It’s hard to be taken seriously in today’s foreign policy establishment when talking about the harms of what is broadly referred to as “woke culture.” Russia’s expansionist war in Ukraine, the ascendance of totalitarian China, the ever-present risk of jihadist terrorism, and many other threats would seemingly leave little room to focus on the American culture war. However, foreign policy specialists are now beginning to recognize that this is in fact a problem worth paying attention to.
As a foreign policy analyst and former Fulbright prof in the field myself, I thank you for this. The deletrious influence on our foreign policy of our ideological thought-suppression at home is something I have observed for years, seen the toll it has taken on relations with friends around the world, but despaired of other Americans noticing it. I am glad you have noticed it and called it to a wider attention. The costs have grown incredibly high. They go far beyond the costs of recent cases that you have found the space to mention here.
The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impressionable students that segregation is equity, grievance is justice, and truth is a social construct (unless the gatekeepers disagree with that 'truth' in which case its supporters must be deplatformed). These fields have no use for evidence, empiricism and fact-checking ideas - often they decry evidence as oppression - hence they run the risk of descending into demagoguery.
There is good news on the horizon - the academic bubble is going to burst and Academic excess will bring it about! First, these impressionable students are taking on an unsustainable debt burden for degrees in grievance & victimhood (which aren't marketable enough to pay off the debts - so these degrees are increasingly only accessible to the sons & daughters of privilege). Second, due to grade inflation (one way to bribe students into majoring in these fields is by giving away grades) employers no longer trust GPA's and Diplomas and assess skills and abilities of interviewees - and grievance studies majors develop few skills that employers actually want (these unfortunate students learn to write in 'academese' which is unsuitable for businesses). Third, companies are seeking more 'new-collar' employees - a new category of workers with valuable skills but no college degree - a lot of technicians and coders fall into this category. These, combined, signal a decline in University enrollment - we can already see it happening. Enrollments are dropping but the decrease is not uniform across all majors - STEM majors still see robust enrollments - Universities will cut back on departments which are not in demand. Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will wither and die due to their own selfish excesses - those Profs have been exploiting their students' trust to boost their own careers and they will learn that truly you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Also, I predict that within one decade we will see students file class-action lawsuits against Universities for 'selling worthless degrees.' Students who are deep in debt and unable to pay off the loans will realize that they were mislead by the educators that they trusted or even idolized. The excuse of 'broadening of minds' will ring hollow to those who are working 3 jobs to pay off debts and have no time to feed their mind. They will come to realize that Universities turned them into debt slaves - how ironic: their greatest grievance will be with those who taught them the culture of grievance.
Academia is digging its own grave - let's hope something new and beautiful grows from its compost!
Jean-Michel Blanquer, said: “People who claim to be progressive and who…distinguish people by the color of their skin are leading us to things that resemble fascism.” It is fascism and the left with it’s authoritarianism are in control. They have taken over all of US society. With billionaire backing this can only be stopped with courage and backbone. My question for the author after he mentioned “authoritarians” on the right who is he talking about? What “authoritarian policies” are being pushed? I don’t see it. I just see the left PR orgs running the show
It seemed to begin or accelerate with the death of George Floyd. This influence is commented on a lot in the UK as well. Here in Canada, it’s been taken up by progressives and become widely accepted dogma even though the history is quite different. Ultimately, what is at stake is not just American power, but Western civilization more broadly. The fundamentals of America are that of the West, and that’s the endgame. It’s not just between ‘races’.
Faisal, thanks for pointing this out. I applaud Macron for fighting back. When I was in Germany and Austria last fall, it certainly wasn't as woke as it is here - yet - although they were starting in whatever ways they could. My experience is that every American idea - good or bad - eventually filters into other cultures in one way or another. But the thrust of woke culture is pernicious and counterproductive especially for countries who have much more important needs , both materially and politically. Woke culture is also seductive on its own, just as Marxism was, but now it additionally has an American imprint on it. Either others take on these (bad) American ideas, or they reject them and reject allying and making common cause with the U.S. (bad). Or possibly both, in the end! And I do think what Alan says below is relevant - it's not just about American power but about Enlightenment ideas and tenets which make any people free. Keep up your tireless good work here - you and others like you are desperately needed at this juncture of time.
It is not America spreading this woke ideology. It is the United Nations. Social Justice, equity, DEI, explicit sex ed classes for school children and the trans agenda all originated from United Nations, UNESCO, and WEF and it's stakeholders. The UN is forcing their agenda on all counties that are signatories of the UN Agenda 2030. France is also a signatory of the UN AGENDA 2030, and Macron is a WEF puppet.
It is worse in Africa- but thankfully African leaders are telling the US and others to keep their aid money and their western morality and leave them alone. Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and others have said no to the nonsense being brought in under aid packages for "Human Rights".
[thanks to the internet... that it's exported]- Mostly through HR in global corporations and Radicalized Academics imported to European Universities through grants from think tanks and the like... With quite a strong link to Marxism... (which has already infected the US universities)
If you don't like what is on TV or the internet, shut it off. America has some horrible things going on w/r/t race/gender, but it is ON YOU if you adopt these issues. Don't be America's copycats when we are acting stupid. Please push back on the sources of these ideas.
Our progressives need to see that the world holds them in contempt.
Does anyone know of the impact that Chinese students have on our universities? My understanding is that the Chinese government has input into where their kids attend.bthey also pay full tuition.
As a foreign policy analyst and former Fulbright prof in the field myself, I thank you for this. The deletrious influence on our foreign policy of our ideological thought-suppression at home is something I have observed for years, seen the toll it has taken on relations with friends around the world, but despaired of other Americans noticing it. I am glad you have noticed it and called it to a wider attention. The costs have grown incredibly high. They go far beyond the costs of recent cases that you have found the space to mention here.
The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impressionable students that segregation is equity, grievance is justice, and truth is a social construct (unless the gatekeepers disagree with that 'truth' in which case its supporters must be deplatformed). These fields have no use for evidence, empiricism and fact-checking ideas - often they decry evidence as oppression - hence they run the risk of descending into demagoguery.
There is good news on the horizon - the academic bubble is going to burst and Academic excess will bring it about! First, these impressionable students are taking on an unsustainable debt burden for degrees in grievance & victimhood (which aren't marketable enough to pay off the debts - so these degrees are increasingly only accessible to the sons & daughters of privilege). Second, due to grade inflation (one way to bribe students into majoring in these fields is by giving away grades) employers no longer trust GPA's and Diplomas and assess skills and abilities of interviewees - and grievance studies majors develop few skills that employers actually want (these unfortunate students learn to write in 'academese' which is unsuitable for businesses). Third, companies are seeking more 'new-collar' employees - a new category of workers with valuable skills but no college degree - a lot of technicians and coders fall into this category. These, combined, signal a decline in University enrollment - we can already see it happening. Enrollments are dropping but the decrease is not uniform across all majors - STEM majors still see robust enrollments - Universities will cut back on departments which are not in demand. Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will wither and die due to their own selfish excesses - those Profs have been exploiting their students' trust to boost their own careers and they will learn that truly you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Also, I predict that within one decade we will see students file class-action lawsuits against Universities for 'selling worthless degrees.' Students who are deep in debt and unable to pay off the loans will realize that they were mislead by the educators that they trusted or even idolized. The excuse of 'broadening of minds' will ring hollow to those who are working 3 jobs to pay off debts and have no time to feed their mind. They will come to realize that Universities turned them into debt slaves - how ironic: their greatest grievance will be with those who taught them the culture of grievance.
Academia is digging its own grave - let's hope something new and beautiful grows from its compost!
Jean-Michel Blanquer, said: “People who claim to be progressive and who…distinguish people by the color of their skin are leading us to things that resemble fascism.” It is fascism and the left with it’s authoritarianism are in control. They have taken over all of US society. With billionaire backing this can only be stopped with courage and backbone. My question for the author after he mentioned “authoritarians” on the right who is he talking about? What “authoritarian policies” are being pushed? I don’t see it. I just see the left PR orgs running the show
It seemed to begin or accelerate with the death of George Floyd. This influence is commented on a lot in the UK as well. Here in Canada, it’s been taken up by progressives and become widely accepted dogma even though the history is quite different. Ultimately, what is at stake is not just American power, but Western civilization more broadly. The fundamentals of America are that of the West, and that’s the endgame. It’s not just between ‘races’.
Faisal, thanks for pointing this out. I applaud Macron for fighting back. When I was in Germany and Austria last fall, it certainly wasn't as woke as it is here - yet - although they were starting in whatever ways they could. My experience is that every American idea - good or bad - eventually filters into other cultures in one way or another. But the thrust of woke culture is pernicious and counterproductive especially for countries who have much more important needs , both materially and politically. Woke culture is also seductive on its own, just as Marxism was, but now it additionally has an American imprint on it. Either others take on these (bad) American ideas, or they reject them and reject allying and making common cause with the U.S. (bad). Or possibly both, in the end! And I do think what Alan says below is relevant - it's not just about American power but about Enlightenment ideas and tenets which make any people free. Keep up your tireless good work here - you and others like you are desperately needed at this juncture of time.
It is not America spreading this woke ideology. It is the United Nations. Social Justice, equity, DEI, explicit sex ed classes for school children and the trans agenda all originated from United Nations, UNESCO, and WEF and it's stakeholders. The UN is forcing their agenda on all counties that are signatories of the UN Agenda 2030. France is also a signatory of the UN AGENDA 2030, and Macron is a WEF puppet.
It is worse in Africa- but thankfully African leaders are telling the US and others to keep their aid money and their western morality and leave them alone. Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria and others have said no to the nonsense being brought in under aid packages for "Human Rights".
[thanks to the internet... that it's exported]- Mostly through HR in global corporations and Radicalized Academics imported to European Universities through grants from think tanks and the like... With quite a strong link to Marxism... (which has already infected the US universities)
If you don't like what is on TV or the internet, shut it off. America has some horrible things going on w/r/t race/gender, but it is ON YOU if you adopt these issues. Don't be America's copycats when we are acting stupid. Please push back on the sources of these ideas.
Our progressives need to see that the world holds them in contempt.
Shakespeare may be the hill on which they die! One can only hope that their extremism will cause them to implode.
A concise and accurate accounting of the dangerous reach of our idiotic Woke culture.
I get the feeling you almost had an original thought.
I encourage you to try again.
They’re coming across the Pacific too, don’t you worry.
FAIR has not pushed back against right-wing illiberalism at all.
Does anyone know of the impact that Chinese students have on our universities? My understanding is that the Chinese government has input into where their kids attend.bthey also pay full tuition.
Good job. CRT. The usage of Ibrahim Kendi, the equivalent of Adolf Hitler, and his writing equivalency to Mein Kempf. Dastardly.