Jul 19, 2023·edited Jul 19, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
Yes, it's great to nail these Freire/Marcuse types for their Machiavellian poisoning of the West. But what made them so SUCCESSFUL in wokefying our Western culture? That's the bit that's missing here....and needs to not be shied away from if we are going to get at the real truth of things. What made them so successful is that so many people (especially the 'higher educated') are so intellectually biddable. Take another context: it is an almost universal conceit that the horrors of The Cultural Revolution were all about Mao and his gang. The truth is much darker. Mao would have been nothing without tens of millions of biddable, favour-seeking, grudge-bearing followers.
Thanks again for your work Christopher! Just purchased the audible version and looking forward to it, albeit with mixed feelings. As an older person this takeover has made me incredibly sad, disoriented and worried for my children and grandchildren. The work Christopher and others are doing is so important in pushing back against the unreality and anti-humanity of these destructive ideas. I hope it’s not too late.
A great book to read is Joshua Muravchik's Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (2002). Muravchik was National Chairman of the Young People's Socialist League in the late 60s and early 70s, then shifted his politics towards the right. His thesis is that socialism -- plus other Marxist variants like communism and social democracy -- are attempts to supplant traditional religions with an ideology supposedly grounded in "science." Seeing Marxist-isms in this light, as "religions," I think is super helpful.
One of the great ironies about our zeitgeist and our Cultural Revolution, which as Chris shows was written, produced and directed by people united in hatred against capitalism, is that Social Justice has turned out to be the greatest gift to capitalism since the carried-interest loophole.
Social Justice has become the official ideology of the global corporate state for various reasons, including: it mentions nothing about money and is fine with a hierarchy of wealth, as long as this hierarchy has proper "representation"; it allows corporations and the plutocrat class to easily co-opt symbols of political virtue, with BLM stickers and Pride flags the equivalent of a robber baron wearing a large crucifix to show they're on the side of the angels; it allows them to purchase a commissar class on the cheap, who are happy to viciously attack any and all enemies, and thus redirect their anger from the ownership class; and it opens up whole new lines of niche marketing, so now instead of your annual Labor Day and Black Friday sales you have all the new Social Justice holidays plus all the new bespoke identities to cater to...
It turns out these aspiring world-changing revolutionaries really just wanted to be some combo of Soviet commissar and German Stasi, to be able to attack and punish anyone who gets in their way, but with a socially approved (even socially lauded) pretext.
Or (once again) as Mencken said: "The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. Power is what all messiahs really seek: not the chance to serve."
Jul 19, 2023·edited Jul 19, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
When Marxists speak of "liberation," they mean liberating people from freedom so they may have "liberated" totalitarian government control. China is a good example of a nation that has been "liberated." Every action of the Chinese people is monitored ruthlessly and punishments are exacted by the Chinese Communist Party. I suggest watching the film documentary "The Final War" to learn more about the Chinese Communist Party's quest for world domination. You can find "The Final War" on The Epoch Times website or at https://www.thefinalwar.org/
Unbelievable that Western society is being destroyed by malcontent half baked social pseudoscience academics spouting incorrect divisive invented theories. Marxist theory is not a realistic, accurate assessment of how society or economics in practice actually work. Critical race theory likewise is not an accurate representation of modern social reality in the United States. Ivory tower eggheads with no experience in the real world can theorize to their hearts’ content. In fact, their intellectual
output is crap- wildly and deliberately inaccurate. The question is how these dingbats were able to sell this package of lies and misrepresentations to powerful people and why it took the country by surprise. Nothing good can come from any of this. The socialist creates misery and failure every time. We already see the effects of three years of power hungry idiocy at work. It’s like suddenly nothing in America works by the agreed upon rules.
Really enjoying these excerpts while I wait for my copy. Your analogy to Mao's "Long March" in yesterday's excerpt was both striking and closely apt, as our ideologists did in incorporate Maoism into their thinking.
Jul 19, 2023·edited Jul 19, 2023Liked by Christopher F. Rufo
I admire those who have the patience to read critical theory and grapple with opaque statements like, 'American teachers and students, McLaren argued, must “[break] the imaginary power of commodified identities within capitalism” and “construct sites—provisional sites—in which new structured mobilities and tendential lines of forces can be made to suture identity to the larger problematic of social justice.”'
OK . . . do these theoretical essays or anti-Capitalist broadsides come with glossaries? How is one expected to understand the meaning of terms like "structured mobilities and tendential lines of forces"? If I was inclined to make a real effort to glean meaning from this, I don't even know how to paraphrase it. Off the top of my head, a "commodified identity" refers to some generalized type of person used as an image to sell products or services, you know, advertising. The horror! You're so precious and unique that the sort of person you imagine yourself to be is above being captured to sell condoms? What's the gripe? "Hey, I made up this persona and if you want to use it to sell stuff, I want my cut"? These commies of consciousness appear to believe in a contradiction-- that the ego is at once fluid (see transgenderism) and immutable or sacred in some sense. It also gives advertising far too much credit for the influence it has on people. Only the most childish "identify" with commercial images or--god forbid--model their lives after them. I like The Three Stooges as an example of this--how soon does a kid learn that if you drag a saw over your buddy's head you can seriously injure him? More seriously, the neo-Marxists appear to want to take control of how we idealize others, who we admire and trust; they want to control who and what we value as Good and True.
I do not for one millisecond trust neo-Marxists with control of my archetypes and social relations. They want to burn down Western culture with nothing to put in its place but vague theoretical vaporings, if that. What will be the new idealized Socialist image of Man? I think we can all guess. Disney's working hard to figure it out, but so far their revisions aren't going over so well.
I have a problem with this sentence of Rufo's: 'The theoreticians divide the world into identity hierarchies; the teachers engage in the work of decolonization; the students become entries in sprawling databases; the bureaucracies process human data into social change.'
Is this bit about "databases" a metaphor? if it is, I don't get it. What sort of databases? For what purpose?
Chris, this latest socialist movement and their "progress" is extremely well researched and described in the two excerpts you've shared here. My order of your book is scheduled to be delivered today - I look forward to reading your fully developed thoughts on this evil, anti-humanist philosophy.
This article, Christopher, is exceptionally written. The halls of academia have abandoned real education and are heavily concentrated on teaching activism. In this process of dumbing down students have served as the conduit for promoting socialism and communism. Thanks for your brave reporting.
I purchased an e-book and an Audible version of the book via Amazon. Since 7/19, I've tried to submit a review to the book (as a verified purchase). Somehow, my reviews haven't been accepted or rejected—nothing! Meanwhile, there are reviews posted on 7/19 and since (including negative reviews from people who obviously didn't read it) by reviewers who don't have a verified purchase. It seems to me like Amazon might be making it difficult for positive reviewers to review the book. Am I the only one who has this problem?
Yes, it's great to nail these Freire/Marcuse types for their Machiavellian poisoning of the West. But what made them so SUCCESSFUL in wokefying our Western culture? That's the bit that's missing here....and needs to not be shied away from if we are going to get at the real truth of things. What made them so successful is that so many people (especially the 'higher educated') are so intellectually biddable. Take another context: it is an almost universal conceit that the horrors of The Cultural Revolution were all about Mao and his gang. The truth is much darker. Mao would have been nothing without tens of millions of biddable, favour-seeking, grudge-bearing followers.
Thanks again for your work Christopher! Just purchased the audible version and looking forward to it, albeit with mixed feelings. As an older person this takeover has made me incredibly sad, disoriented and worried for my children and grandchildren. The work Christopher and others are doing is so important in pushing back against the unreality and anti-humanity of these destructive ideas. I hope it’s not too late.
A great book to read is Joshua Muravchik's Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism (2002). Muravchik was National Chairman of the Young People's Socialist League in the late 60s and early 70s, then shifted his politics towards the right. His thesis is that socialism -- plus other Marxist variants like communism and social democracy -- are attempts to supplant traditional religions with an ideology supposedly grounded in "science." Seeing Marxist-isms in this light, as "religions," I think is super helpful.
One of the great ironies about our zeitgeist and our Cultural Revolution, which as Chris shows was written, produced and directed by people united in hatred against capitalism, is that Social Justice has turned out to be the greatest gift to capitalism since the carried-interest loophole.
Social Justice has become the official ideology of the global corporate state for various reasons, including: it mentions nothing about money and is fine with a hierarchy of wealth, as long as this hierarchy has proper "representation"; it allows corporations and the plutocrat class to easily co-opt symbols of political virtue, with BLM stickers and Pride flags the equivalent of a robber baron wearing a large crucifix to show they're on the side of the angels; it allows them to purchase a commissar class on the cheap, who are happy to viciously attack any and all enemies, and thus redirect their anger from the ownership class; and it opens up whole new lines of niche marketing, so now instead of your annual Labor Day and Black Friday sales you have all the new Social Justice holidays plus all the new bespoke identities to cater to...
It turns out these aspiring world-changing revolutionaries really just wanted to be some combo of Soviet commissar and German Stasi, to be able to attack and punish anyone who gets in their way, but with a socially approved (even socially lauded) pretext.
Or (once again) as Mencken said: "The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. Power is what all messiahs really seek: not the chance to serve."
When Marxists speak of "liberation," they mean liberating people from freedom so they may have "liberated" totalitarian government control. China is a good example of a nation that has been "liberated." Every action of the Chinese people is monitored ruthlessly and punishments are exacted by the Chinese Communist Party. I suggest watching the film documentary "The Final War" to learn more about the Chinese Communist Party's quest for world domination. You can find "The Final War" on The Epoch Times website or at https://www.thefinalwar.org/
Unbelievable that Western society is being destroyed by malcontent half baked social pseudoscience academics spouting incorrect divisive invented theories. Marxist theory is not a realistic, accurate assessment of how society or economics in practice actually work. Critical race theory likewise is not an accurate representation of modern social reality in the United States. Ivory tower eggheads with no experience in the real world can theorize to their hearts’ content. In fact, their intellectual
output is crap- wildly and deliberately inaccurate. The question is how these dingbats were able to sell this package of lies and misrepresentations to powerful people and why it took the country by surprise. Nothing good can come from any of this. The socialist creates misery and failure every time. We already see the effects of three years of power hungry idiocy at work. It’s like suddenly nothing in America works by the agreed upon rules.
Nathaniel Pawlowski testified today in the European Parliament about the Tyranny in Canada!
https://youtu.be/fFWmsVaNO8Y
Terrifying! You explain this with great clarity. Looking forward to reading the book which I’ve ordered.
Really enjoying these excerpts while I wait for my copy. Your analogy to Mao's "Long March" in yesterday's excerpt was both striking and closely apt, as our ideologists did in incorporate Maoism into their thinking.
I admire those who have the patience to read critical theory and grapple with opaque statements like, 'American teachers and students, McLaren argued, must “[break] the imaginary power of commodified identities within capitalism” and “construct sites—provisional sites—in which new structured mobilities and tendential lines of forces can be made to suture identity to the larger problematic of social justice.”'
OK . . . do these theoretical essays or anti-Capitalist broadsides come with glossaries? How is one expected to understand the meaning of terms like "structured mobilities and tendential lines of forces"? If I was inclined to make a real effort to glean meaning from this, I don't even know how to paraphrase it. Off the top of my head, a "commodified identity" refers to some generalized type of person used as an image to sell products or services, you know, advertising. The horror! You're so precious and unique that the sort of person you imagine yourself to be is above being captured to sell condoms? What's the gripe? "Hey, I made up this persona and if you want to use it to sell stuff, I want my cut"? These commies of consciousness appear to believe in a contradiction-- that the ego is at once fluid (see transgenderism) and immutable or sacred in some sense. It also gives advertising far too much credit for the influence it has on people. Only the most childish "identify" with commercial images or--god forbid--model their lives after them. I like The Three Stooges as an example of this--how soon does a kid learn that if you drag a saw over your buddy's head you can seriously injure him? More seriously, the neo-Marxists appear to want to take control of how we idealize others, who we admire and trust; they want to control who and what we value as Good and True.
I do not for one millisecond trust neo-Marxists with control of my archetypes and social relations. They want to burn down Western culture with nothing to put in its place but vague theoretical vaporings, if that. What will be the new idealized Socialist image of Man? I think we can all guess. Disney's working hard to figure it out, but so far their revisions aren't going over so well.
I have a problem with this sentence of Rufo's: 'The theoreticians divide the world into identity hierarchies; the teachers engage in the work of decolonization; the students become entries in sprawling databases; the bureaucracies process human data into social change.'
Is this bit about "databases" a metaphor? if it is, I don't get it. What sort of databases? For what purpose?
Edited for usage
The Interchangeable Carbon Units ever in need of further shaping.
Just ordered my copy last night The long march of the left is a clear and present danger to the future of America
Chris, this latest socialist movement and their "progress" is extremely well researched and described in the two excerpts you've shared here. My order of your book is scheduled to be delivered today - I look forward to reading your fully developed thoughts on this evil, anti-humanist philosophy.
This article, Christopher, is exceptionally written. The halls of academia have abandoned real education and are heavily concentrated on teaching activism. In this process of dumbing down students have served as the conduit for promoting socialism and communism. Thanks for your brave reporting.
My book arrived yesterday as did the audio. Looking forward to digging in ❤️
I purchased an e-book and an Audible version of the book via Amazon. Since 7/19, I've tried to submit a review to the book (as a verified purchase). Somehow, my reviews haven't been accepted or rejected—nothing! Meanwhile, there are reviews posted on 7/19 and since (including negative reviews from people who obviously didn't read it) by reviewers who don't have a verified purchase. It seems to me like Amazon might be making it difficult for positive reviewers to review the book. Am I the only one who has this problem?