Earlier this month, former Secretary of State and potential GOP Presidential candidate Mike Pompeo released an interview clip on Twitter, in which he argued that “Toxic wokeness in schools is a bigger threat than the Chinese Communist Party.” The wave
Mar 20, 2023·edited Mar 20, 2023Liked by Grayson Slover
Well written!
(Full Disclosure: I am a College Professor) I would like to point out one thing Slover omitted: the growing influence of the CCP on Western Universities. I don't have time to write a good summary so I suggest folks look up "Confucius Institutes" in the US & UK. The PRC is exerting soft power on American institutions (check out how they influence our entertainment industry - and therefore our news media)
There is one ray of hope: respect for America's education system is low and rapidly falling. Even University students lack respect for education - most don't care about learning, they just want that piece of paper that will get them a good job (or so they have been told). Tuition is so high and they go into so much debt more and more students expect to get good grades automatically - and if the prof doesn't accommodate them they simply cheat. Seriously, does Higher Ed really think that they can shape the minds of this generation of students? When student loan debt is so terrifyingly huge, that it is adversely affecting our entire economy why would any tax payer support expensive but useless degrees? Look up "student debt + economy" and pay attention to how Higher Ed is hurting underserved communities by burdening them with outlandish debt after a promise of a brighter future. Some see Higher Ed as just one more example of the system exploiting the poor and powerless - we no longer have chattel slavery so we invented debt slavery.
The masses are waking up. A Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts doesn't provide significantly better job skills than a High School Diploma so why spend all that money on it? STEM majors have significantly better job prospects - and the degrees are worth the expense. Plus, in our fields we do not indoctrinate students we don't have time to fit that into our curricula ... but, alas, math is hard so most don't want to go down our path (which is why the job prospects are so good).
Woke degrees do not make economic sense. Free Market economics might solve the wokeness problem - take that Communism!
Well stated Grayson, thank you. Especially salient is your point that both the external axis of autocracies and the internal tsunami of Woke ideology seek the same goal, namely, the end of the America-led liberal global order, and its replacement by what inevitably would be a hellish dysoptia. The flourishing of the liberal order hence requires that the liberal democracies reduce their supply-chain dependence on China, and that America reduce the influence of Woke ideology across its education sector. And that we restore policies that enable robust economic growth, to achieve those vital ends.
This is one of the most incisive articles I’ve read on the subject. Your description of “equity” is also one of best. You are also wise to mention Douglas Murray’s brilliant book. Thank you.
I agree with the Grayson Slover that the CCP and Critical Social Justice are really just different manifestations of the same threat to liberal democracy. CCP is a Marxism-Leninist regime and Critical Social Justice is a variant of cultural Marxism. Both seek to destroy Western democracies and replace them with worldwide communism, a form of totalitarianism. For a look at how we got where we are today and why it matters, see "Legacy of Lies" on my latest Substack at https://2026.substack.com/p/legacy-of-lies
And when politician combats this insidious ideology (DeSantis), he is targeted with vicious smears and lies by the media. Why is the media so invested in toxic wokeness?
The assumption that China’s belt and road initiative is worse than America’s unipolar neoliberal blood-soaked imperial designs is a bit hard to swallow. Wokism is a distraction from the negatives of our war mongering, but if the US really wants to combat/compete with the CCP, how about investing in peace and infrastructure, instead of cluster bombs and military bases?
Excellent commentary! Murray's book is a fantastic resource, and so is FAIR. FAIR has been very helpful to many of us here in woke Vermont. Thanks you!!
With respect, I disagree. China’s Communist Party is by far the greatest threat. Grayson, both you and former Secretary of State Pompeo appear close sounding hysterical about “toxic wokeism”. Claims that America is a “racist nation” are overdone, but we do need a reckoning about injustice and past wrongs that critical social justice seeks, in its faltering way, to address. Right now this argument is being conducted on the extremes. It is possible and even wise to criticize wokeism and dogmatic conservative detractors. Empathy, kindness, and even humor need to play a greater role in our discussion about intolerance and racism.
Great article. Yes, toxic wokeness is a greater threat. A house divided by tribalism plays right into China’s hands. Just finished a great read in Susan Neiman’s “Left Is Not Woke”.
The key question from this article and the comments section seems to be which form of institutional capture is best, left or right, and is a humanist approach to institutions actually possible? In my opinion the latter is impossible and fraught with the historical issues all utopian movements encounter. So if we are faced with having to choose between leftist, Marxist etc capture or populist capture I think the populist is by orders of magnitude the best option. Ask yourself this; which worldview or philosophy would be more compatible with our constitution? Which would seek to abolish said constitution? Therein lies your answer
"To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill" Sun Tzu's That is why people should read The Art of War to better understand what is going on. "Toxic wokeness" is also based on Marxist texts, so we are once again confronted with the battle of homogeneous identity versus human individuality and universal human rights (Equity and inclusion are not the same thing!) - we already know how this ends - in Gulags, as with all things Marxist...
Some numbers would be nice. Out of the 200K plus public K-12 schools’ textbooks, how many actually teach this doctrine of perpetual racism? The failure of the right to ever trouble itself with any kind of quants on this issue makes me think that its adherents simply loathe those very liberal teachers in ethnic skirts and hairdos. I admit I don’t like them much, either, but having gotten my own daughter through a NY public high school where she learned science and now works in defense, and having scrutinized her history textbooks (she graduated ten years ago), it’s difficult for me to believe that a bunch of well-meaning bleeding hearts such as the kind who used to educate her, are a threat on par with the CCP. Without something like evidence, this post is just another useless piece of agit-prop.
You're barking up the wrong tree with respect to the CCP. China has reached out to America numerous times seeking cooperation and working together on difficult challenges around the world, and the American government has snubbed their noses at them. Is China a perfect country, and have a perfect system? No, and they are humble enough to admit that, unlike America. There is not a scintilla of doubt that sooner, rather than later, China will be the dominant player in global economics and foreign policy. As an American, I would rather work in cooperation with China, then make them an adversary, and fight a losing battle.
Well written!
(Full Disclosure: I am a College Professor) I would like to point out one thing Slover omitted: the growing influence of the CCP on Western Universities. I don't have time to write a good summary so I suggest folks look up "Confucius Institutes" in the US & UK. The PRC is exerting soft power on American institutions (check out how they influence our entertainment industry - and therefore our news media)
There is one ray of hope: respect for America's education system is low and rapidly falling. Even University students lack respect for education - most don't care about learning, they just want that piece of paper that will get them a good job (or so they have been told). Tuition is so high and they go into so much debt more and more students expect to get good grades automatically - and if the prof doesn't accommodate them they simply cheat. Seriously, does Higher Ed really think that they can shape the minds of this generation of students? When student loan debt is so terrifyingly huge, that it is adversely affecting our entire economy why would any tax payer support expensive but useless degrees? Look up "student debt + economy" and pay attention to how Higher Ed is hurting underserved communities by burdening them with outlandish debt after a promise of a brighter future. Some see Higher Ed as just one more example of the system exploiting the poor and powerless - we no longer have chattel slavery so we invented debt slavery.
The masses are waking up. A Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Arts doesn't provide significantly better job skills than a High School Diploma so why spend all that money on it? STEM majors have significantly better job prospects - and the degrees are worth the expense. Plus, in our fields we do not indoctrinate students we don't have time to fit that into our curricula ... but, alas, math is hard so most don't want to go down our path (which is why the job prospects are so good).
Woke degrees do not make economic sense. Free Market economics might solve the wokeness problem - take that Communism!
Well stated Grayson, thank you. Especially salient is your point that both the external axis of autocracies and the internal tsunami of Woke ideology seek the same goal, namely, the end of the America-led liberal global order, and its replacement by what inevitably would be a hellish dysoptia. The flourishing of the liberal order hence requires that the liberal democracies reduce their supply-chain dependence on China, and that America reduce the influence of Woke ideology across its education sector. And that we restore policies that enable robust economic growth, to achieve those vital ends.
This is one of the most incisive articles I’ve read on the subject. Your description of “equity” is also one of best. You are also wise to mention Douglas Murray’s brilliant book. Thank you.
I agree with the Grayson Slover that the CCP and Critical Social Justice are really just different manifestations of the same threat to liberal democracy. CCP is a Marxism-Leninist regime and Critical Social Justice is a variant of cultural Marxism. Both seek to destroy Western democracies and replace them with worldwide communism, a form of totalitarianism. For a look at how we got where we are today and why it matters, see "Legacy of Lies" on my latest Substack at https://2026.substack.com/p/legacy-of-lies
“Abolition of standards at the altar of equity” is a pithy truism. Woke educators sacrifice traditional education for equal group outcomes.
They’re both horrific. Both represent bold illiberalism. Both use specific language to attempt to hide their grotesque aims.
Orwell discussed this of course: https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/george-orwells-politics-and-the-english
And when politician combats this insidious ideology (DeSantis), he is targeted with vicious smears and lies by the media. Why is the media so invested in toxic wokeness?
The assumption that China’s belt and road initiative is worse than America’s unipolar neoliberal blood-soaked imperial designs is a bit hard to swallow. Wokism is a distraction from the negatives of our war mongering, but if the US really wants to combat/compete with the CCP, how about investing in peace and infrastructure, instead of cluster bombs and military bases?
Just a quick observation: "toxic wokeness" is a pleonasm.
Excellent commentary! Murray's book is a fantastic resource, and so is FAIR. FAIR has been very helpful to many of us here in woke Vermont. Thanks you!!
With respect, I disagree. China’s Communist Party is by far the greatest threat. Grayson, both you and former Secretary of State Pompeo appear close sounding hysterical about “toxic wokeism”. Claims that America is a “racist nation” are overdone, but we do need a reckoning about injustice and past wrongs that critical social justice seeks, in its faltering way, to address. Right now this argument is being conducted on the extremes. It is possible and even wise to criticize wokeism and dogmatic conservative detractors. Empathy, kindness, and even humor need to play a greater role in our discussion about intolerance and racism.
Great article. Yes, toxic wokeness is a greater threat. A house divided by tribalism plays right into China’s hands. Just finished a great read in Susan Neiman’s “Left Is Not Woke”.
The key question from this article and the comments section seems to be which form of institutional capture is best, left or right, and is a humanist approach to institutions actually possible? In my opinion the latter is impossible and fraught with the historical issues all utopian movements encounter. So if we are faced with having to choose between leftist, Marxist etc capture or populist capture I think the populist is by orders of magnitude the best option. Ask yourself this; which worldview or philosophy would be more compatible with our constitution? Which would seek to abolish said constitution? Therein lies your answer
"To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill" Sun Tzu's That is why people should read The Art of War to better understand what is going on. "Toxic wokeness" is also based on Marxist texts, so we are once again confronted with the battle of homogeneous identity versus human individuality and universal human rights (Equity and inclusion are not the same thing!) - we already know how this ends - in Gulags, as with all things Marxist...
Some numbers would be nice. Out of the 200K plus public K-12 schools’ textbooks, how many actually teach this doctrine of perpetual racism? The failure of the right to ever trouble itself with any kind of quants on this issue makes me think that its adherents simply loathe those very liberal teachers in ethnic skirts and hairdos. I admit I don’t like them much, either, but having gotten my own daughter through a NY public high school where she learned science and now works in defense, and having scrutinized her history textbooks (she graduated ten years ago), it’s difficult for me to believe that a bunch of well-meaning bleeding hearts such as the kind who used to educate her, are a threat on par with the CCP. Without something like evidence, this post is just another useless piece of agit-prop.
You're barking up the wrong tree with respect to the CCP. China has reached out to America numerous times seeking cooperation and working together on difficult challenges around the world, and the American government has snubbed their noses at them. Is China a perfect country, and have a perfect system? No, and they are humble enough to admit that, unlike America. There is not a scintilla of doubt that sooner, rather than later, China will be the dominant player in global economics and foreign policy. As an American, I would rather work in cooperation with China, then make them an adversary, and fight a losing battle.