Impossible To Satisfy, By Design
Bo and Ben Winegard ponder woke piety and its contradictions:
Even Woke language for popular consumption is complicated by a quickly changing list of taboo epithets. Is it wrong to say homosexual relationship? Is it all right to say African-American? Will I be berated if I say Mexican-American? These changing prohibitions function well to distinguish elites from hoi polloi because they require devotion, erudition, and the right social acquaintances to understand.
Using arcane language and adhering to constantly changing norms about acceptable epithets are not particularly effective for attracting people from the broader population to one’s cause. In fact, they almost certainly alienate many average, and otherwise sympathetic, Americans, who understandably disdain indecipherable prose and elite superciliousness. Therefore, this signalling function of the Woke faith is actually antithetical to the stated goals of Wokeness (i.e., creating a more just social world—which requires a broad coalition of different classes of people).
Also antithetical to the stated goals of Wokeness is the tendency of its most popular preachers to castigate sinners instead of calmly attempting to persuade them of the justness of the Woke doctrine. Antithetical, but perfectly comprehensible from a signalling perspective. Those who are Woke don’t really want to inhabit an entirely Woke world without the bigoted masses; instead, they want to occupy a world of good and evil, of the just and the wicked, of the high status and the low status, of the elite and hoi polloi.
As noted here previously, it helps if you think of woke piety as a kind of positional good, a marker of in-group status, jealously defended and forever in peril; and hence the unattractive desperation and crab-bucket dynamic that so often accompany such displays. For the woke, it’s always winter, but never Christmas. As Kristian Niemietz put it,
A positional good is a good that people acquire to signal where they stand in a social hierarchy; it is acquired in order to set oneself apart from others. Positional goods therefore have a peculiar property: the utility their consumers derive from them is inversely related to the number of people who can access them… PC-brigadiers behave exactly like owners of a positional good who panic because wider availability of that good threatens their social status.
The PC brigade has been highly successful in creating new social taboos, but their success is their very problem. Moral superiority is a prime example of a positional good, because we cannot all be morally superior to each other. Once you have successfully exorcised a word or an opinion, how do you differentiate yourself from others now? You need new things to be outraged about, new ways of asserting your imagined moral superiority.
And so the goal posts have to move, and keep moving, leading to ever greater contrivance and ever more absurd definitions of oppression. There’s an in-built neediness that leads to escalation and all manner of bizarre phenomena. From “social justice” activists fabricating ‘hate’ crimes for lack of any real ones, to agonised Guardian articles about the menace posed by heteronormative cupcakes and spellcheck software, and about how men discussing barbecues is not only “oppressively penetrating,” but about as “oppressively penetrating” as a thing can be.
And this insatiable, theatrical woe has little to do with how the world actually is. It does, however, have a great deal to do with how the woke wish to seem. In order to maintain a pretence of heroic radicalism and intellectual heft – and in order to justify funding and status – new and rarer forms of exploitation and injustice have to be discovered or conjured into being. Which leads to extremism, intolerance and absurdity, not because the mainstream of society is becoming more racist, prejudiced, patriarchal or oppressive – but precisely because it isn’t.
Via Pogonip.
And yet they are still taken seriously!
Yes, it’s fun to watch them try to outdo one another to establish their position in the pecking order, but at the end of the day our neighbors are still too frightened to express their true opinions on a wide range of subjects, lest their lives be turned upside-down by the zealots of this dangerous cult movement.
It might be acceptable if it were just courtiers jostling with each other, but we overlook that one of the primary methods by which these psychopaths advance themselves is by claiming the scalps of ordinary people who aren’t down with the program.
What’s truly frustrating is that most people recognize that it’s all bullshit, but they’re stuck playing along because the risk is too great otherwise. Frankly, this is one preference cascade that can’t happen soon enough.
The trademark of the left is they’re never satisfied. In their eternal (and possibly mostly unspoken but earnestly assumed) quest, there cannot be a point in time where everyone is Woke enough and social equality and justice is permanently embedded in all. On this impossible journey, there will be ever more finely nuanced degrees of being Woke. I Woke, you mostly Woke, they not nearly Woke enough.
As always, these will bring about indigestion as the left eats itself in a frenzy of gnashing teeth among the spittle of outrage directed at their own kind.
For the rest of us, meh. We don’t even like the use of the word Woke, if truth be known.
They really don’t want everyone to be woke, because then everyone would truly be equal, and that is NOT the goal. The real goal is moving forward into the past, to a feudal society ruled by a wise and compassionate king/queen, who is advised by a semi-religious sect in the universities to develop the theory, and a knowledgeable expert aristocracy (most of the left professional supporters) in the government to implement them. The actual work is done by a select group of artisans in guilds that thoroughly control access through a certification process that is shrouded in all sorts of mystery and incantations. The rest of society supports all of these “smart people”, and sits around the (small) fires at night signing happy songs about their wonderful leaders.
The trademark of the left is they’re never satisfied. In their eternal (and possibly mostly unspoken but earnestly assumed) quest, there cannot be a point in time where everyone is Woke enough and social equality and justice is permanently embedded in all.
Because that’s the only “work” that they know how to do. And we pay them to do that in our schools and universities, both as “students” and as teachers.
The trademark of the left is they’re never satisfied.
The social justice howler monkeys at DePauw University are a pretty good example.
Also these clowns here.
Should we call the house band the Heteronormative Cupcakes, or would that make the henchlesbians feel oppressed?
While I understand it has gained some currency amongst the masses, I do wish writers and speakers would stop using “the hoi polloi“, as the English definite article is redundant.
Hey, who stole my drink?
Probably Spiny Norman—he came up one short the other day.
Bugger. (Begins flipping beer mats, five at a time)
GKC
As always, these will bring about indigestion as the left eats itself in a frenzy of gnashing teeth among the spittle of outrage directed at their own kind.
Every dedicated leftie thinks he’s a member of the politburo. Little does he realize a special place in the Gulag awaits.
It’s like getting a new password assigned to you each morning, to let everyone know if you’re still a member in good standing. It’s also to show your up-to-date fashion bona fides and woker-than-thou chops.
agonised Guardian articles about the menace posed by heteronormative cupcakes
I remember that one! The horror!
But I’m confused..how are cupcakes heteronormative? The agonizing over one’s girlish figure (often while stuffing one’s face with sweets) I can see being a stereotypical girly behavior, ok, but then, isn’t that what stereotypical effeminate, prissy, gay men also do?
I denounce myself.
According to Doctor Thomas Sowell, we, the ignorant ordinary and un-informed suffer from a mistaken opinion that humans are imperfect – we are constrained. Instead of the unconstrained enlightenment we deserve, this foul ignorance forces us to rely on processes such as the law and cultural traditions. Because we are such bone-heads, we think that courts are a place where the law is applied equally. Since we are wallowing in ignorance we need to be led by our social and intellectual superiors who will guide us from this ignorant, dark, and erroneous thinking. When properly guided by our intellectual superiors we will stop focusing on processes and traditions and focus instead on results. One critical change will be to focus on the result called “justice” – a word that our intellectual superiors define as (more or less) “you are all equal and have the same stuff”. Today people who work hard are paid more. But work is a filthy habit and if these people over here have more stuff than those people over there, that would be unjust. So everyone should have the same stuff regardless of how hard they work. By the way, because they are smarter than the rest of us, intellectually superior beings deserve more stuff. My apologies to Dr. Sowell for my slovenly, ignorant, and sarcastic interpretation of his writings. I commend to you, “A Conflict of Visions”. It seems right on target for today.
This also explains Leftie economics. Let’s say that you and I each have $100 and we each invest it in your new business. I buy a third of it for my money and you, who will be doing the actual work, keep two-thirds.
Then most people would say that the business prospering, such that it’s now worth ten times as much … and therefore my $100 has now become $1000 … is a cause for my celebration. I had $100 and I now have $1000. Hooray, say I.
But a Leftie thinks I should be furious. You used to have as much as he did, Hopp, you were equal at $100 apiece, but now he has twice as much as you, cuz his share of the biz is now worth $2000. That’s not fair!
And if you look at most economic arguments these days, that’s exactly what they’re arguing about. One side looks at the absolute gain, the other looks at the relative pecking order. And there the matter rests for now.
According to Doctor Thomas Sowell…
A series of very watchable interviews with Dr Sowell can be found here, here, here and here.
OK, but then, isn’t that what stereotypical
effeminate, prissy, gay men also do?Tovarisch Ratya,
Per Direktif 27B/9, the above term is considered nekulturny. In future, you should use the accepted terms “normal,” “preferred,” or “acceptable.” For the companion term “mascu__,” the Committee recommends substituting “toxic,” “degenerate,” or “depraved.”
Please be aware that the Committee is deeply disappointed in this error, and sincerely hopes that you will read, understand, and abide by all future direcktifs, lest corrective action become necessary.
I buy a third of it for my money and you, who will be doing the actual work, keep two-thirds.
I believe you’re talking about “sweat equity.” I’m not sure our friends on the Left have any real understanding of either element in the term on its own, much less the meaning of the combination.
Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.
I’m not really a huge fan of Rand, but if these jerks knew how thoroughly she rumbled their scams and schemes more than half a century ago, they’d shut their traps out of sheer embarrassment. We know what you’re up to, guys. You might not be doing it through statute law, as Dr. Ferris did, but the principle is the same: cashing in on guilt, manufactured guilt if necessary.
As Tom Wolfe adroitly put it in his essay In the Land of the Rococo Marxists:
I hope the other Richard’s comment about Dr. Sowell is missing a sarcasm tag.
Richard Cranium — “I hope the other Richard’s comment about Dr. Sowell is missing a sarcasm tag.”
I did say, “… sarcastic interpretation of his writings”.
It’s like getting a new password assigned to you each morning, to let everyone know if you’re still a member in good standing.
The woe is inconsolable, often baffling, and may result in odd behaviour. But abusing strangers and catching each other out – playing Gotcha! – makes everything worthwhile, apparently. It’s Mean Girls writ large. And so we end up with hissy fits about the word fishy and how oppressive it is. And devout woke-lings can suddenly be assailed by other, even more devout woke-lings for interacting, even negatively, with The Forbidden Other.
Hey, who stole my drink?
Probably the hoi polloi.
It’s Mean Girls writ large.
That.
That.
I do think it is.
The psychology of the woke-lings found on campuses, and now in many schools, is difficult to distinguish from that of the people, usually girls, who would pick on their classmates for having unfashionable shoes or the wrong kind of bag. Anything to humiliate, to trip someone up, ideally in public. The dynamic is often strikingly similar. Which may help explain why woke politics attracts so many young women who exult in their own spitefulness.
See, for instance, Annaliese Nielsen and the Hawaiian bobblehead doll drama. As an illustration of the type, it’s quite instructive.
What you all say above is all very well and true. We’ve been accurately clocking these foul people since Rand and even before. Yes we _/know_/ they are ridiculous spiteful whingers and moaners and toy-throwers and all that stuff. But…nobody’s talking about how _/deeply dangerous/_ they actually are.
Do any of you actually believe that if they knew Rand had got their measure in “Atlas Shrugged” and other works, they would _/actually back down and shut up in embarrassment/_ ? Do you? Really?
They are the current executors of The Programme. They now think they’re near the end-game, they mean to win, and they’re probably right.
The fact that normal people with proper lives to lead back down in the face of their assaults has been proved by these orcs empirically to work. They have – and they know it – enough critical mass in universities,teacher training colleges, the public sector and the media to bring about ruination of any individual or even a fairly large grouping now, that slightly displeases any part of whatever is their current inventory of taboos.
Whoe can want a Police dawn raid on his home, with our without (inreasingly) a Magistrate’s warrant, his house and goods turned over, his and his family’s phones and computers seized for trawling, his children possibly “taken into care”, with the curious neighbours watching large plastic bags being carried from the house by strange blank-faced goons? And his employer “quietly advised”?
No. these people are dangerous. There needs to be a plan to have them removed. Actually removed. In a way by which they can never, ever trouble us again.
I pause for replies.
One of the chief problems is that these little turds believe, quite viscerally, that they are on the “right side of history”. On the basis of nothing they claim to be the intellectual heirs of the people who abolished slavery and so on.
As a result they are impervious to criticism from people who are on the “wrong side of history”. Even if circumstances force them to concede (barely) that they are wrong in one particular instance, they can console themselves that they are right structurally.
The only people who can criticise them are those who are further down the right historical path, by virtue of being more left wing or a member of a special interest group. Consequently there is a one-way ratchet towards more extreme ideas. Moderation is discouraged. Why be moderate, if you’re on the right side of history. You’re not being a zealot of the sort that’s been observed ever since Thucydides’ time. You’re just a trailblazer, ahead of the herd.
On the basis of nothing they claim to be the intellectual heirs of the people who abolished slavery and so on.
It’s hard to argue with narcissism. It isn’t generally amenable to good faith debate.
The fact that normal people with proper lives to lead back down in the face of their assaults has been proved by these orcs empirically to work. They have – and they know it – enough critical mass in universities,teacher training colleges, the public sector and the media to bring about ruination of any individual or even a fairly large grouping now, that slightly displeases any part of whatever is their current inventory of taboos.
This. Precisely this. Though to the list of universities, teacher training colleges, public sector and the media I would add their far more dangerous, yet quiet and discreet inroads into the theology, philosophy, and psychology domains. In fact, I would say the latter are of far greater importance. And most damning of all, they got us to pay for it. For proof of how absurd it has gotten look no further than the absolute freak out that is ongoing over here in the US regarding the SCOTUS nomination. The slandering of a man who is b by all rational accounts a good and decent man and the acceptance/tolerance of such slandering, not to mention the back peddling on the issue from certain so-called “conservative” elites does not bode well for the future.
Well, he’s a member of the political class so “good and decent” may be a liitle strong, but certainly he appears no worse than the rest of them and better than some.
I’m annoyed by the handling of his accuser. They’ve been letting her tease them for two weeks now! You and I certainly wouldn’t be allowed to get away with “Well, MAYBE I’ll testify, if the moon is in the 7th house and Jupiter aligns with Mars and you give me x, y, and z.” You and I would be told to answer the summons, show cause, or go to jail. And I’m not the only prole who’s tired of laws for them and laws for us.
I’m annoyed by the handling of his accuser.
I’m of two minds on this. It’s true that Grassley & Co. have allowed Feinstein’s people to drag this out for far too long, and it’s been obvious that the delays have been in the service of digging up other accusations to be leveled against the candidate. On the other hand, the patience and generosity shown to Dr. Ford allow the Committee to claim, rightfully, that they’ve given the accuser every chance to present her case.
Of course the Left won’t agree and wouldn’t care anyway, but there’s fifty million uncommitted voters in the middle that might be swayed, and having a few more of them in a position to say “Oh, piss off!” every time some lefty moans about the unfairness and illegitimacy of it all could come in handy.
I’m annoyed by the handling of his accuser.
Well here’s my theory on that, related elsewhere with slight updates:
This Ford story was never going to play out. I think she thought that with the degree of ridiculous demands that she was making and the quantity of such that the GOP leadership would obviously not meet them.
But the dopes fooled even her with their complete lack of spine. The way I see it, she’s been riding the tiger here and looking for a way to jump off but her handlers and such kept telling her what they thought she wanted to hear, that they will push and fight for her, and the idiots in the GOP kept caving in, but she just wants out. I was beginning to worry (and I’m guessing someone, somewhere in the D leadership saw this…I can’t possibly be the only one thinking this) that she might take, or “attempt” to take, her own life at the last minute. Neither one would look good for them given the short timespan they would have left to spin it. I’m guessing that this is why they have now talked some other woman with just as lame of a story into taking the heat in the short run, either knowingly or not, to “save” Ford’s life.
Now with this new story they get to start from square one and can kick the can down the road. No time to fully investigate. Delays things past at least the next SCOTUS session that starts Oct. 1 and hopefully past the election. By the time the dust clears it will be like Harry Reid and the tax evasion accusation against Romney that proved false. They’ve been playing this October Surprise game for decades. They’re just now starting to perfect it. And dumb ass conservatives play along, being even stupider than the Dems or even the moderately mentally disturbed thought possible.
You guys are looking at it from the immediate political angle. I’m looking at it from the angle of, ridiculous or not, she should never have been permitted to make demands in the first place.
I’m looking at it from the angle of, ridiculous or not, she should never have been permitted to make demands in the first place.
Did I disagree with that? I think that letting her drive things, make these demands, is not even in the best interest of the woman herself. Politics aside, a mentally unwell person is being indulged to her conscious detriment. If the GOP did not let her make these demands, I think in general she would be much better off and at least in a place where she feels safer one way or the other. It’s her handlers that are using her and do not care one bit about her wellbeing. By caving in, the GOP is doing much similar. Mostly because they are too cowardly to stand for something, even if caving in ultimately causes harm, or causes her to do harm to herself. I’m by no means sympathizing with her but I do empathize.
I think you are right. No citizen, mentally well or not, can feel secure when laws and rules change daily.
No. these people are dangerous. There needs to be a plan to have them removed. Actually removed. In a way by which they can never, ever trouble us again.
Thos ehelicopters are looking pretty good about now, aren’t they?
In comic book & general civility news :
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/08/28/ethan-van-sciver-robbi-rodriguez/
btw, I suspect the tone of the piece would have been different if the roles had been different. The recipient is, apparently, the wrong kind of person. He compared a comic book supervillain to Hitler and he was called a Nazi and a racist in response. https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/08/14/ethan-van-sciver-not-nazi/
Speaking of contradictions:
Sign placement.
1=16.
1=16
That’s gotta be a troll. The kids in that class look about 1st grade. Bothering them with such inanity borders on child abuse. Any engineer that would write such an equation in that manner in a document would be shot anyway.
Prep yourself, David. May even want to pass the trenchants out to the henchlesbians.. This could get worse than a-loo-mi-num/al-yoo-min-ee-um
This could get worse than a-loo-mi-num/al-yoo-min-ee-um
Bloody hell. I’ve only just had new windows fitted.
What are the windows made of?
a-loo-mi-num/al-yoo-min-ee-um…What are the windows made of?
Ahem. Of what are the windows made ?
My dear Muldoon, that sort of grammarian pedantry is something up with which the patrons here will not put.
Oi! Why am I being moved to another table? Why, I never …! (OK, tell a lie, I have, once or twice. )
Every dedicated leftie thinks he’s a member of the politburo. Little does he realize a special place in the Gulag awaits.
As the saying goes, communists don’t fear living under capitalism. They fear living under communism when they aren’t in charge.
Every advocate of communism always assumes that they will be the one in charge, but of course, very few actually will be.
Sign placement
I believe this is on par with the current “gun-free zone” mockups making the rounds, ie. the beach with “Hurricane-free zone”, and university campuses announcing “rape-free zone”.
I wouldn’t say “fake but accurate”; I will say that it’s a sad commentary that in the current state of the world, people seriously consider the possibility that they could be real, because of the insanity that actually does make it out the door these days.
On the “Mean Girls” dynamic:
My impression is that most of the female wokelings, being neither attractive nor adept at actual social interactions, were the targets of the Mean Girls in middle school and high school. (The woke men were invariably non-athletic and subject to a parallel male dynamic.)
These women now truly believe that they are still fighting against the Mean Girls, when in fact they have become the Mean Girls. But its the only social dynamic they know — again, not being socially adept in real interpersonal relationships.
(The woke men were invariably non-athletic and subject to a parallel male dynamic.)
Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I mean, of course it applies to quite a few, possibly most “male” wokies, but I know a couple of guys from HS who were of the rough-and-tumble variety and now older and quite prone to virtue signaling their woke-ness. Could be the bad knees reminding them of their newfound weaknesses or too many blows to the head though.