Woke Demands Hegemonic Control of Intimate Joys
On September 27, 2021, David Sibley, a
birdwatching celebrity, posted the following on his Facebook page. "The outdoors is
for *everyone* and has felt unsafe to many LGBTQIA2S+ folks for too long …
Today, ask yourself 'What could I do better?'" Sibley "warned"
that birders were liable to make "hurtful and dangerous comments" and
that "sensitive" and "vulnerable" people should "avoid
the comments section." LGBT people "struggle to feel and BE safe in
the outdoors." Mind – Sibley was not condemning very real and
reprehensible anti-LGBT violence. Sibley was specifically accusing birdwatchers
of violence.
Follow-up comments from Sibley's fans
were overtly accusatory of birdwatchers. One wrote, "Too many white
cis/het (and male) people are so used to not having to think about anyone but
themselves. It's part of the foundation of white/straight privilege. They don't
have to think about race or gender, because it doesn't affect them every single
day, like it does so many others …'I like my privilege, and I don't want to
have to think about those who don't have it!'" Another wrote, "LGBT+
people [are] threatened, attacked, even murdered" – by birdwatchers. And
another, "Homophobia and the violence that flows from it is a
well-documented scourge" – among birdwatchers.
At least since 2014, activists have
alleged that birdwatchers and birdwatching are racist. Bird
names are white supremacist and imperialist. Birding's Woke elite are now changing the official names of every bird
named after a white, male naturalist. The Montezuma quail will keep its name. Montezuma
reigned over a slave-owning, war-based empire that practiced
religiously-mandated cannibalism and the torture and murder of children sacrificed to Tlaloc, the Aztec
rain god. No matter, Montezuma, who wore regalia comprised of the feathers of
hundreds of dead birds, was superior to groundbreaking white naturalist John
James Audubon.
Bachman's warbler was named after John
Bachman, a prodigious white male clergyman and naturalist. The
Bachman's warbler was declared extinct on Wednesday, September
29, 2021, thus saving Woke birders from having to rename it, or to protect it
from being wiped off the face of the earth. Indeed, on that same day, the US
Fish and Wildlife Service announced the extinction of twenty-three species,
including the beloved ivory-billed woodpecker, once the third-largest
woodpecker in the world. Rather than focus their activism on this heartbreak,
Sibley fans aimed their most formidable weapon, their keyboards, at the fearsome,
menacing scourge of birdwatcher homophobia.
The National Audubon Society ran an article in 2018 entitled, "For the
LGBTQ Community, Birding Can Be … a Source of Anxiety." The article
reports that "Nature reserves and wildlife refuges tend to … lack
diversity … the birding community … is definitely dominated by white men …
Birding trips with straight men have been very difficult … Straight spaces
often feel hyper-competitive and masculinized … which can suck the fun out of
birding … queer people [feel] left out of the team."
On June 7, 2021, The Salt Lake Tribune published "LGBTQ
Birding Group Helps Queer Utahns Find Community in the Outdoors … A Safer Way
for LGBTQ Utahns To Meet Up And Feel Safe." Birdability promises that "We will use
our platform and our voice to speak out against discrimination of any kind in
the birding community, and we condemn … homophobia." On September 17, 2018
Out Front Magazine profiled Gregoriah
Hartman, identified as an Audubon Society employee, who complained
of "microaggressions" such as people not referring to Hartman by
Hartman's chosen pronouns, namely, "ze,
zim, zis." If, after reading "ze, zim, zis," you
thought "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," remand yourself to Twitter. You have
committed a thought crime and you must be flagellated.
"Not every queer person has an
affirming experience when they set out into the great outdoors," the
magazine mourned. "Despite efforts to be more inclusive, the culture of
outdoor enthusiasts is still very white, hetero, and upper-class. Many who find
themselves outside of those demographics don't get invited to the outdoors, or
don't feel they have the resources to do things like hiking … queer people aren't
willing to just get out there and hike. Organized hikes with strangers leave
people open to microaggressions and all-out homophobia from those who don't
affirm queer identities."
The Woke commandeer words: "kind,"
"inclusive," "diverse," "harm," "danger,"
and "safe." Language has been prostituted and weaponized: "don't
get invited," "don't have the resources to go hiking," "don't
affirm identities." These phrases conjure a non-existent reality in which
one must be "invited" and have "resources" and be "affirmed"
to birdwatch. No one "invited me" to become a birdwatcher. The "resources"
I have to go hiking is a pair of shoes, often with holes in them; I walk a lot,
have little money, and wear shoes straight through to the pavement. No one "affirms
my identity." Birdwatching is not about affirming your fellow birdwatcher's
identity. It's about watching birds.
Among birdwatchers, as well as among
civilians, I have been insulted for my poverty, my weight, and my gender. I
have also been physically assaulted. I have not allowed ugly incidents to deter
me, and I have also not concluded that the rich whites who insulted me, or the
black men who assaulted me, are representative of all rich whites or all blacks.
Birdwatching is not safe, nor is any activity carried out in natural areas.
Recently Aisha White accused Jason Ward, a celebrity
birder, of raping her during a hike. Every birdwatcher, not just LGBT people,
must learn and practice outdoor safety.
If birdwatching were a hotbed of violent
homophobia, I and other birders would have been working against that violence
and homophobia. I've been active in gay rights and have published what I can to advance acceptance.
I've been watching birds on four continents, for five decades, as a dues-paying
member of the National Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, and local groups, and
on my own. I've never heard a birder utter a single word that could even be
interpreted as homophobic. Birders tend to be eccentric obsessives lacking
polished people skills. I don't know my birder Facebook friends' sexual
orientation, whether they voted Trump or Biden, their religion, their favorite
film, or anything about their families. If they drove two hundred miles to see a
snowy owl, I know. No one, in the over nine hundred posts following his, cited evidence
supporting Sibley's accusation that there is a widespread problem with birders "threatening"
LGBT people.
One poster wrote that saying out loud,
in any context and to any person, "I believe in traditional marriage"
or "I believe that there are two sexes," is an act of violence. Equating
an opinion with violence is a highly political move. The Woke say they value
diversity, but Woke diversity does not include diversity of thought. Contrast
this with the above-linked Audubon Society article. In that article a gay
person says that an LGBT birding group has "created a space where you can
say whatever you want about your own life while birding."
LGBT people deserve the same respect and
civil rights that every other citizen enjoys. Human beings are not the same as
extremism carried out in the name of human beings. I discussed Sibley's
allegation with author and trans man Max Wolf Valerio. Max wrote to me, "It's
the lunatic fringe. Always a couple of kooks out there but the rest of us have
lives to live and are mostly like the rest of the country: jobs, school, family
and friends. We worry more about the cost of living then some idiot who says
something rude. Trans people are resourceful and resilient as a group and
mainly not that much different from others."
Bait-and-switch is a timeworn con. Sibley's
fans insisted that they were about being "kind," "safe," and
"inclusive." When posters resisted the narrative that birders are
dangerous homophobes, Sibley's "kind" and "inclusive" fans
bullied and slandered them.
A poster named Lauren wrote, "i ask
my gay brother and his boyfriend of their experiences often, and they haven't
faced anything of the sort." In response to this innocent comment, posters
responded, "your brother isn't comfortable telling you the truth because
of your beliefs or how you react," "100% your gay brother is
imaginary," "Take several seats, darling. It's time for you to be
quiet now," "quite frankly Lauren, I can't imagine your gay brother
being comfortable sharing any of his experiences with you given your own
prejudices and obstinance," "if you're not prejudiced against gays
what exactly does this comment of yours mean," "[you are] absurdly
homophobic," and "Are you just trolling here or are you that obtuse?
Because everything you have said exposes your deep bigotry." What was
Lauren's "deep bigotry"? Saying that her gay brother and his partner
have not experienced birdwatcher homophobia.
"Kindness" and "inclusivity"
evaporate when speakers voice any truths that resist the hegemonic Woke
narrative. On the national stage, "kind," "safe," and "inclusive"
are a front for "rigid," "punitive," and "totalitarian."
Witness, for example, the fate of Peter
Vlaming,
a popular, veteran teacher who was fired because he accidentally, and only one
time, referred to a male-identifying female student as "she."
Woke's "kindness" is behind
the Lancet's referring to women by the diabolical neologism, "bodies with vaginas." "Bodies
with vaginas" is the kind of misogynist, indeed, anti-human poison one
might hear from Jack the Ripper, not England's premier medical journal. Woke
inspired Keir Starmer, the British Labour Party leader and Knight Commander and
Queen's Counsel, to state that it
is wrong to say that only women have a cervix. "It
shouldn't be said. It's not right." Woke
protected Darren Merager, a white, male sex offender, who
penetrated the female section of a California spa, and Woke demonized Cubana Angel, the black woman who protested
against the white, male sex offender's violation of her safety. Woke encouraged
children like Keira Bell, a girl who tried to transition
to being a boy, and Garrett, who underwent castration, to
damage their bodies permanently before their brains were fully mature. Both
Keira and Garrett regret their surgeries. The Woke suppress peer-reviewed
research by Lisa Littman and books by Abigail Shrier and Helen Joyce that might help persons with
gender dysphoria.
Many birders said that they did not care
about the identities of those with whom they watched birds. One such post: "Birds
don't see colour, sexual orientation and or hate. That's why we love them so
much. They love everyone and perhaps we could learn a thing or two from them."
Another, "I never ask any one what their sexual orientation might be. I
don't care. I usually bird alone anyway." And another, "I treat [LGBT
people] the same as everyone else on my bird walks. I am wondering if this is
actually a thing, or a problem where none exists … Organized bird walks bring
out an assortment of folks. Seems from my experience everyone is busy looking
for birds, and not interested in who is what … It was about the birds, and only
the birds. Love to all, and happy birding."
Sibley chastised posters who said that
they didn't care about others' identities, for example, "We can not be 'colorblind'
because then we can not see that not all colors are treated equally." And "it
is important that we make sure we DO see color, race, sexual orientation, etc.
in other people so we can see patterns of oppression and address those
problems!" Sibley's insistence on emphasizing
gender and color echoes Critical Race Theory. To say that one doesn't
care about race or gender is merely proof of how racist and homophobic one is.
Sibley's Woke fans rabidly attacked
those who said that they don't care about others' identities. One birder said, "I
see no reason to treat people differently for any reason. I hope I am just as
kind to one person as another. I do not care about their sexual orientation."
In response to this anodyne comment, another wrote, "I sense a lame
attempt at whitewashing your homophobia. I've seen it before, time and time
again. Homosexuality makes you uncomfortable," and "a homophobe is a homophobe.
Get a f---ing clue!" and "maybe you should reflect on why that is
triggering for you. Is it possible that not EVERYthing is about you? Does the
idea of it hurt your feelings in some way? If so - why?" and "by your
Facebook timeline I see that you've been indoctrinated into a fascist cult."
Sibley deleted comments only because, he
said, they were not "family friendly." He did, though, keep up
comments attacking, insulting, and cursing those who said that they didn't care
about other birdwatchers' sexual orientation.
A woman named Nancy said that she didn't
like being lectured by Sibley. Her response is understandable; false
accusations are the fuel that drives lynch mobs. We've known that at least
since the millennia-old tale of Potiphar's
wife, who falsely accused the Biblical Joseph of rape, with the goal
of ruining his life. Nancy said that if Sibley lectured her, she'd lecture him
in the same way that she lectures her son. Clearly, Nancy's post was
tongue-in-cheek.
Sibley's fans descended on Nancy like
stinging insects on an open wound. Bestselling author Amy
Tan called Nancy presumptuous for daring to speak to birding
celebrity Sibley in a disrespectful manner, and accused Nancy of posting a
"threat" to "scare" Sibley. No one seemed to see any irony
in this. All animals are equal but some animals, celebrities, for example, are
more equal than others.
Those attacking Nancy egged each other
on. Go look at her Facebook page, they urged each other. "she is a
Trumpster. Her FB page is full of hate," one said. Another said,
"she's a Trump supporter so I guess you can't expect much else."
Another insulted Nancy with an overtly misogynist term. "What an
unimaginable harpy!" One mocked Nancy for having few Facebook friends.
Again, all Nancy said was that she
didn't like being lectured, and that she would lecture others if they lectured
her. She said nothing about gay people. Many, though, insisted on falsely
accusing Nancy of posting homophobic content. One wrote, "Thanks @Nancy
for proving the point of David Sibley's post. As long as folks are as
vehemently bigoted as you are - it's not safe for those of us in the queer
community to go outside. I've got a bird for you Nancy" this was followed
by an animated image of someone raising the middle finger.
The following two posts appeared back to
back. You are, a post said, "a homophobic bigot. You're an asshole."
The next post said, "You appear to be an angry and miserable person. Try
kindness and opening your heart and mind to accepting the beauty of diversity
and equality." The irony was apparently invisible to the poster.
Other posts in response to Nancy:
"you are never too old to develop empathy and acceptance of people who are
different than you. Please don't be small-minded and petty," "your
family must be so embarrassed by you," "Feeling SUPER sorry for your
sons!!!! What a nasty little person you are," "obviously a crochety
damn old person," "listen you bigoted excuse for a human being … You
do know that people who protest too much about others sexuality often have
feelings of their own towards the same sex. Closet lesbian?" and "Get
back on your meds, please."
One person said that Nancy was a bot,
and not a real person. I visited Nancy's Facebook page and easily found a
year-old post mourning the death of her father. Comments appeared to be from
people who knew Nancy's father.
People can be motivated by love or hate.
If love for LGBT birders inspired Sibley, he could have posted that birders
could make LGBT feel more comfortable by wearing a rainbow pin on their next
group outing. I'm sure birders would be honored to do so. If love for black
people inspired BLM and CRT's adherents, they could go to the black underclass
and work for any number of humanitarian agencies.
Woke is motivated by hate. Woke doesn't
work for; Woke works against. Rather than helping black people, BLM burned down
cities and bullied white diners into giving closed-fist salutes. Instead of
advancing education for black students, CRT denigrates whites and demands that
whites be dispossessed, not just of money, goods, and advanced placement
classes, but of cultural capital. Witness Eric Deggans' "limited good" call
for Tom Hanks to work against his own oeuvre of films celebrating white
astronauts and white ship captains. Sibley and his gang of bullies did nothing
for LGBT people. Rather they devoted their time and energy to mocking a lonely,
older woman because she dared to tell a celebrity that she doesn't like to be
lectured. Woke hate is justified by Woke narratives: the West is irredeemably
corrupt and must be destroyed. Anything less than destruction is inexcusable
criminal negligence. Any resistance to Woke narratives threatens the Woke's
very reason for being.
Woke attacks on anyone who resists their
narrative has ominous echoes in professional life. Paul Rossi was a teacher at the Grace
Church School in Manhattan, where the tuition is $57,330. Grace Church requires a curriculum
that demonizes whites. Rossi refused to be pigeonholed. Rossi acknowledges that
white supremacy is evil, and that it plays a significant role in American
history. He simply didn't want Grace Church to tell him who he is on the basis
of skin color. Rossi protested further that imposing a definition of whiteness
as inherently evil harms children, something that he, as a loving teacher,
could not do. Rossi said that Grace Church's curriculum
taught students "because you have whiteness you are associated with evils,
all these different evils, moral evils … we're demonizing white kids."
Rossi's principal agreed. "We are using language that makes them feel less
than, for nothing that they are personally responsible for." Rossi was
fired for his resistance to the hegemonic narrative.
In September, 2020, it was revealed that Northwestern
University held an online meeting. Every white attendee had to denounce himself
as racist. One such text: "My name is Emily Mullin. I am a racist and a
gatekeeper of white supremacy. I will work to do better." Note the vow to "do
better." According to Woke, white people are inescapably racist, and
heterosexuals are inescapably homophobic. They cannot change; they can only
publicly acknowledge their inherent evil and vow to "do better" – see
examples here, here, here. Sibley's Facebook post urged birders,
whom he insinuated were dangerous homophobes, to "do better."
Grace Church did to Paul Rossi, and
Northwestern University did to its professors, what David Sibley did to
birders. Sibley attempted to impose on birders a self-definition as making the "outdoors"
"unsafe" for "LGBTQIA2S+." Birdwatchers, therefore, needed
to "do better." The birdwatchers who refused to allow Sibley to
define them as "threatening" to "LGBTQIA2S+" resisted the
hegemonic Woke narrative. It may seem counterintuitive that these birders would
be punished for saying that they accept people regardless of their identity.
Superficially, it might appear that the Woke value tolerance. In fact, the Woke
do not value tolerance, and they don't care about the "safety" of "LGBTQIA2S+."
Rather, the Woke demand hegemonic domination of a ritual and its accompanying
narrative. Those birders who simply stated the truth, that most birders couldn't
care less about the identities of those with whom they bird, defied the
hegemonic narrative, and had to be punished.
Chris Rufo, an expert on Critical Race
Theory, recently stated that CRT "is an elite
vocabulary that you have to speak in order to gain access to" Ivy League
schools, elite society, and profitable employment. People parrot the dogma even
though they privately believe it is "BS." "What I find egregious
and abominable about Critical Race Theory is that it is an intra-elite power
struggle. The entire theory is derived to gain power within elite institutions
since its founding at Harvard Law school in the 1980s." CRT "is
surprisingly uninterested in doing the work of lifting people out of desperate
circumstances." "Rather than providing any concrete benefit to people
living in poverty or desperation," proponents of Critical Race Theory are "much
more interested in people securing their own status … That is absolutely
disgusting. They're using the poor and the oppressed as a mascot and a tool, an
image or symbol for them to play their own games among people who all share privilege
regardless of their racial background."
What helps people in need? Rufo points
to the family, to work, and to churches as sources of real help. The Woke
revile all three. "You can't even talk about them. They are taboo in elite
environments. The family is a white supremacist patriarchal institution that
should be dismantled. Work is capitalist exploitation and people shouldn't be
required to work. Faith and churches are an impediment to state control and
redistribution."
The Woke are privileged people who
exploit other people's suffering as ornaments to enhance their own power and
privilege and to feed their own narcissism, while at the same time suppressing
any action that might actually alleviate human suffering. They can be compared
to those afflicted with hero syndrome. Some arsonists set fires so
that they can be seen putting the fires out, and thereby be declared heroes. By
alleging that birdwatchers are bullies dedicated to mistreating "LGBTQIA2S+"
persons, and by stating that he opposes this epidemic abuse, Sibley virtue
signals. Many responses to his post praised him for being a hero taking a brave
stand against "threatening" birdwatchers.
Sibley's virtue signaling and the
bullying and hate he allowed and even "liked" in subsequent posts drove
a wedge between people who might otherwise have felt united by their shared
love of birds. Divisiveness, driving wedges of rage and suspicion between
people, is not a bug of Woke. Divisiveness is a feature and indeed a goal of
Woke. Drive people apart from each other, create chaos, destroy the existing
order, and pave the path to Woke Utopia.
Woke descends from Marxism, and, like
its ancestors, Woke's goal is to overturn Western Civilization and replace it
with a Woke Utopia. Demonizing anyone who declines to accept the extremes of
trans activism is part of that agenda. The difference between males and females
is foundational to objective reality. Without maleness and femaleness none of
us would be here, nor would much plant and animal life. Visually evident sexual
dimorphism is widespread among birds. A male mallard looks and behaves
differently from a female mallard. It's not clear how a birdwatcher can say, "I
see a male mallard" without being accused of committing a violent act. Remove
the very mention of that foundation from acceptable speech and thought, and you
have removed one of the pillars of Western Civilization.
The first day of every new semester, I would
ask students to write three paragraphs on a topic of their choosing. My goal
was to get a handle on their ability to command written language. I came to
realize that those first day writing samples are encapsulations of the human soul.
Please note that I used the singular, "soul," not "souls," plural.
As a proud inheritor of the Western tradition I deeply value individuality. But
I'm also aware that we all share much. I cannot reread these brief essays
without being humbled and moved and realizing that God has given me a gift I
never had the sense to pray for, but that He scattered before my feet like gems
on a velvet cape.
I've had students born in Africa, the
Caribbean, Malaysia, Israel, Iraq, the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union. There
was no way to tell whether a paper was written by a white or black student,
rich or poor, right- or left-wing, native born or immigrant, gay or straight.
Rather, what these essays reveal are commonalities. Everyone dreams. Even
students who looked bored or vacant shared dreams of helping other people.
Students talked about how much they loved their parents, siblings, boyfriends
or girlfriends.
One theme turned up in paper after
paper. "I am the only one, and I am afraid." I am the only one in
this class who was born in Africa. I am the only one who is a single mother. I
am the only one who is in a wheelchair. I am the only one who was told that I
will die before I'm thirty of a an uncurable disease. The only one in a hijab. The
only white male. The dyslexic. The one other students won't like. I will never
fit in. I am the one for whom all of this will be very hard.
There's a reason why Cinderella is the
world's most popular folktale. We all feel like that orphan sweeping back fire
soot while her stepsisters dance at the ball. Contrary to Woke, constantly focusing
on our own pain diminishes us. The path to our greatest
power is, as Jesus said, to die to ourselves, as a
seed dies in earth, only to germinate and produce many seeds. Buddha said, "All
life is suffering." Everything that is alive is in pain; rich white men
are not exempt. When we recognize the Cinderella even in people more fortunate
than ourselves, we grow spiritually in ways that seemed unimaginable when our
theme song was "I am the only one."
In addition to the first day writing
sample, my students were also required to introduce themselves to the entire
class. My first-generation students at a commuter college needed coaching in forming
professional networks. I told them, "It's not what you know; it's who you
know." I included quiz questions about fellow students. "Which one of
your classmates has a pet turtle?"
I also wanted students to get to know
each other because we'd be talking about controversial issues. I wanted my
students to remember: this isn't just Jamal, with whom I disagree. This is
Jamal, who, like me, is a Mets fan. Kyle is being a jerk, but he's an EMT, and
he may save my life someday. Judy irritates me, but her mom is dying of cancer,
and I need to take it easy on her. I wanted students to recognize the humanity
of their fellow students.
Woke insists on a rigid division between
all whites, all men, all heterosexuals, who are all oppressors, and selected
others who are defined as permanently oppressed. It's undeniable that gay
people have been treated horrifically. It's equally undeniable that we have no
way of knowing that any given white man has not faced equally horrific
treatment. I have met white, heterosexual men who were slave laborers under the
Nazis, imprisoned by the Imperial Japanese, who suffered years of unspeakable
child abuse, who were beaten up in Paterson or Newark, or, whose academic
careers were sabotaged, exactly because they were white males, and whose loved
ones were killed on 9-11 because of their identity. In my mother's natal
Slovakia I met a Catholic priest who was tortured by communists. I refuse to
close my eyes to these men's suffering because Woke insists to me that they are
"privileged white oppressors." I refuse to withhold judgment from
LGBT people who have abused others, from Roy Cohn to Darren Merager. Identity
is no basis for morality or for the rationing out of "kindness."
I posted on David Sibley's page, "There
are times and places where it is very important to say, 'I am a woman and a
rape survivor,' or 'I am working class and I have experienced classism that has
diminished me.' But there are also times and places where it is actually better
for a group of people to leave their identities and histories of oppression
aside, and, together, focus on something transcendent, something utterly
outside of themselves, something that overrides identities, something that
unites them in an experience of the numinous,
and of communitas. And, as these diverse people
leave their mortal identities earthbound, as they ascend the heights of wonder,
they realize that what unites them is so much more important than what divides
them. And, later, they realize, 'Hey, I spent today with people unlike myself,
and yet we experienced communitas,' and from that very experience, they learn
transcendent love. David, I'm asking you to consider that your avian art offers
a highway out of the prison of identity, and you should not squander that. Let
us unite as birders. We don't have to hide our identities, but we don't have to
rub others' noses in them. When I am birding, I don't think about being a woman
who has been raped (which I am) I don't think about being poor (which I am.) I
focus on my love of birds, which unites me to my fellow birders."
I was immediately and repeatedly denounced.
One woman, a professional writer from Chevy Chase, the wealthiest town in
Maryland and home to many celebrities, responded by accusing me of "contributing
to a toxic culture" and supporting an oppressive "patriarchal
society." Another poster called my post simply "awful" and proof
that Sibley was correct.
My parents were peasant immigrants from
Eastern Europe and I traveled there several times. I stood in food lines, and
ran from tear gas, water cannons, and the riot police who broke up our
anti-Soviet demonstrations. In spite of the Soviet Union's awesome power, I
shared with fellow Poles cherished moments of freedom. We gathered over rye bread
and butter, tomatoes and onions, and of course vodka, and we told anti-state
jokes and sang inspirational songs like "Musimy
Siac." I do not remember experiencing in Poland the penetration
of Big Brother's scathing gaze into every nook and cranny of private life. I do
not remember feeling that Big Brother was not one, remote, alien, communist
state, a monolith that I and every decent person I knew was united in
resisting, but, rather, that Big Brother operated the thousands of pairs of
eyes of the people standing next to me, including people I had previously
trusted to be above transparent ideological manipulation. That these people,
strangers and friends, were insisting, not that I be good. No. Goodness is not
a goal, here. Rather, these thousands of eyes rake me and demand that I confess
that I am bad, privileged and bad, incurably bad, that I am bad when I read bedtime stories to a child; that I am
racist when I seek soy sauce in the "ethnic foods" aisle in the supermarket;
when I purchase Trader Joe's salsa; when I struggle to discover objective truth; and when I conclude that 2 + 2 = 4. These thousands of Big Brother's
little helpers insist that I am "dangerous," "threatening,"
"hurtful," white supremacist, imperialist, homophobic and transphobic
when I look at birds. If I don't agree to these absurdities, if I resist them
at all, even to denounce racism, sexism, homophobia, and other hatred, I must
be slandered. I must jettison any hope of rational discourse. I must enter an
upside-down world where hate is diversity and speech is violence and celebrity
princelings and princesses like David Sibley, Amy Tan and the ladies of Chevy
Chase lecture poor people on our "privilege." I must risk being made
unemployable, and being doxed and punished and torn by a mob of online hyenas.
I experienced nothing like those feelings in communist Poland. This horror is
new to me, here in Woke America.
Danusha Goska is the author of God through Binoculars: A Hitchhiker at a Monastery
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