Wokeness is just the professed attitudes of the liberal elite. It does not guide their broad policy. Americas Liberal elite want to be seen as believers of “the last will be first,” while their policies continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Liberal elites are woke the same way Roman Emperors were Christian. They knuckled under and adopted the religion of their subjects to solidify their rule. Very convient for the imperial senate and emperors to choose a creed that espouses that “there is dignity in suffering like Christ did,” when they were the cause of so much suffering.
What Nietzsche called slave morality is powerful in part because it’s naturally alliance-building as opposed to isolating and individualistic, and it minimises the social risk of doing something bad in pursuit of power; you get to say “I made a mistake out of an excess of empathy” rather than out of an excess of selfishness. That goes a long way
I’ve re-read genealogy of morals four times in the last year and every time I’m slapped in the face by some previously unnoticed insight into our current situation. He really is the philosopher of our present and near future, I hope the they do the Rest is History episode on him they occasionally mention
In a similar vein, “One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism” by Rodney Stark is an excellent book; basically - among his other early books - a sociology of monotheism, and why it remains such a powerful social force. What is interesting about Stark’s early work is that the question of whether or not a monotheistic God exists is beside the point; rather, he shows how the belief in such a notion structured social life in ways that continue, even when the belief itself is absent.
Damn, Kid! You keep knocking them out of the park. Gentry liberalism gave way to Woke dilettantism which handed the globalist oligarchs a one-edged sword. Take a look at London's Sir Rowley , Chief of Police and ersatz London Gau-Fuhrer, he wants to extradict Yanks for thought crimes. These Nietzsche boys mean business. Great work from an original thinker. Stay safe.
Thanks for your reference to Tom Holland as essential reading. I look forward to it. In my ms, Berlin Nights: Hegel and the American Revolution, I argue that the American Revolution's foundation in Christianity was one of several moments that confirmed for Hegel, America's place as a "land of the future". Most interpretations of Hegel suggest that the French Revolution really inspired him. But this is hardly likely as the Gallic uprising crushed religion and prepared the way for Napoleon's dictatorship and the bloody French occupation of Europe. Incidentally Hegel's colleague Friedrich List went to America and helped prepare the theoretical aspects of the American system that contributed greatly to Lincoln's victory over slavery. Hamilton's economics is part of Hegel's Philosophy of Right--definitely not Adam Smith
Interesting. You probably already know, then, about Francis Lieber, a Prussian jurist, influenced by Hegel, and friend of Tocqueville, who went to the U.S. and was a founding figure in the establishment of the discipline of political science, which framed the subject for the first generations of political science students (and later acaedmics) in the States - a framework leaning heavily on Hegel.
Thanks for your comment, and no I did not know about Francis Lieber, and would profit from any information you might have on him. I am relieved to know about the Hegelian connection with Tocqueville. For some reason I have been leary of T and maybe I need to look again. About two years ago my research (already a decade in) got sideswiped by my sudden realization that Hegel was a victim of the Cold War, especially the expungement of Prussia in 1947 to clear the way for the current WEF view of the planet. I call it the Cold War interpretation of Hegel, initiated by Lukacs.
What puzzles me about the argument that woke is just secular Christianity is that Christians don't believe in equality of outcome. Universal salvation is a Christian heresy. I know the wokes consider white people reprobate but the mania for equality of outcome seems to me not very Christian all the same. Classical liberal equality of opportunity can more or less be traced back to the reformation, but equality of outcome is a Marxian obsession. It comes from a secular Jew who wrote a doctoral thesis on Epicurean atomism. I think that's the woke lineage, but I haven't read Holland's book yet so don't know what his argument is.
I was skeptical of it myself but ultimately social justice fanaticism is too long and consistent as a social phenomena in the Christian world to dismiss. I don’t think fine distinctions like that play a role in fanatical egalitarianism that drives Quaker abolitionists or today’s Palestine activists - a cause supported by the activist left and the pope. Also Marx himself wasn’t arguing for engineering equality of outcome, he argued the next stage of history would inevitably be the end of the capitalist class and even criticized moral egalitarianism as utopian. Nevertheless some egalitarian/social justice fanatics today use his name. Again I think it’s more a feeling and personality type than a precise philosophy. Catholic social teaching and social justice have an obvious similarity. For me though it was the uncanny similarity in the fanatical personality types throughout history that convinced me.
I can easily believe that there's a predisposition to social justice activism that owes a lot to Christian culture, but the intellectual content of wokeness, dumbed down as it may be in popular discourse, comes from academics who are explicitly Marxist or influenced by Marxism, and I've always assumed wokeism transcended the campus and went mainstream because enough of their students had entered the wider economy. What you say about Marx not arguing for engineering equality of outcome may be true, but surely the "wrong side of history" charge levelled at 'the far right' is Marxist in origin.
Cold War leftism, what we understand as leftism in the west, is a grab bag of random incoherent egalitarianisms from anarchism to Marxism to pacifism to sexual identity politics. They’re not serious about overthrowing the capitalist class at all and they were largely created by the CIA as a “compatible left” to counter the Soviet Union. However I do think there’s a personality type that is drawn to fanatical egalitarianism who have the francis of Assisi persona who can go off the reservation because they are true believers. Classic example being the Palestine crowd. They had the universities and the international law and it amounted to nothing because it went outside of permitted boundaries. If you’re worried about Marxism taking over, fear not! There’ll only be whatever US intelligence allows.
Pope Francis, Greta Thunberg, Aaron Bushnell... these are authentic inheritors of Christian social justice worldview regardless of whether religious or secular.
Wokeness is just the professed attitudes of the liberal elite. It does not guide their broad policy. Americas Liberal elite want to be seen as believers of “the last will be first,” while their policies continue to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Liberal elites are woke the same way Roman Emperors were Christian. They knuckled under and adopted the religion of their subjects to solidify their rule. Very convient for the imperial senate and emperors to choose a creed that espouses that “there is dignity in suffering like Christ did,” when they were the cause of so much suffering.
What Nietzsche called slave morality is powerful in part because it’s naturally alliance-building as opposed to isolating and individualistic, and it minimises the social risk of doing something bad in pursuit of power; you get to say “I made a mistake out of an excess of empathy” rather than out of an excess of selfishness. That goes a long way
I’ve re-read genealogy of morals four times in the last year and every time I’m slapped in the face by some previously unnoticed insight into our current situation. He really is the philosopher of our present and near future, I hope the they do the Rest is History episode on him they occasionally mention
In a similar vein, “One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism” by Rodney Stark is an excellent book; basically - among his other early books - a sociology of monotheism, and why it remains such a powerful social force. What is interesting about Stark’s early work is that the question of whether or not a monotheistic God exists is beside the point; rather, he shows how the belief in such a notion structured social life in ways that continue, even when the belief itself is absent.
Damn, Kid! You keep knocking them out of the park. Gentry liberalism gave way to Woke dilettantism which handed the globalist oligarchs a one-edged sword. Take a look at London's Sir Rowley , Chief of Police and ersatz London Gau-Fuhrer, he wants to extradict Yanks for thought crimes. These Nietzsche boys mean business. Great work from an original thinker. Stay safe.
Thanks Pat!
Thanks for your reference to Tom Holland as essential reading. I look forward to it. In my ms, Berlin Nights: Hegel and the American Revolution, I argue that the American Revolution's foundation in Christianity was one of several moments that confirmed for Hegel, America's place as a "land of the future". Most interpretations of Hegel suggest that the French Revolution really inspired him. But this is hardly likely as the Gallic uprising crushed religion and prepared the way for Napoleon's dictatorship and the bloody French occupation of Europe. Incidentally Hegel's colleague Friedrich List went to America and helped prepare the theoretical aspects of the American system that contributed greatly to Lincoln's victory over slavery. Hamilton's economics is part of Hegel's Philosophy of Right--definitely not Adam Smith
Interesting. You probably already know, then, about Francis Lieber, a Prussian jurist, influenced by Hegel, and friend of Tocqueville, who went to the U.S. and was a founding figure in the establishment of the discipline of political science, which framed the subject for the first generations of political science students (and later acaedmics) in the States - a framework leaning heavily on Hegel.
Thanks for your comment, and no I did not know about Francis Lieber, and would profit from any information you might have on him. I am relieved to know about the Hegelian connection with Tocqueville. For some reason I have been leary of T and maybe I need to look again. About two years ago my research (already a decade in) got sideswiped by my sudden realization that Hegel was a victim of the Cold War, especially the expungement of Prussia in 1947 to clear the way for the current WEF view of the planet. I call it the Cold War interpretation of Hegel, initiated by Lukacs.
Will give Holland a read.
Pasolini’s line on the ‘fascism of anti-fascism’ has been on mind a lot this week. And there it is again!
What puzzles me about the argument that woke is just secular Christianity is that Christians don't believe in equality of outcome. Universal salvation is a Christian heresy. I know the wokes consider white people reprobate but the mania for equality of outcome seems to me not very Christian all the same. Classical liberal equality of opportunity can more or less be traced back to the reformation, but equality of outcome is a Marxian obsession. It comes from a secular Jew who wrote a doctoral thesis on Epicurean atomism. I think that's the woke lineage, but I haven't read Holland's book yet so don't know what his argument is.
I was skeptical of it myself but ultimately social justice fanaticism is too long and consistent as a social phenomena in the Christian world to dismiss. I don’t think fine distinctions like that play a role in fanatical egalitarianism that drives Quaker abolitionists or today’s Palestine activists - a cause supported by the activist left and the pope. Also Marx himself wasn’t arguing for engineering equality of outcome, he argued the next stage of history would inevitably be the end of the capitalist class and even criticized moral egalitarianism as utopian. Nevertheless some egalitarian/social justice fanatics today use his name. Again I think it’s more a feeling and personality type than a precise philosophy. Catholic social teaching and social justice have an obvious similarity. For me though it was the uncanny similarity in the fanatical personality types throughout history that convinced me.
I can easily believe that there's a predisposition to social justice activism that owes a lot to Christian culture, but the intellectual content of wokeness, dumbed down as it may be in popular discourse, comes from academics who are explicitly Marxist or influenced by Marxism, and I've always assumed wokeism transcended the campus and went mainstream because enough of their students had entered the wider economy. What you say about Marx not arguing for engineering equality of outcome may be true, but surely the "wrong side of history" charge levelled at 'the far right' is Marxist in origin.
Cold War leftism, what we understand as leftism in the west, is a grab bag of random incoherent egalitarianisms from anarchism to Marxism to pacifism to sexual identity politics. They’re not serious about overthrowing the capitalist class at all and they were largely created by the CIA as a “compatible left” to counter the Soviet Union. However I do think there’s a personality type that is drawn to fanatical egalitarianism who have the francis of Assisi persona who can go off the reservation because they are true believers. Classic example being the Palestine crowd. They had the universities and the international law and it amounted to nothing because it went outside of permitted boundaries. If you’re worried about Marxism taking over, fear not! There’ll only be whatever US intelligence allows.
Pope Francis, Greta Thunberg, Aaron Bushnell... these are authentic inheritors of Christian social justice worldview regardless of whether religious or secular.