I've decided to open up this entry of our book club to everyone (no paywall) as it is much shorter than the previous entries covering this fantastic book.
Hit the like button above and use the share button to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already.
For those of you who aren't paying subscribers, you really should check out the other entries in this book club, and buy the book too as it is an excellent read.
Jun 21, 2022·edited Jun 21, 2022Liked by Niccolo Soldo
The cadre of woke graduates working their way through institutions terrify older, established, superiors. You see this in every sector: media, universities, publishing, the arts, the military. The woke secure a berth and proceed to transform everything, regardless of the implications for others.
This has been made easier by the inept or failed stewardship of institutions by the Baby Boomers. The Boomers were defined by Oedipal contempt for their antecedents and they simply have no will, no capacity, to obstruct further waves of similar disruption. Once you buy into an Oedipal world-view (forgetting that the Oedipal stage is a process leading to eventual maturation, not the end-point of a mature personality) there appears top be no way out.
The intensity of woke fanaticism is a function of the lack of any constraint or opposition coupled by the rarity of genuine racism or patriarchy in existence. The fading memory of racism and patriarchy elicits stronger emotional reactions, precisely because the woke are free to conjure up phantoms with which to fight. By the time of Ambrose, the persecution of the church was a distant memory.
I'm not convinced that woke is going to be a long term phenomenon. Christianity was ascendant in ancient Rome both because of the conviction of those who believed in it as well as because living in accordance with what we call natural law will result in you being more successful than those who don't. The pagan culture of Rome was incredibly decadent - in the time of St Augustine for example, there was a Roman equivalent to pickup artist culture that Augustine himself was involved in before his conversion. Even in the time of Julius Caesar, Caesar wrote that Romans preferred to keep dogs rather than children. I think we can recognise the similarities to our own culture. When Christianity emerged, it came with a strict retirement to either engage in sexuality in a way that's in accord with natural law, or to be celibate. Because of this, the Christians of the time would have larger families then the pagans, which further contributed to its ascendancy
If we compare this to woke today, does woke make any of its followers better off? If you go trans, then you're committing yourself to ending your lineage, so even if you're materially successful, that ends with you. You could say the same about other tenets of woke, like the "medicine" that at best has no negative effects on you.
In these circumstances I find it much more likely that a counterculture that comes out of dissident spaces will one day overtake woke, or whatever woke has devolved into by that point.
I would be curious to know more about childhood education of that period, how it played into the conversions to Christianity. I think the wokes are just petulant children who were always told they were right, they were inherently good, and there are no consequences for their actions (in this life or the next). Self righteousness and condemning others feels good and they were encouraged to indulge in them. Religion is a necessary counter to these animal instincts that has been abandoned. Basically, we tilled the soil and are surprised to see weeds take root. The particular manifestation is almost irrelevant, the conditions were ripe for anything to take over.
I've decided to open up this entry of our book club to everyone (no paywall) as it is much shorter than the previous entries covering this fantastic book.
Hit the like button above and use the share button to share this across social media. Leave a comment if the mood strikes you and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already.
For those of you who aren't paying subscribers, you really should check out the other entries in this book club, and buy the book too as it is an excellent read.
The cadre of woke graduates working their way through institutions terrify older, established, superiors. You see this in every sector: media, universities, publishing, the arts, the military. The woke secure a berth and proceed to transform everything, regardless of the implications for others.
This has been made easier by the inept or failed stewardship of institutions by the Baby Boomers. The Boomers were defined by Oedipal contempt for their antecedents and they simply have no will, no capacity, to obstruct further waves of similar disruption. Once you buy into an Oedipal world-view (forgetting that the Oedipal stage is a process leading to eventual maturation, not the end-point of a mature personality) there appears top be no way out.
The intensity of woke fanaticism is a function of the lack of any constraint or opposition coupled by the rarity of genuine racism or patriarchy in existence. The fading memory of racism and patriarchy elicits stronger emotional reactions, precisely because the woke are free to conjure up phantoms with which to fight. By the time of Ambrose, the persecution of the church was a distant memory.
In the absence of strong religious belief something was bound to replace it. Another ‘cult’, as you say.
I'm not convinced that woke is going to be a long term phenomenon. Christianity was ascendant in ancient Rome both because of the conviction of those who believed in it as well as because living in accordance with what we call natural law will result in you being more successful than those who don't. The pagan culture of Rome was incredibly decadent - in the time of St Augustine for example, there was a Roman equivalent to pickup artist culture that Augustine himself was involved in before his conversion. Even in the time of Julius Caesar, Caesar wrote that Romans preferred to keep dogs rather than children. I think we can recognise the similarities to our own culture. When Christianity emerged, it came with a strict retirement to either engage in sexuality in a way that's in accord with natural law, or to be celibate. Because of this, the Christians of the time would have larger families then the pagans, which further contributed to its ascendancy
If we compare this to woke today, does woke make any of its followers better off? If you go trans, then you're committing yourself to ending your lineage, so even if you're materially successful, that ends with you. You could say the same about other tenets of woke, like the "medicine" that at best has no negative effects on you.
In these circumstances I find it much more likely that a counterculture that comes out of dissident spaces will one day overtake woke, or whatever woke has devolved into by that point.
I would be curious to know more about childhood education of that period, how it played into the conversions to Christianity. I think the wokes are just petulant children who were always told they were right, they were inherently good, and there are no consequences for their actions (in this life or the next). Self righteousness and condemning others feels good and they were encouraged to indulge in them. Religion is a necessary counter to these animal instincts that has been abandoned. Basically, we tilled the soil and are surprised to see weeds take root. The particular manifestation is almost irrelevant, the conditions were ripe for anything to take over.
What a coincidence that this ruling from the US Supreme Court came out while we are discussing this book.
U.S. Supreme Court backs public money for religious schools - https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-supreme-court-backs-public-money-religious-schools-maine-case-2022-06-21
Ahhh no tolerance like no tolerance. The bait and switch of the foxes. Some people never learn
Sr Soldo I really think you should check out Deutschland 83/86/89, especially 89 (fall of the Wall). On Hulu now.
The libs may be dying but the woke are stillborn. Chris Bray is right, the Woke are Jonestown.
If the old Dems aren’t the DDR at the end ...
I'm reminded of the wonk mantra "I won't tolerate intolerance", though (as usual) I'm not certain how it relates.
I'm endlessly fascinated by that statement, incidentally, though to my endless frustration I haven't found a good allegory for it.