of the West, and that’s the endgame. It’s not just between ‘races’.
Agreed. I think for some it has always been about toppling the Western value system and capitalism, and exploiting race relations was a convenient tool, such as class conflict was the tool used in Communist Russia.
That was just the excuse they used to push astroturfed BLM riots to disrupt Trump’s presidency. Notice the rhetoric and mass violence only happens in the run up to elections. It’s all manipulated.
I believe so, too, but of course it's another one of those disprovable but true 'conspiracies' that has only circumstance and correlation to support it. I don't think it's a coordinated manipulation, though, just a kind of nod and a wink understanding that virtually anything is permitted to stop Trump. For example, when the NYT tried to publish Senator Tom Cotton calling for the deployment of the National Guard to quell the riots, the response was very swift and the editor who commissioned the article was fired. Under a coordinated manipulation, the NYT would never have considered a Tom Cotton article at all.
Faisal, thanks for pointing this out. I applaud Macron for fighting back. When I was in Germany and Austria last fall, it certainly wasn't as woke as it is here - yet - although they were starting in whatever ways they could. My experience is that every American idea - good or bad - eventually filters into other cultures in one way or another. But the thrust of woke culture is pernicious and counterproductive especially for countries who have much more important needs , both materially and politically. Woke culture is also seductive on its own, just as Marxism was, but now it additionally has an American imprint on it. Either others take on these (bad) American ideas, or they reject them and reject allying and making common cause with the U.S. (bad). Or possibly both, in the end! And I do think what Alan says below is relevant - it's not just about American power but about Enlightenment ideas and tenets which make any people free. Keep up your tireless good work here - you and others like you are desperately needed at this juncture of time.
I change my "possibly both" (acceptance of bad American ideas and distancing from America) to "Most likely both." Not good domestically - it's already creating havoc - and not good in the larger world picture either.
It is not America spreading this woke ideology. It is the United Nations. Social Justice, equity, DEI, explicit sex ed classes for school children and the trans agenda all originated from United Nations, UNESCO, and WEF and it's stakeholders. The UN is forcing their agenda on all counties that are signatories of the UN Agenda 2030. France is also a signatory of the UN AGENDA 2030, and Macron is a WEF puppet.
It is worse in Africa- but thankfully African leaders are telling the US and others to keep their aid money and their western morality and leave them alone. Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and others have said no to the nonsense being brought in under aid packages for "Human Rights".
[thanks to the internet... that it's exported]- Mostly through HR in global corporations and Radicalized Academics imported to European Universities through grants from think tanks and the like... With quite a strong link to Marxism... (which has already infected the US universities)
If you don't like what is on TV or the internet, shut it off. America has some horrible things going on w/r/t race/gender, but it is ON YOU if you adopt these issues. Don't be America's copycats when we are acting stupid. Please push back on the sources of these ideas.
Our progressives need to see that the world holds them in contempt.
Wish it was that simple - HR departments and Academia are not closed circuits, though...
and are forcing people into this through the side door! - based on bad science and faulty reasoning, "Unconscious bias training" - which is not endorsed by the researchers that worked on it and Race essentialism and the like - (None of it is done through democracy, let alone personal choice! )
Yes, I think that is the problem, courage!! And memory of history (and understanding and equal human rights based on common humanity will always be the fairer option)
Employees are in quarterly performance - they don't care and are not incentivised to think long-term (HR are also the main importer of these radicals - since usually, they come straight from uni into HR, they have few other skills, so are heavily invested in this as a future model - the more conflict and racism (and trainings needed) the more work and job security they have ...!)
In the Corp. I worked for they hired 1 token straight white man. I couldn’t understand how he could tolerate the demonization of white men. They must have paid him well
Does anyone know of the impact that Chinese students have on our universities? My understanding is that the Chinese government has input into where their kids attend.bthey also pay full tuition.
As a foreign policy analyst and former Fulbright prof in the field myself, I thank you for this. The deletrious influence on our foreign policy of our ideological thought-suppression at home is something I have observed for years, seen the toll it has taken on relations with friends around the world, but despaired of other Americans noticing it. I am glad you have noticed it and called it to a wider attention. The costs have grown incredibly high. They go far beyond the costs of recent cases that you have found the space to mention here.
The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impressionable students that segregation is equity, grievance is justice, and truth is a social construct (unless the gatekeepers disagree with that 'truth' in which case its supporters must be deplatformed). These fields have no use for evidence, empiricism and fact-checking ideas - often they decry evidence as oppression - hence they run the risk of descending into demagoguery.
There is good news on the horizon - the academic bubble is going to burst and Academic excess will bring it about! First, these impressionable students are taking on an unsustainable debt burden for degrees in grievance & victimhood (which aren't marketable enough to pay off the debts - so these degrees are increasingly only accessible to the sons & daughters of privilege). Second, due to grade inflation (one way to bribe students into majoring in these fields is by giving away grades) employers no longer trust GPA's and Diplomas and assess skills and abilities of interviewees - and grievance studies majors develop few skills that employers actually want (these unfortunate students learn to write in 'academese' which is unsuitable for businesses). Third, companies are seeking more 'new-collar' employees - a new category of workers with valuable skills but no college degree - a lot of technicians and coders fall into this category. These, combined, signal a decline in University enrollment - we can already see it happening. Enrollments are dropping but the decrease is not uniform across all majors - STEM majors still see robust enrollments - Universities will cut back on departments which are not in demand. Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will wither and die due to their own selfish excesses - those Profs have been exploiting their students' trust to boost their own careers and they will learn that truly you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Also, I predict that within one decade we will see students file class-action lawsuits against Universities for 'selling worthless degrees.' Students who are deep in debt and unable to pay off the loans will realize that they were mislead by the educators that they trusted or even idolized. The excuse of 'broadening of minds' will ring hollow to those who are working 3 jobs to pay off debts and have no time to feed their mind. They will come to realize that Universities turned them into debt slaves - how ironic: their greatest grievance will be with those who taught them the culture of grievance.
Academia is digging its own grave - let's hope something new and beautiful grows from its compost!
As far as I can tell, the study of history and English appear to be the departments that will fall first.
You may be right. English departments used to teach how to read & write and how to appreciate literature which strengthened our society. Now they are evangelists of The Truth (tm) - which apparently consists of biting the taxpayers' hands that feed Profs & Universities...
I guess that is yet another reason Universities are headed toward catastrophe - people who work hard for their money tend to resent soft-handed fobs taking their tax dollars to tell their children how awful they are.
At my alma mater, where I did English once upon a time, they now have a course called 'Cancel Shakespeare'. Sounds like it might be ironic, but not really. They spend their time 'dismantling' the plays to find out how sexist and racist he was. The Truth, indeed.
Wow.
Academia is a form of prolonged adolescence: They both have a knee-jerk opposition to traditional authorities, a lack of self-awareness, and the tendency to look down upon those who provide support.
In fact, Academia's delight in pointing out flaws in America's founders to patriotic Americans is similar to that of teens telling little kids there is no Santa Claus.
We should take the keys away from Universities until they learn how to behave!
And where are they undertaking this cancellation of Shakespeare? I must see the course description!!!
University of British Columbia. Here's the link to the description. It's framed as a debate, but in news reports about the course, the instructor says he is using the 'lens' of critical race theory, which to my mind means there is no 'debate'. Here's the link.
https://english.ubc.ca/section/engl-241-2021w-001/
Thanks! I read the link. Do you have a link to where he mentions CRT? I think I may want to take this on. I taught theater, and most useful was The Merchant of Venice.
Thanks, I actually wondered a couple of years ago if or when this would happen! Yes, the lens of CRT almost guarantees that there is no debate. Nice way to deal with the rigors of Shakespeare!
Jean-Michel Blanquer, said: “People who claim to be progressive and who…distinguish people by the color of their skin are leading us to things that resemble fascism.” It is fascism and the left with it’s authoritarianism are in control. They have taken over all of US society. With billionaire backing this can only be stopped with courage and backbone. My question for the author after he mentioned “authoritarians” on the right who is he talking about? What “authoritarian policies” are being pushed? I don’t see it. I just see the left PR orgs running the show
I agree who are the extreme right? This narrative has been pushed so hard for years that it has been accepted as truth. I need facts not feelings or accusations. Europe can blame this on America all they want, the left here are to blame. The democrats have demonized half of America in a concerted effort for years because of trump derangement syndrome. Repeat a lie, create chaos and sheep follow.
But I have spent a lot of time studying what has happened in America this past few years. The problems we face are the same in every western country. It all leads back to the globalist. All the same ideologies. Climate, race,gender,food,health and Marxism. The United Nations does the same. It has been embedded in universities for untold years.
I hear the exact same complaints from people in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, here as well as Western Europe. Until we all start following the money and the authoritarian characters in this narrative that is being brought down on us from democratics, we will be doomed.
I have heard many good people here from the left who are concerned but until we can all let go of the propaganda we have been fed and find each other to meet in the common ground I worry for the future of western civilization.
Excellent comment. I agree. It’s a trope used by the left and the PR machines of the DNC/elites. The billionaires fear growth of mankind. They cannot conceive how to control the world to keep them comfortable and in charge. So they bring out the catastrophes trying to scare people into submission.
On the right, I worry about Trump's cult of personality. There is a significant faction of Trump supporters who are voting for him no matter what he says or does. You may agree with some of his policies, but it is hard to deny that he is personifying and encouraging the worst of "you're with us or you're against us" political narrative that is taring the nation apart.
How can that be worse than the actions of the state against those who are vaccine hesitant or who don’t agree with any of the “woke” narratives? Anyone who doesn’t support the Ukraine war effort is labeled a Putin supporter? I do not see any non narrative person as having the heft to resemble any of the fascist actions on the left. Institutional capture is complete. Trumps blaring gets him heard but it in no way is the driver.
I think with Trump, it's the chicken or egg. I'm not a Trumper but I admire his ability to capitalize on the legitimate grievances of the suburban/rural white populations that are being constantly vilified and demeaned by the progressives. Successful polititions have used this strategy for millenia. The result however is that he is increasing the polarization in our society.
I agree it is not worse, but he contributes to polarization. I don’t see this country healing without a charismatic unifying president, and anyone with such credentials will be thoroughly vilified by both sides.
On the one hand his personality is what attracts and repeals people. His desire to stand and fight is appealing. His personal disputes are annoying. A unifying President that fights against the elites and the woke narrative? Can there be such a person.
Tucker Carlson is looking for work.
It seemed to begin or accelerate with the death of George Floyd. This influence is commented on a lot in the UK as well. Here in Canada, it’s been taken up by progressives and become widely accepted dogma even though the history is quite different. Ultimately, what is at stake is not just American power, but Western civilization more broadly. The fundamentals of America are that of the West, and that’s the endgame. It’s not just between ‘races’.
Agreed. I think for some it has always been about toppling the Western value system and capitalism, and exploiting race relations was a convenient tool, such as class conflict was the tool used in Communist Russia.
That was just the excuse they used to push astroturfed BLM riots to disrupt Trump’s presidency. Notice the rhetoric and mass violence only happens in the run up to elections. It’s all manipulated.
I believe so, too, but of course it's another one of those disprovable but true 'conspiracies' that has only circumstance and correlation to support it. I don't think it's a coordinated manipulation, though, just a kind of nod and a wink understanding that virtually anything is permitted to stop Trump. For example, when the NYT tried to publish Senator Tom Cotton calling for the deployment of the National Guard to quell the riots, the response was very swift and the editor who commissioned the article was fired. Under a coordinated manipulation, the NYT would never have considered a Tom Cotton article at all.
Faisal, thanks for pointing this out. I applaud Macron for fighting back. When I was in Germany and Austria last fall, it certainly wasn't as woke as it is here - yet - although they were starting in whatever ways they could. My experience is that every American idea - good or bad - eventually filters into other cultures in one way or another. But the thrust of woke culture is pernicious and counterproductive especially for countries who have much more important needs , both materially and politically. Woke culture is also seductive on its own, just as Marxism was, but now it additionally has an American imprint on it. Either others take on these (bad) American ideas, or they reject them and reject allying and making common cause with the U.S. (bad). Or possibly both, in the end! And I do think what Alan says below is relevant - it's not just about American power but about Enlightenment ideas and tenets which make any people free. Keep up your tireless good work here - you and others like you are desperately needed at this juncture of time.
I change my "possibly both" (acceptance of bad American ideas and distancing from America) to "Most likely both." Not good domestically - it's already creating havoc - and not good in the larger world picture either.
It is not America spreading this woke ideology. It is the United Nations. Social Justice, equity, DEI, explicit sex ed classes for school children and the trans agenda all originated from United Nations, UNESCO, and WEF and it's stakeholders. The UN is forcing their agenda on all counties that are signatories of the UN Agenda 2030. France is also a signatory of the UN AGENDA 2030, and Macron is a WEF puppet.
I heard that recently, too. Many people understand everything, but don't say anything.
It is worse in Africa- but thankfully African leaders are telling the US and others to keep their aid money and their western morality and leave them alone. Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and others have said no to the nonsense being brought in under aid packages for "Human Rights".
[thanks to the internet... that it's exported]- Mostly through HR in global corporations and Radicalized Academics imported to European Universities through grants from think tanks and the like... With quite a strong link to Marxism... (which has already infected the US universities)
If you don't like what is on TV or the internet, shut it off. America has some horrible things going on w/r/t race/gender, but it is ON YOU if you adopt these issues. Don't be America's copycats when we are acting stupid. Please push back on the sources of these ideas.
Our progressives need to see that the world holds them in contempt.
Wish it was that simple - HR departments and Academia are not closed circuits, though...
and are forcing people into this through the side door! - based on bad science and faulty reasoning, "Unconscious bias training" - which is not endorsed by the researchers that worked on it and Race essentialism and the like - (None of it is done through democracy, let alone personal choice! )
I know this is simplistic but I wonder if HR directors and HR employees buy this bullshit? What we need is courageous senior management.
Yes, I think that is the problem, courage!! And memory of history (and understanding and equal human rights based on common humanity will always be the fairer option)
Employees are in quarterly performance - they don't care and are not incentivised to think long-term (HR are also the main importer of these radicals - since usually, they come straight from uni into HR, they have few other skills, so are heavily invested in this as a future model - the more conflict and racism (and trainings needed) the more work and job security they have ...!)
In the Corp. I worked for they hired 1 token straight white man. I couldn’t understand how he could tolerate the demonization of white men. They must have paid him well
I know I would be looked on as a diversity hire.... when previously it would be based on my skill. This rot taints everything!
Shakespeare may be the hill on which they die! One can only hope that their extremism will cause them to implode.
A concise and accurate accounting of the dangerous reach of our idiotic Woke culture.
I get the feeling you almost had an original thought.
I encourage you to try again.
They’re coming across the Pacific too, don’t you worry.
FAIR has not pushed back against right-wing illiberalism at all.
Does anyone know of the impact that Chinese students have on our universities? My understanding is that the Chinese government has input into where their kids attend.bthey also pay full tuition.
Good job. CRT. The usage of Ibrahim Kendi, the equivalent of Adolf Hitler, and his writing equivalency to Mein Kempf. Dastardly.