From a concept to a conspiracy
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| Image by diema from Pixabay |
This is: A weekly column consisting of letters to my perspicacious progeny. I write letters to my grandkids and my great-grandkids — the Stickies — to advise them and haunt them after they've become grups and/or I'm deleted.
Warning: This column is rated SSC — Sexy Seasoned Citizens — A Perusal by kids, callowyutes, or grups may result in a debilitating intersectional triggering. Viewing with a tablet or a monitor is highly recommended for maximum enjoyment.
"There is not Communism or Marxism, but representative democracy and social justice in a well-planned economy." -Fidel Castro
Dear (eventual) Grandstickies and Great-Grandstickies (and Gentlereaders),
Cultural Marxism, at least according to the very first hit returned when I recently googled the phrase, is a conspiracy theory. To be specific, Cultural Marxism conspiracy theory - Wikipedia, was what popped up.
Now, I link to Wikipedia entries regularly; I love the concept of Wikipedia.
An attempted compendium of all knowledge compiled, edited, and updated by volunteers that is in a constant state of flux because we're all floating upon, swimming in, or living on the shores of the ever-rising Information Ocean is an interesting and worthy experiment.
BIG BUT.
Wikipedia is by nature and definition bound to be controversial. But it's easy to make the case that given the danger of being caught in an information tsunami and the limits of traditional encyclopedias that something new is called for.
However, if Wikipedia is the answer to taming the dissonance-inducing Dizzinformation Age that we're trying to cope with, even those young enough to take it for granted and who find it slightly less disorienting than the rest of us, it's got a ways to go.
In spite of that, and knowing that its entries on specific people are notoriously unreliable, I donated a few bucks here and there because I regularly use it and I wished to support the experiment. I'm personally aware of the fact that good writing is hard work and that a lack of material support in any creative endeavor is hard on the heart.
Unfortunately, Wikipedia has awokened. That is to say, has adopted the set of fundamental precepts of a secular religion, Wokism. Wokism, like any religion, filters everything through its dogma and ideology and is a religion I don't care to support either financially or rhetorically.
I'm not going to expand on those precepts in this particular column, I'm merely going to provide an example that illustrates my point.
{So far this sounds a bit highfalutin for the likes of you.}
Sad but true, Dana. Let's hope it doesn't last.
Long story short, there is no hooge, mind-numbing philosophical tome titled Cultural Marxism. The phrase is more of a reaction to various forms of Wokism, often critical in nature, but/and means different things to different people.
{But/and?}
Lowfalutin enough for ya?
However, Cultural Marxism, according to Wokepedia, is officially a far-right conspiracy theory. Now, given its open-ended meaning, I'm certain there's no shortage of far-right wackadoos espousing their version of it.
However, more than a few H. sapiens, including this one, define the term in a way that we consider to be both rational and reasonable. Given that there's no mention of this/us in the Wikipedia entry, I can't help but wonder if deliberately presenting a one-sided view of a multidimensional concept is where the actual conspiracy lies.
{Well, I'll probably regret this but I'll bite, how do you define Cultural Marxism?}
Well, it's complicated but...
But, quite simply I'd say it neatly sums up the fact Wokeness is merely a version of Marxism in which the fundamental precept, the bourgeoisie v. the proletariat, has been replaced by the Pasty Patriarchical Hegemonistic Euroimpirialists v. everyone else.
Or, as one Jermister defines it in the urbanDICTIONARY, "Cultural Marxism is a term used to describe the idea that our society is best interpreted as being a power struggle between different identity groups or cultures (women, men, gay, straight, black, white)."
Jermister adds that "Cultural Marxists hunt relentlessly to find things to be offended about, and claim to speak on behalf of all oppressed groups, though most of the time cultural marxists are rich, privileged, upper and middle class white college women with multicolored hair."
Pat Condell, a fellow certified crank, provides my personally favorite explanation in the following video, The Curse of Cultural Marxism. Favorite line: "Progressive is a kind of mutation from liberal, like a cancerous growth on the liberal ethos."
America is in trouble. A country made up of people of other cultures from all over the world needs to more or less agree on a "mission statement" at the macro level and ground rules at the micro level to avoid disintegration.
I don't know how to resolve the situation but I do know that the uncompromising (and unforgiving) nature of one-sided Wokism isn't helping.
Addendum: The power of the Goog
If you're anything like me, a geezer/geezerette who "came up" in a different world and/or having an actual life that takes place more in meatspace than cyberspace, you may find it's easy to forget the ephemeral nature of searching for knowledge via the Goog.
It's not just that like everything published in cyberspace it's subject to endless tinkering in real-time by writers and algorithmites. Worse yet is that the Goog and its ilk can, and do, present information designed by head shrinkers with dubious ethics to manipulate "users" for fun, profit, and fidelity to the church dogma.
Poppa loves you,
Have an OK day
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