This is about looking at America dealing with its Woke mind virus, reconciling it with reason and not getting bogged down in culture wars. Some of it is not caring. Some of it threading the needle. I think it’s the correct and tonic approach.
My Perspective
It bears repeating that my interest in all of this is not simple. But what is subjective does not necessarily mean it is mushy. I’ve always hated being a raceman, and I’m a tad resentful that I’ve had to get into this at all. I’m fortunate to be self-possessed enough not to be locked into some partisan camp, but to reckon with what I’ve learned and retain on my journeys. I’m confident that anyone going through this exercise should find plenty of reasons themselves.
I have been Progressive. That means I expect politics, and thereafter government to pave a highway to success, complete with lane lines and guard rails. In other words I was philosophically utilitarian - seeking the most good for the most people most of the time. Nowadays I think this is asking too much.
I have been and remain Organic. This means I prefer my value in society to be only marginally leveraged by large organizations and powers that be. In other words I expect to be as credible as someone with a degree from Stanford by doing similar work independent of Stanford. I will stand on the shoulders of giants unaided by the scaffolding of a Stanford education. I find mass production distasteful. I don’t hate Stanford. I don’t detract from Stanford. But if Stanford produces anything of value, I can completely understand that value and produce that value without Stanford’s permission. This is also the philosophy of Open Source.
I have been Black Nationalist. This means I expect a full measure of sovereignty of the black people, by the black people & for the black people. Philosophically it means I expect the instant and full recognition of the ways and means of black people as equal to that of any people on the planet, past present and future. It means I am not dependent on the perception of the rest of the world, and I have every right to claim this independence.
I am educated in and respectful of Christianity. I came at this education involuntarily, like most Christians, but I ingested enough sectarian variety to evade indoctrination. I am philosophically impressed with Christianity’s coexistence with secular power and the reconciliation of its proper faith with reason. I am further impressed that church is free and open, unlike so many other institutions.
I have been and remain Western. This means I accept the fundamental legitimacy of the history of the West in its particular inheritances from Christianity, Ancient Greek & Roman culture, its medieval mythology, its Enlightenment and the jurisprudence of English Common Law, the frameworks of its leading philosophers and its embrace of modernism, science and the open society. I’m a WEIRDo.
I have been Conservative. This means that I expect politics, and thereafter government to make minimal roadblocks on the highway to success. In other words I am philosophically Lockean with regard to my understanding of the rights of man, the purposes of liberty and the necessity of individualism.
I am Stoic. This means I expect that the Universe is ordered and operates in a logically consistent manner regardless of our ability to observe and predict its laws correctly. To the extent we can, we are obliged to limit our thinking and perspective to mind its laws and not seek to ignore or magically wish ourselves away from them. It means that anything that is legal within the laws of the universe can and will happen and we should always limit our concern to that which we can control in our individual selves.
I am Cosmopolitain. This means I expect to be recognized among the literate, educated and noble classes around the world. I expect to remain informed and exposed to important things beyond my own remit. In other words I am not provincial or a local yokel.
Finally I am a Peasant. That means that I am among the majority (roughly 85%) of people on this planet who are not primarily engaged by the Rulers of their nations and while capable, not directly responsible for enabling those Rulers by delivering to them my fidelity and Genius. In other words, I’m not the Surgeon General nor do I write his speeches or present him my research which informs those speeches. I have to listen up and apply discernment like everybody else. I’m not an insider.
All in all, I think this leaves me in a pretty good place. But as a black American, I also know a bit about what Woke is, why Woke is and as what my reaction to it should be. This is actually the secondary motivation for me to be involved in writing about Woke at all. The primary motivation is that I considered myself part of the Rationality Movement as part and parcel of my move towards Stoicism years before the COVID Pandemic. I was deeply concerned about the American academia’s capacity to remain reasonable amidst a background of ever increasing politicization of the Humanities. The very idea that people believe they can cast votes or dictate policy on the way human beings are seen is both ridiculous and abhorrent. The great transgressors in this social distortion are the Left Progressives, their postmodern and structuralist philosophies and their legions of social justice fans, useful idiot enablers, activists, warriors and terrorists.
Social justice is crowdsourced law, the whining little sister of mob rule.
As often as I say we live in dark times, it is precisely the drift away from institutional coherence and defense of justice & equality that concerns me most. The ocean of chaos isn’t substantially rising but our dykes are leaking without sufficient repair. Our streets are muddy and it stinks. I am heading for higher ground.
My secondary motivation was to honor the invitation I was made to be a founder and board member of the Foundation for Free Black Thought. I am immensely proud of our accomplishments to date and I think we are significant in turning the tide against the irrationality of Woke priorities. Moreover our own coherence is testimony to the value of that thread of American culture exemplified by the work and dedication of generations whose contributions we highlight in our Compendium and publish contemporarily in our Journal. So my resentment at being called to do more race talk is more than offset by my association with these fine folk and their broader audience and partners.
So Why Squint?
Because it rhymes with flint. Rub me wrong and there’s gonna be sparks. Leave me alone in the dirt and I’m just fine. I cannot think of a better metaphor for not being Woke or Anti-Woke especially because I consider those to be sideshows. I also cannot think of ‘squint’ without thinking of Clint Eastwood. My aim is to be good, but not saintly. Clearly the Woke are bad and the Anti-Woke are ugly, but their factionalism is just another manifestation of their trudging and squabbling through the same muddy streets, all below the sea level of reasoned rhetoric, culturally admirable behavior and democratically enabling debate, to say nothing about Truth or Beauty.
So I squint at the lot of them. I can even do it with a grin in a graveyard.
Like I said, I’m heading for higher ground and anybody still digging around in the dirt, I’ll be squinting at them from a distance. Join me.
Apart from #s 1 & 3 I’m with you - the last time I was a progressive, though back then, 1977 it was called a “liberal”. And I’m a proud American Latino, by heritage an inheritor of a 500 year old tradition and by love, admiration and respect an American patriot. With your permission I’ll copy and use your descriptors in my engagements with others without the clarity of their own positions.
Conservatives expect too much of the individual, because they refuse to acknowledge how their own reality is socially constructed, especially their successes in life. In times of rapid social change, the individual gets lost and confused and needs more protection not less.