The WOKE Generation!

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We’re in the dawn of a high-tech, bloodless Cultural Revolution; one that relies on intimidation, public shaming, and economic ruin to dictate what words and ideas are permissible in the public square.

“Words are violence” has always been an illiberal notion meant to stifle speech and open discourse. Popularized by a generation of coddled and brittle college students, it now guides policy on editorial pages at newspapers such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, and most major news outlets.

Michael Kinsley once wrote — back in the days when liberals were running our journalistic institutions — that “if no one or almost no one disagrees, it also is probably not a good subject for an editorial.” By contrast, the new Times opinion editor, Kathleen Kingsbury, reportedly told the staff, “Anyone who sees any piece of Opinion journalism, headlines, social posts, photos — you name it — that gives you the slightest pause, please call or text me immediately.”

At root, our cultural revolutionaries are frightened of ideas. Virtually anyone in the public square who doesn’t conform risks being humiliated and ruined. Social media have finally given our “little generals” the tools to ferret out suspicious characters and drag them in front of the digital tribunal. By my count, there have been around a dozen struggle sessions for crimes against Black Lives Matter or related issues since last week.

“Dee Nguyen has been fired from MTV sports reality show, ‘The Challenge,’ after making insensitive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement,” reads one story.

Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear, who’s been calling games since 1988, was forced to resign after saying the words “all lives matter.”

Refinery29 editor Christene Barberich was pushed out for alleged “racist aggressions” (even the wording of the accusations has a mildly Communist flavor). Bon Appétit editor Adam Rapoport was booted for the same, but only after “insensitive” photos of him wearing a costume emerged.

In not one of these cases, as far as I can tell, did friends and co-workers rise to defend those whose careers may have been ruined over a bad joke, errant comment, or stupid costume. No, they participate in the ritual shaming along with everyone else.

By the time you read this, Saints quarterback Drew Brees will probably be on his tenth round of ritual public self-flagellation — his wife having already apologized as well — for saying the words: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”

Without an apology, we’re told, Brees would have been unable to work with teammates who are offended because there is no room for dissent on this issue. Brees promises to “listen.” Brees implores all of America to “listen.” “Listen” is a euphemism for groupthink.

In a free and healthy nation, no issue should be above criticism or debate.

Source: Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution

THEIR LUNACY HAS NOW EXTENDED TO NICKELODEAON

Times critic Amanda Hess penned a piece on Wednesday titled, "The Protests Come for ‘Paw Patrol,'" and the criticism that the popular children's show has faced in recent days for its main character Chase, a German shepherd police dog, and how that and other shows are deemed "copaganda" for portraying the police in a positive light.

"It was only a matter of time before the protests came for 'Paw Patrol,'" Hess began. "In the world of 'Paw Patrol,' Chase is drawn to be a very good boy who barks stuff like 'Chase is on the case!' and 'All in a police pup’s day!' as he rescues kittens in his tricked-out S.U.V."



Hess then pointed to the responses to a tweet the show had posted, expressing solidarity toward the Black Lives Matter movement and calling for "Black voices to be heard."

Other Twitter users, however, were not satisfied.

“Euthanize the police dog,” one user said. Others wrote “Defund the paw patrol” and “All dogs go to heaven, except the class traitors in the Paw Patrol."

"How much will Paw Patrol be donating to bail funds?" another user asked.

Hess herself suggested that she was among the "Paw Patrol" haters, referring to the show as a "pet peeve" and tweeting, perhaps sarcastically, "I don't want to bring a child into a world where Paw Patrol is available to stream."

The fact, though, that there was any outrage toward "Paw Patrol" sounded the alarms on social media.

"I give up. Game over, man. Game over. Last one out turn out the lights. We've gone to plaid," The Hill media reporter Joe Concha reacted with a reference to the 1987 Mel Brooks film "Spaceballs."

"The rage mob is coming for PAW PATROL," conservative radio host Dana Loesch warned.

"I’m sorry, I refuse to believe this is the New York Times, and not The Onion," Fourth Watch media critic Steve Krakauer tweeted.

This comes as Paramount Network canceled the long-running TV series "Cops" and A&E Network decided to "cease production" on "Live P.D.," according to Variety.

HBO Max also drew criticism for pulling the iconic Civil War-era film "Gone With the Wind" from its library due to its depiction of black people. The streaming platform says the film will be re-uploaded once the Oscar-winning film is given "historical context."

Reported outrage toward Nickelodeon cartoon 'Paw Patrol' sparks wild reactions online.

This all sounds like mob rule! Which sounds a lot like the bullying many Aspies endure in their school years.

I wonder what kind of cartoons Amanda Hess watched when she was growing up.

Maybe something like this.

I think that woke is such a stupid word. I'll also be happy when the woke movement is over. Woke people like to demonise right wing people such as myself and I think that's wrong to do to anyone.

Ridiculing people by calling them "woke" is an easy way to trivialize what these people are trying to say. The only justification might be that some of them are merely parroting what they hear their friends say or the assumption that if and when they become productive tax-paying members of society they will abandon their youthful ideals and embrace the same prejudices as everybody else. But we've seen all that before and it's a waste of everybody's time to keep repeating these old chestnuts of wisdom.

However the message is very relevant. Admittedly I am American so my point of view may not make sense to somebody in another Western country, but today it seems quite clear to me that racism in particular has caused much if not most of the problems that continue to vex us. The Black Lives Matter message is an excellent distillation of that. As a 67-year-old, I can recall that, even during the reputedly idealistic 60s very few white people like me had any real idea what it was like to be black, even an economically "successful" black person. When black activists put forward the idea of studying Black History in school, very few whites, even self-described liberals, took it seriously. Nowadays I sincerely regret not having learned very much black history because in fact it is the most important part of American history in general. Tulsa Massacre, anyone? Never heard of it until quite recently. Yes, that's how ignorant we all were.

The War on Drugs was largely driven by racism. I won't try to explain that conclusion, but I'll say that many of our cities were seriously damaged and some perhaps destroyed by this. We would do well to not only surrender but perhaps even consider reparations of some sort.

As for Capitalism, this is a complicated topic. I am far from being a Marxist however the long-held commitment to laissez-faire Capitalism in the US just isn't working, so I am willing to try a new approach even if it seems more extreme than my personal preference.

I'm not sure whether or not it's relevant, but my impression of how the US and some other Western countries have dealt with the current Pandemic is that our societies are no longer able to effectively deal with a threat like that. I would argue that our present-day society would not have been able to win World War II. The widespread acceptance of Libertarianism and Objectivism has crippled our ability to cooperate in such a struggle. To put it bluntly, in World War II the dictatorships attacked the Democratic world and the forces of Democracy prevailed. In today's world, I think the dictatorships would probably win. Therefore I am more than happy to support people being as "woke" as they wish to be.

They're mostly NT and don't get satire/irony as much as I do
They're taking down an episode of Fawlty Towers cos it has racism in it...
Trouble is, the racist was the butt of the joke!

Also got people telling me not to read Lolita. Imo it's ok for any adult to read Lolita unless they're already on their way to being abusers. Cos although it's from the POV of Humbert Humbert, it makes it clear that he's an unreliable narrator.

People need to learn to analyse jokes and fiction better.

I've had three experiences of reading it...

One as an 11 yo and I think that made it easier to abuse me when I was a little older. Cos I saw it as 'romantic'.
One as a uni student with deliberate studying of text.
One later on. Knowing that context.

It's maybe not the best book to read casually outside of that studying. Doesn't mean it should be banned though.

Anyway...

I think people will always 'demonise' their political opponent. It's tough for us as autistic people cos we take so much to heart but the left needs to be allowed to criticise the right and vice versa otherwise one side will just railroad the other.

Hi everyone um I'm a bit embarrassed. I want to stay out of the political discussions but I realize I may have ended up misunderstanding the way the forums send out notifications when somebody sends a response.In other words i think I might be a bit of a blond ditz when it comes to any forum.Maybe is there a place that isn't a forum that I could go to that is built for people with Aspergers and autism?

Do you want to read or to communicate?
For reading/listening it might be a good idea to read blogs or watch 'Ask an Autistic' on YouTube.
For communication I'm not sure. Autistic people tend to find it easier on forums than on social media, but there's always 'autistic twitter' (basically follow a bunch of autistic accounts on twitter & talk about your own experiences.
Or if you purely want to write, you could start up your own blog?

Isn't woke when you realize the meaning of racism and stereotypes of the minorities?

Like for example when you realize how hidden racism is around you and you never picked up on it because of white privilege. Now you realize how segregated your area was and it wasn't people choosing to stay with their own race, the city made it be that way. You also realize systemic racism. Also realizing your own privilege.

What one woke curriculum looks like
Christopher F. Rufo is a contributing editor of City Journal and director of the Discovery Institute’s Center on Wealth & Poverty
City Journal is a publication of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (MI), a leading free-market think tank