The cultural shift which has taken place (against which Revive Britain is a counter-revolution) goes by various names: post-modernism, Woke, identity politics, social justice, progressivism, cultural Marxism, critical theory, social constructivism, victimhood culture, radical feminism.
Many of these are labels for specific examples of the manifestations of this ideology. ‘Woke’, has been widely adopted as a shorthand for the whole thing.
Individualism v Collectivism: The core of the ideology
There are two fairly distinct ways to view an individual:
- with their primary identity as a member of a group (tribe, religion, sex etc)
- as a free, responsible individual with group membership as secondary
One consequence of this distinction is how they view success or failure. In the collectivist view, success and failure are due to exploitation, discrimination, superiority of the group etc. In the individualist view success and failure are, primarily attributed to the individuals efforts.
Identity-based ideologies
- Marxism: Workers are oppressed by capitalists. Ban capitalism, Gulag for those who disagree.
- Nazism: Germans are oppressed by an International Jewish conspiracy. Wipe out the Jews.
- Victim feminism: Women are oppressed by men. ‘Believe all women’. Family court bias. False accusations of abuse.
- Victim racism: Black people are oppressed by white people. Demands for reparations. Continuous claims of racism.
In each case, the group which identifies itself as victim feels justified in doing whatever they blike to the group they view as oppressor. rather than feeling empathy, they feel that members of the group ‘deserve’ their fate and that a utopian world can be created by these actions.
Denigrating British history
Once ‘white people’ have been identified as the oppressors, it follows that the history of white people is all about oppression. History is filtered for negative messages and positive messages supressed. For example: British individual participation in the slave trade is remembered while British state intervention to stop it is quietly forgotten. Children are then taught the ideological version at school. When they grow up they can repeat the message. Labels are changed in museums. Statues are removed.
The oppression olympics
Without any prior planning, a new hierarchy of oppression forms. women > non-white people > gays and lesbians > refugees > transexuals. All these groups need special protection from the oppressor. Trans women ARE women; (nearly) every migrant is an asylum-seeker; the father WAS an abuser.
Post-modernist academics
Some people use the terms ‘post-modernist’ or ‘critical social justice’ to describe academics who embrace and promote this ideology. They specifically reject the central tenet of ‘modernism’: the Enlightenment etc that there is a reality out there which we can endeavour to understand. Evidence and the scientific method are rejected in favour of ‘lived experience’.
This has frightening consequences. Radical feminist academics are working behind the scenes changing laws so that any accusation of domestic abuse against the father is taken seriously. The facts in the matter are of little significance. This activity is difficultto spot. The academic has the same title (Dr, Professor etc) as evidence-based academics. their journals look similar, they conduct loectures, set and mark exams etc. their research papers have the same format. It is only when you look closely at the data they use that you see that the whole thinbg is based on unrelaibvle data from surveys and interviews.
Radicalised judiciary
Lawyers and judges
The role of the state
The collectivist worldview therefore implies a role for the state to correct the distortions