The goal of the far-left was to make everyone, even the people who disagreed with them, more race-conscious. The problem is that many in the anti-woke crowd are falling for their traps. I'm going to use this video as an example of it: https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1694318731726397538?s=20
I wish I could add some embellishment to this post, but none is needed, so I am stuck just saying, "Excellent!" The irony of BOTH anti-woke and pro-woke evangelists falling prey to the same logical fallacy is almost too much. Almost.
I would rather focus on people and not attributes. When we concentrate too much on categories, we do not focus on faith, family, and communities. As a society, we are losing touch of what matters. That is when we van be manipulated by media, government, and ngos.
Well-reasoned, well-written and will be well remembered. And speaking of remembering ...
I am reminded of a science experiment in which two rats were placed in a cage. When one rat was electrically shocked, he would bite the other rat. We humans have far too much in common with rats, I'm afraid, and those who would rule us take advantage of it. If we are to survive, we must rise above that and go after the monsters who treat the planet as their laboratory and us as their caged rats to toy with as they please.
Excellent presentation. In my experience, almost all mistakes resulting from observations are the result of inherent biases. Nobody wants to systematically review their biases, much less admit to them.
PS - Race consciousness is not benign in any way, whether it's positive or negative. Even positive race consciousness will eventually lead us down the path to perdition.
Excellent points, thank you! Nothing proves the arbitrary nature of race like travel. As with other identity categories (besides male and female which are universal), the same complexion or religion or accent or language can mean completely different things in different places. A person who is black in Detroit might be considered white in Kingstown. Being Catholic (or Shia or Hindu) is irrelevant in one place and life threatening in another. Humans have infinite ways of dividing ourselves into us and them, including the "Woke/Antifa" versus "Fascist/Nazi" dynamic we see emerging now. It's long proved to be the gravest threat to civilized society and peace, and one we must always guard against.
Thanks Adam. An important reminder for everyone to worry less about immutable characteristics and more about the individual and what they bring to the table. I think your use of the term "race conscious" is brilliantly descriptive of what has happened and entirely correct. The incessant and unrelenting blather from the left has left us all more "race conscious" than I think any of us either recognize or want to be. It's important to be mindful of that trap as we go about our lives. Doing so will make us better individuals and better citizens for our fellow citizens. You are spot on as usual.
Most excellent piece, Adam. Indeed, the age old strategy of divide and conquer does work. Incredible how propaganda is used to bring about the intended objective.
You have a mind for the details of social nuance.
This tactic goes on around the world daily, Westerners think we are to educated and are immune, sad to say its a technique as old as time, hence it keeps going forward.
Yeah, I've seen exactly what you're talking about plenty, basically all black people and black organizations get tagged as "woke", without any inquiry into whether they are any such thing. That said, at present, unfortunately, the chances that an organization of black professionals is in fact woke is pretty high! But if you are truly anti-woke and committed to taking everyone as an individual, that shouldn't matter.
I was lamenting to my kids the other day how I have become more race conscious and it is not good!. I used to go happily through life just making note of a persons race like near last in the list of interesting things about them. Rarely occurred to me I was different. I was just going along to get along and felt totally accepted the majority of the time. Now I am super aware if I am in a room exclusively full of white people or brown people or black people or men or women.I don’t like it one bit. I feel like I am a worse person now. More suspicious, paranoid. Are you looking down on me? Am I really a diversity hire? Is your friendliness just fake? Is mine? I hate this!
To say "future doctors" and see a bunch people in white lab coats in a celebretory mood will lead some to assume it's a graduation. So, this doesn't appear to be "just a group of people in white lab coats".
I wish I could add some embellishment to this post, but none is needed, so I am stuck just saying, "Excellent!" The irony of BOTH anti-woke and pro-woke evangelists falling prey to the same logical fallacy is almost too much. Almost.
I would rather focus on people and not attributes. When we concentrate too much on categories, we do not focus on faith, family, and communities. As a society, we are losing touch of what matters. That is when we van be manipulated by media, government, and ngos.
Well-reasoned, well-written and will be well remembered. And speaking of remembering ...
I am reminded of a science experiment in which two rats were placed in a cage. When one rat was electrically shocked, he would bite the other rat. We humans have far too much in common with rats, I'm afraid, and those who would rule us take advantage of it. If we are to survive, we must rise above that and go after the monsters who treat the planet as their laboratory and us as their caged rats to toy with as they please.
Excellent presentation. In my experience, almost all mistakes resulting from observations are the result of inherent biases. Nobody wants to systematically review their biases, much less admit to them.
PS - Race consciousness is not benign in any way, whether it's positive or negative. Even positive race consciousness will eventually lead us down the path to perdition.
Excellent points, thank you! Nothing proves the arbitrary nature of race like travel. As with other identity categories (besides male and female which are universal), the same complexion or religion or accent or language can mean completely different things in different places. A person who is black in Detroit might be considered white in Kingstown. Being Catholic (or Shia or Hindu) is irrelevant in one place and life threatening in another. Humans have infinite ways of dividing ourselves into us and them, including the "Woke/Antifa" versus "Fascist/Nazi" dynamic we see emerging now. It's long proved to be the gravest threat to civilized society and peace, and one we must always guard against.
Thanks Adam. An important reminder for everyone to worry less about immutable characteristics and more about the individual and what they bring to the table. I think your use of the term "race conscious" is brilliantly descriptive of what has happened and entirely correct. The incessant and unrelenting blather from the left has left us all more "race conscious" than I think any of us either recognize or want to be. It's important to be mindful of that trap as we go about our lives. Doing so will make us better individuals and better citizens for our fellow citizens. You are spot on as usual.
Most excellent piece, Adam. Indeed, the age old strategy of divide and conquer does work. Incredible how propaganda is used to bring about the intended objective.
You have a mind for the details of social nuance.
This tactic goes on around the world daily, Westerners think we are to educated and are immune, sad to say its a technique as old as time, hence it keeps going forward.
Yeah, I've seen exactly what you're talking about plenty, basically all black people and black organizations get tagged as "woke", without any inquiry into whether they are any such thing. That said, at present, unfortunately, the chances that an organization of black professionals is in fact woke is pretty high! But if you are truly anti-woke and committed to taking everyone as an individual, that shouldn't matter.
I was lamenting to my kids the other day how I have become more race conscious and it is not good!. I used to go happily through life just making note of a persons race like near last in the list of interesting things about them. Rarely occurred to me I was different. I was just going along to get along and felt totally accepted the majority of the time. Now I am super aware if I am in a room exclusively full of white people or brown people or black people or men or women.I don’t like it one bit. I feel like I am a worse person now. More suspicious, paranoid. Are you looking down on me? Am I really a diversity hire? Is your friendliness just fake? Is mine? I hate this!
To say "future doctors" and see a bunch people in white lab coats in a celebretory mood will lead some to assume it's a graduation. So, this doesn't appear to be "just a group of people in white lab coats".
Fine, but they were still wrong. That's the point. They wanted it to feed into their notion that many of them are undeserving to do so.
Really important points. It's so easy to slip into the trap and perpetuate what you think you are fighting against. Great essay.