Saturday 26 March 2022
Suspiciously Destructive
Conspiracy theories have a negative reputation, partly because some are loopy and partly because they widen the boundaries of what is possible. This widening of boundaries by conspiracy theories can be interesting and useful, but it does tend to take debates well beyond middle class comfort zones which are always too narrow for healthy debate.
Now we are confronted with woke culture, a middle class phenomenon which is so narrowly absurd that it almost demands a conspiracy theory to explain where it came from. Sending educated people mad surely requires some explanation beyond picking apart the madness, so here goes.
Woke culture is an entirely fake culture, not one which arose naturally in response to evolving social, technological and economic circumstances. It is a concocted political culture designed by elites to sell a global Malthusian project by significantly downgrading middle class expectations in much of the developed world.
As many useless acquirements are, woke culture is mostly sold by snobbery. Elites have persuaded middle classes in much of the developed world to be snobbishly woke about culture and class, creating a powerfully significant class divide with curiously low expectations. Destructively low expectations we might say.
Some more conspiracy - much of this fake political culture we call woke was achieved by the huge expansion of university places. This expansion was intended to sell a destructive culture to a large number of comparatively untalented middle class graduates. They in turn would eventually sell the same culture from positions of influence in the media, politics and the public sector.
Of course all this could be accidental with no elite conspiracy at all. Woke culture could have other causes, none of which were engineered by the long-term machinations of global elites. A conspiracy theory with no foundation in reality perhaps.
However it is certainly worth dwelling on the destructive aspect of woke culture, because this ought to be suspicious. For example, Net Zero could be described in many ways, but it hardly stretches any rational boundary to describe it as suspiciously destructive. As for that pandemic we still seem to be stuck with…
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5 comments:
My own somewhat jaundiced view is that there is no organised conspiracy. But what happens when the elite class feel that there are not enough elite positions in society to provide the respect they desire then they send in faithful servants to act as a bulwark against the lower classes, the rude mechanicals. Marxism was seized as motivation for the disparagement of the the nouveau riche who aspired to elite status. Communism was seized as a way of imposing top down control, Wokeism was seized as a distraction to set one lower class/race against each other. COVID has been trialled as a distraction but that seems to be no longer effective. In other times religion and wars have been used as distractions.
So while there may be some plotters in smoke filled rooms I doubt that the distraction is 'planned' overall. Just a lot of like minded elite people choosing whatever is handy to bolster their elite position.
I think there are probably two forces in play here, mutually supportive. There is a good deal of top-down control, and a big part of that is making the affluent and successful middle class feel unworthy; that they have acquired their advantages unfairly, and take more than their fair share of resources. They will help tighten their own belts when the supermarkets have shortages, and we start getting power black-outs.
On the other hand, there are individuals and groups who have seized opportunities to grab power, wealth, and status. They have seen that if they push at the same door that women, blacks, and gays kicked in, they don't have to work too hard. Much of the authorities' response, that is, is governed by fear.
Nicely put, AKH.
DJ - I suspect we have a situation where elites form loose national and international social groupings with a broadly common political outlook. They don't plan, but do understand the interests of their social class and this creates the trends we see imposed on us.
Sam - "the affluent and successful middle class feel unworthy; that they have acquired their advantages unfairly" it certainly feels like that and they seem to think those feelings ought to be universal.
James - thanks :)
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