So-called “woke” ideologies pervading today’s culture are antithetical to a properly ordered and virtuous society. Consequently, it is more evident than ever that one cannot hope to be a virtuous person simply by adopting societal definitions of what it means to be a “good person.” Quite the contrary in fact; to be virtuous, we are called upon to diligently examine the philosophical underpinnings of the post-modern definitions of what it means to be socially conscious and upstanding.
To summarize the “new morality” of the West, it is critical to first summarize the foundational principles that served as the framework upon which our society and culture was built. The following principles were the assumptions informing American societal values until about 2012. Going forward, I will refer to these values as “classic values.”
American Classic Values
- Equality of Opportunity
- Value of the nuclear family
- Objective morality
- Rule of law
- Christianity is good, and fundamental to a well-ordered life
- Victim mentality is toxic
- Traditional masculinity and femininity are human nature
- Hard work and honesty should result in prosperity
- Accumulation of wealth is good
- America first policies are normal
- Truth is not relative
There has been a violent rejection of classic values in American society over the past decade or so. The reasons for this are varied, but the resulting shift in values can be summarized in a corresponding list of contrary values. These contrary values or new vices (as I will refer to them) have replaced the time-tested and common-sense values with ideas that have been considered (until very recently) radical, foolish and destructive.
America’s classic cultural values have been uprooted and replaced with the toxic weeds of woke ideology. Referring to these regressive and poisonous ideals as “woke” harkens back to radical shifts into systems of immorality of the past. It is not a stretch to compare the radical drive toward “woke” ideology with that of the murderous and ruinous ideals of the so-called enlightenment philosophies of the late 18th century.
This drive seeks to destroy the fabric of western culture because to be a follower of these woke principles is to accept a baseline assumption that the classic virtues and the resulting society is repugnant. Therefore, it is necessary to promulgate and enforce the following vices to re-create society in a way that is ideal to a woke ideologue.
America’s New Woke Values (Vices)
- Equity (equality of outcome)
- Elimination of the nuclear family
- Dominance of the state’s interest over those of the individual
- Subjectivism
- Post Modernism
- Victimhood equals validity and power
- Socialism / eat the rich mentality
- Christianity suppressed
- Cultural relativism
- Globalism over nationalism
- Multiculturalism over American culture
- Gender as a construct
- Anecdote equals evidence and narrative is treated as data
- Systems are inherently racist
America’s new orientation toward the woke vices are precisely opposed to the values that have undergirded its economic, cultural, and international dominance since World War II. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all citizens capable of critical thought to realize that to embrace one of the systems outlined herein is to necessarily reject the other in its entirety. Simply put, one cannot simultaneously hold some values as true in the system of virtue while simultaneously holding others as true from the system of vice.
The dichotomy of the value systems of American virtue and vice is creating a dissonance in the American consciousness. This is due in part to the fact that in the past, Americans on different sides of a political issue still held common ground as far as they agreed upon the fundamental values of society. It was easier to disagree with an opponent and still respect them when a person knew that both parties shared traditional American values.
Political discourse and conduct have degenerated to a state in which politically motivated violence has become commonplace. The reason for this is not political as much as it is cultural. The clash of America’s classic values and woke vices has become such that those on the side of virtue are fighting for survival while the woke are fighting to eliminate the virtuous and all recollection of their existence.
Worse still, the American tendency to rely on the social definitions of morality as a watered-down default to being virtuous is playing into the hands of the woke. Corporations, government, schools, and non-profits are all coalescing around the woke revolution. Consequently, cowardlyand stupid Americans are adopting the new set of vices as their default values. As a result, the intellectual wheat is being separated from the dull-eyed and thoughtless chaff.
So, the question each of us needs to pose is, which am I? Are you the individual willing to accept the rule of surface-level reductionist thinkers? If you are, then remember that you can only sleep comfortably in a tyranny as long as you are useful to the tyrant. The moment you no longer serve their purpose, your cowardice and submission will come due in the form a bill you cannot pay.
If you are not interested in embracing whatever vice society determines is virtuous, then it is more important now than ever to examine very critically and deeply the virtues you hold dear and to adhere to them precisely when it is inconvenient, hard or frightening. Don’t let the woke acolytes form your children’s morality. Call out reductionism, socialism, and relativism for the cancer it is at each opportunity. The salvation of virtue and the destruction of vice in your life is entirely in your hands, my dear Happy Warriors.
