Much like everyone else in the modern world, I see the gaping, hemorrhaging wounds in our society and want scramble and fix it. But everyone seems to see the wound differently and is insistent their way is correct. It’s because we hate diversity and the oppressive culture just won’t let up. Or it’s because there are people who want to tear down what we used to hold dear and sacred. Maybe even because we’re gone off the deep end with the privilege of being able to think so much we create problems where there isn’t with radical ideology.

I have created this Substack because I have decided that is it better to take a stand for something I believe in, after educating myself of the issues. If history shows that I am wrong, I will reflect and own up for my choices, but at least I will have taken a stand. And I feel I am taking the correct side, as the people currently in power never seem to own up to their wrongs, even when solid irrefutable evidence is presented to them. The ones presented as evil do. They own up to their mistakes, they take in arguments and points against them and digest it. So even if they end up being wrong, I would rather stand with a side who own up to their mistakes and take accountability – something I feel people are losing in the modern age – then to perpetually cover up or not acknowledge mistakes.

Issues and people are nuanced. I studied philosophy in college, with an emphasis on morality. Including other cultures other than Western. The mainstream is going backwards centuries by how it reduced issues and people to good and evil. Back to the Old Testament ideology where sinners must be smote, and there is no forgiveness of repentance for your sins of bigotry. Which, by the way, isn’t inherently “Christian ideology”. That is from the cradle of human existence, where the Old Testament was created, but first appears in the first human code of law – the “Code of Hammurabi” in Mesopotamia (which was in modern-day Iraq) - where it is literally laid out “an eye for an eye”1. IE equity.

The slip backwards to the first conceived morality by the first known civilization being in a matter of two generations is alarming. Considering the millennia required for the concept of human rights, morality around punishments, the concept of democracy, and other what we would think as “basic morality” now, the fact we’ve so easily torn down the centuries of thought and work that philosophers (of not just Western culture) and movements such as the enlightenment built up and worked to convince the masses in two decades to the simplest of humanoid thought should be a sign of how fallible we are. Instead, we twist it in a hyper-logical way to convince ourselves it is a new way of thinking and progressive because we are accepting diversity and breaking down the “oppressive” structures we’ve built over centuries of trial and error.

I also work in media and live in New York City. I am surrounded by wokeism and noticed the change over my 10 years from radical but grounded in reality, to a delusion that everyone reinforces in each other. No one is happy because they are soaked in their delusions, but also don’t want to break the delusions because taking accountability and dealing with reality is too much. The slip to me was jarring, because it felt like everyone just accepted it, and I had no idea where it came from. Like everyone had secret knowledge I didn’t, but also this knowledge lacked critical thinking and required unquestioning allegiance. Which are two things I hold dear above all things. I am a moral relativist (meaning I think what is moral depends on cultural circumstances and upbringing, so “inherent morality” doesn’t work, and I feel the Palestine vs. Israel debate shows that ideology well on what Hamas finds moral), but if you cannot think deeply and reflect on why you believe what you believe and question yourself and others, then there is something wrong with the ideology being pushed. Ideology should be able to hold up upon questioning. You should actively question yourself, and reflect on new information and experiences and how they relate to your worldview. Not to mention the blatant double standard, and the only reasoning behind it is a good vs. evil rhetoric. They’re putting the nail in the coffin of critical thinking and self-reflection, two things that create a vibrant but also communal society. A balance of seeing problems and trying to solve them, but also being able to see how you might contribute to the problem. Whether it be contributing to a society or just navigating immediate family and friendships, these help with simply living life.

In my unique position of being in a cesspool of wokeism, but also my extensive knowledge of philosophy and how it relates in history and presents in the modern age, I plan to use this space to comment on day to day experiences with wokeism and elevate it to a philosophical argument, to both expose wokeism for its regressive ideology, but also show its negative effect on woke individuals themselves. There is no way to show them the way out unless they want it – like cult members – but exposing their unhappiness in their ideology and showing the harm to their own self and society will hopefully show reason to those questioning a way out or keep people from buying in. Much like addicts, I do pity them and empathize that they are lost, but ultimately they are making their choices in life and eventually will either need to chose to get out or remain unhappy and blaming society using victim ideology.

Because my career hinges on my reputation, and I am not high enough to make an impact and only hurt myself if I were to speak out, I must do so in this space with anonymity. Ironically, I am using a male pen name that I was initially going to go under when I was convinced the industry was sexist. I was told “actually it’s time for women”, and decided to use my real name in my career. Now all the women’s groups intended to progress women in my field are now changing their names and letting anyone in but “cis het men”, and wokeism is tired of demonizing them so now are demonizing “cis het white women” so I assume it is only a matter of time before those women’s groups don’t even allow women in. Wokeism is now as sexist (and racist) as the patriarchy it promises to break down. So I will use my pen name, cheeky nod that I need protection from the ideology that purported to protect me, then use it to critique the world that surrounds me as a double agent. I hope you will subscribe.