Another brilliant piece Helen. I know you've expressed some degree of frustration and weariness in actively addressing these kinds of modern social issues but I, for one, greatly appreciate your insights and analyses and hope you are able to continue.
I first became aware of these social "justice" type issues back in 2016. As a theoretical physicist at a university (not in the 'west') I had been able to insulate myself in my own little bubble of academic arcana. Watching Professor Christakis patiently, rationally and calmly confront what I could only describe at the time as a mob of angry, immature, spoiled and irrational students in that Yale quad really did change my life. One student, in some emotional distress, talked about "fighting for her very existence", or words to that effect. At Yale?
Whatever were the faculty doing to them? Did they take a break from academia at the weekends and massacre the inhabitants of small villages? What could they possibly have done to warrant such a reaction from the students?
When I learned what the 'fuss' was about - a beautifully-written and thoughtful questioning of the university policy on Halloween costumes by Christakis' wife - I was stunned. I hadn't realized that the inappropriate wearing of a sombrero was such a dangerous and evil act that deserved such condemnation.
Nearly 7 years on and this kind of stuff is everywhere, it seems. I warned my daughters about it at the time, but they told me lighten up because it was just a few random nutters on the internet and I was getting too worked up about it all. My youngest daughter now passionately hates the frequent "training" sessions at work (her wokeplace?) where she is asked to confront her "white guilt" (amongst other things) - without, she feels, being able to speak against it for fear of being ostracized or asked to resign.
There may be a core of 'compassion' and 'kindness' driving all of this. People may really feel they are doing the right thing pushing these kinds of 'woke' ideologies (without having spent the time really thinking about where it has all originated and what's behind it - as you have) but these ideologies, however we 'label' them, are, in my view, utterly toxic.
For me, 'woke' is a kind of codeword for the entire basket of loon we are increasingly faced with - and I'm certain I don't use it in any academically precise sense. But then the majority of people who are "pro" woke are not approaching these matters in any academically precise sense, either.
Like a lot of things these days there are grains of truth - it's definitely not 'bad', for example, to ask questions about how historical racism has shaped things and how it might be, inadvertently, still shaping things in all sorts of "2nd order" ways - even though many, if not all, of the explicitly racist structures and laws have been dismantled for some time.
But my feeling is that these kind of things (which I would support) just get **amplified** and warped beyond all recognition into something I simply can't support.
I just don't know how I can take seriously (intellectually, emotionally, ethically) the viewpoint that people with a particular skin colour "own" certain hairstyles, for example. It's almost insane. How do we use the patient and careful analyses that you present to even make a dent in this kind of madness?
And there are many such examples.
A word like "whiteness" also has a more precise "academic" definition that allows those who use it to make the claim they are not being "racist". They're not attacking a particular skin colour, but an attitude, they say. Some people may even really believe this - whilst the rest of us, approaching this in a non-academic way, can see the game that is being played here.
I don't think this 'war', and I really do think we're in a kind of war, is going to be 'won' by patient, correct, academic discourse. I wish it could be.
One 'side' has weaponized things like kindness and empathy to such an extent that even very thoughtful and moderate opinions, like those of Christakis' wife or the writings of J.K. Rowling, are seen as 'hateful' and become extremely **emotive** issues arousing strong passions.
That was brilliant! Thank you for laying all of that out, and for your willingness to do so despite the grief you will no doubt endure as a consequence. I greatly appreciate your work, especially as I understand your reticence to continue weighing in on such topics. Wishing you all the best.
Thank you so much for a wonderful essay. As usual, I have bookmarked it so that I can refer to it whenever this topic comes up with friends. I have several friends who describe “wokeness” exactly as Joe Walsh does but who also insist that it’s racist to even use the word “woke”. However, if I say Critical Social Justice, they have no idea what I’m talking about. It is frustrating to want to discuss a phenomenon that I am told I cannot name. (Because the only name most people understand, ie wokeness, is off limits.) This essay will be very helpful.
Now that was excellent, Helen. I can rarely remember the multitude of details, only the broad brush strokes, of the CSJ movement's tenets, and hence need to defer to those who can, like yourself.
Agreeing on definitions is very important to me, as it is to your responder quoted above, as my mind needs a more precise set of points in order to work--I'm more maths/physics oriented--as opposed to your ability to more freely flow with details in order to be clearer.
I can flow, but it takes a lot of conscious effort for me to do so. As you said you also do, I see this a lot on Twitter, whereby people are clearly stuck on one extreme or the other. Getting those people to compromise can be a gargantuan task.
Hey Helen, you are linking your other essay "What do we Mean by Critical Social Justice" in the 2nd and 4th paragraph but the Counterweight website doesn't work any more, so people can't read the essay.
Here is a link from the web archive where people can still find the essay but maybe it would be a good idea to re-publish it on your substack or simply replace the link with the link from the web archive (it's not very reader-friendly, though)?
I would love to read more about the woke discourse on women as oppressed by men, in the woke framework. I already read your book with Lindsay, Cynical Theories, really theoretical and useful but still I could not grasp fully the tricks of framework (and I guess that 's because I have been consuming this kind of analysis a lot! Hope you can write something or guide me to find writers in the same line.
Hi Helen, I spent a load of hours listening to James Lindsay’s New Discourses episode on the Queer Gnostic Cult and when I shared it as an “interesting” perspective, people said it was BS.
To me, it makes sense. Not just that the queer stuff is cultish but the whole idea of critical social justice is operating like a gnostic cult. Small g.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
It helped me see why feminism probably won’t solve this (and why it probably opened the door for a lot of it), but also why science and politics won’t help either.
Anyway, you always have such a good understanding of these things and you explain it so well (for me, a lay person).
Hi Helen, I find the levels of human consciousness very illuminating in situations like this. Helps me see the woke movement in a bigger context. There's plenty out there on the internet; here's just one example: https://thegreatupdraft.com/what-is-spiral-dynamics/
Another brilliant piece Helen. I know you've expressed some degree of frustration and weariness in actively addressing these kinds of modern social issues but I, for one, greatly appreciate your insights and analyses and hope you are able to continue.
I first became aware of these social "justice" type issues back in 2016. As a theoretical physicist at a university (not in the 'west') I had been able to insulate myself in my own little bubble of academic arcana. Watching Professor Christakis patiently, rationally and calmly confront what I could only describe at the time as a mob of angry, immature, spoiled and irrational students in that Yale quad really did change my life. One student, in some emotional distress, talked about "fighting for her very existence", or words to that effect. At Yale?
Whatever were the faculty doing to them? Did they take a break from academia at the weekends and massacre the inhabitants of small villages? What could they possibly have done to warrant such a reaction from the students?
When I learned what the 'fuss' was about - a beautifully-written and thoughtful questioning of the university policy on Halloween costumes by Christakis' wife - I was stunned. I hadn't realized that the inappropriate wearing of a sombrero was such a dangerous and evil act that deserved such condemnation.
Nearly 7 years on and this kind of stuff is everywhere, it seems. I warned my daughters about it at the time, but they told me lighten up because it was just a few random nutters on the internet and I was getting too worked up about it all. My youngest daughter now passionately hates the frequent "training" sessions at work (her wokeplace?) where she is asked to confront her "white guilt" (amongst other things) - without, she feels, being able to speak against it for fear of being ostracized or asked to resign.
There may be a core of 'compassion' and 'kindness' driving all of this. People may really feel they are doing the right thing pushing these kinds of 'woke' ideologies (without having spent the time really thinking about where it has all originated and what's behind it - as you have) but these ideologies, however we 'label' them, are, in my view, utterly toxic.
For me, 'woke' is a kind of codeword for the entire basket of loon we are increasingly faced with - and I'm certain I don't use it in any academically precise sense. But then the majority of people who are "pro" woke are not approaching these matters in any academically precise sense, either.
Like a lot of things these days there are grains of truth - it's definitely not 'bad', for example, to ask questions about how historical racism has shaped things and how it might be, inadvertently, still shaping things in all sorts of "2nd order" ways - even though many, if not all, of the explicitly racist structures and laws have been dismantled for some time.
But my feeling is that these kind of things (which I would support) just get **amplified** and warped beyond all recognition into something I simply can't support.
I just don't know how I can take seriously (intellectually, emotionally, ethically) the viewpoint that people with a particular skin colour "own" certain hairstyles, for example. It's almost insane. How do we use the patient and careful analyses that you present to even make a dent in this kind of madness?
And there are many such examples.
A word like "whiteness" also has a more precise "academic" definition that allows those who use it to make the claim they are not being "racist". They're not attacking a particular skin colour, but an attitude, they say. Some people may even really believe this - whilst the rest of us, approaching this in a non-academic way, can see the game that is being played here.
I don't think this 'war', and I really do think we're in a kind of war, is going to be 'won' by patient, correct, academic discourse. I wish it could be.
One 'side' has weaponized things like kindness and empathy to such an extent that even very thoughtful and moderate opinions, like those of Christakis' wife or the writings of J.K. Rowling, are seen as 'hateful' and become extremely **emotive** issues arousing strong passions.
I really don't know how we break out of this.
That was brilliant! Thank you for laying all of that out, and for your willingness to do so despite the grief you will no doubt endure as a consequence. I greatly appreciate your work, especially as I understand your reticence to continue weighing in on such topics. Wishing you all the best.
Thank you so much for a wonderful essay. As usual, I have bookmarked it so that I can refer to it whenever this topic comes up with friends. I have several friends who describe “wokeness” exactly as Joe Walsh does but who also insist that it’s racist to even use the word “woke”. However, if I say Critical Social Justice, they have no idea what I’m talking about. It is frustrating to want to discuss a phenomenon that I am told I cannot name. (Because the only name most people understand, ie wokeness, is off limits.) This essay will be very helpful.
Now that was excellent, Helen. I can rarely remember the multitude of details, only the broad brush strokes, of the CSJ movement's tenets, and hence need to defer to those who can, like yourself.
Agreeing on definitions is very important to me, as it is to your responder quoted above, as my mind needs a more precise set of points in order to work--I'm more maths/physics oriented--as opposed to your ability to more freely flow with details in order to be clearer.
I can flow, but it takes a lot of conscious effort for me to do so. As you said you also do, I see this a lot on Twitter, whereby people are clearly stuck on one extreme or the other. Getting those people to compromise can be a gargantuan task.
Thanks for the useful article. Will you be doing audio essays? Think I saw it said somewhere on your Substack that you would do.
Hey Helen, you are linking your other essay "What do we Mean by Critical Social Justice" in the 2nd and 4th paragraph but the Counterweight website doesn't work any more, so people can't read the essay.
Here is a link from the web archive where people can still find the essay but maybe it would be a good idea to re-publish it on your substack or simply replace the link with the link from the web archive (it's not very reader-friendly, though)?
https://web.archive.org/web/20230605062230/https://counterweightsupport.com/2021/02/17/what-do-we-mean-by-critical-social-justice/
I would love to read more about the woke discourse on women as oppressed by men, in the woke framework. I already read your book with Lindsay, Cynical Theories, really theoretical and useful but still I could not grasp fully the tricks of framework (and I guess that 's because I have been consuming this kind of analysis a lot! Hope you can write something or guide me to find writers in the same line.
Hi Helen, I spent a load of hours listening to James Lindsay’s New Discourses episode on the Queer Gnostic Cult and when I shared it as an “interesting” perspective, people said it was BS.
To me, it makes sense. Not just that the queer stuff is cultish but the whole idea of critical social justice is operating like a gnostic cult. Small g.
Do you have any thoughts on this?
It helped me see why feminism probably won’t solve this (and why it probably opened the door for a lot of it), but also why science and politics won’t help either.
Anyway, you always have such a good understanding of these things and you explain it so well (for me, a lay person).
Thanks!
Hi Helen, I find the levels of human consciousness very illuminating in situations like this. Helps me see the woke movement in a bigger context. There's plenty out there on the internet; here's just one example: https://thegreatupdraft.com/what-is-spiral-dynamics/