The Kampf Of The Woke

I am just not a good enough social and political theorist to really grasp what’s happening in our society. I’m torn between two inclinations

The “Brief Madness” Framework

This is when I see this woke craze as a brief interlude that will quickly fade away. As I listen to another entry in the Oxford History of the United States series, this volume covering 1945-1974, I see this woke religion of white guilt has least a superficial parallel to the Red Scare in the early 1950s:

• A genuine issue
• blown out of proportion by politicians and cultural elites for political ends
• destroys lives and changes American society
• Constitutional rights are ignored or gotten around because of the “urgency” of the issue
• and relatively quickly dies out (4+ years) as it destroys itself
• but leaves terrible cultural damage behind

I have to look at my text copy of the chapter I just listened to, and follow the trail of footnotes to some extent, but the parallels made me raise my eyebrows quite a bit.

The “It’s All Over” Framework

This is the alarm Dreher and others are sounding, along with some of the usual theological suspects (Gagnon, James White, Sovereign Nations, etc.). This is a plot to overthrow Western civilization. It’s Nazi-like. A police state is coming. Concentration camps are on the horizon. Etc. Etc.

I’m not really sure what to think. I don’t think anyone is really sure. So confusing. So troubling.