The Duped Generation
By: Cheval
October 25, 2021
This article is intended to directly address the generation and those who consider themselves “woke.”
Your generation is not the “woke” generation. Yours is the “duped” generation. The woke are languishing in an ideological odyssey, through which the “awakened” have already passed or avoided altogether. And it is not your fault. You have grown up within an educational system that has led you astray. The very things you have been taught, more aptly not taught, and told by your teachers, professors, and possibly your parents, has led you down a path which has blinded and indoctrinated you, instilling a belief system of negativism, victimhood, anti- Americanism, and socialism, amplified by the media and social media, ultimately producing a generation that can no longer see reality right before its eyes. If you cannot bring yourself to see or admit this, consider yourself fully indoctrinated.
Your generation is not the first to hold up compassion-based ideals, to take up causes, wanting to transform how things are in the world. Wisdom is knowing which causes to take up. If you have been continuously fed that America is a terrible place and racism is rampant, of course you are going to believe these things. You are naturally going to want to fight against perceived oppression, inequities in our society, or exploitation of the planet. We all know that perception is reality, so what you have been taught is your reality.
The problem is that perceptions can be wrong, not based on facts. When ingrained, beliefs are extremely difficult to change, even when faced with overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
A huge problem facing your generation is that critical evidence and history are being intentionally withheld, omitted, twisted, mocked, and debunked by so-called “fact-checkers” who control the communications channels in entertainment, journalism, and social and mainstream media.
Who fact-checks the fact-checkers?
Worse yet, blatant censoring of truthful and honest information sources is on the rise, which prevent you from seeing alternative views and perspectives, thereby solidifying your perceptions. Most of you are unaware that this is happening. However, if you are okay with this, then we really have an even bigger problem on our hands.
To consistently ignore opposing or dissenting thought deprives you of real, truthful learning, relinquishing your right of discernment and command of the facts in favor of capitulation to those people and forces that want to shape your views to benefit themselves. Opposing thought is not necessarily bigoted or racist. Opposing views enable your own critical thought to discern good ideas from bad ideas, and derive the best outcomes for the most people, not just for a select group. Your influencers will always tell you what it is good for society and for you; however, what we are experiencing today is demonization of those with opposing perspectives.
What you do not necessarily see nor understand is that the people who are telling you these things are not doing this because of their love of humanity. They are doing so to gain some degree or power or combination of power and wealth. This is what elites have done in every society and every instance in which socialism emerged. It is an inevitable outcome, and the burden will be on the backs of the everyday citizens who will not reap the same rewards as the elites. You will reap the poverty and degradations that have been the products of every single socialist society. The true result is the creation a society based on fear, intimidation, and conformity.
Socialist ideals have not been proven nor been successfully implemented – anywhere — ever. Yet, it seems, it is the fate of each generation to assume that it has things figured out and prior generations had it wrong. It is true that there are always things that do not go perfectly with every generation. That will not change, and it is true of your generation as well.
It seems the woke cannot value those things that set this country apart, America’s exceptionalism, instead being taught to focus on the negative aspects of our past and incongruities of today. It is fascinating and sad that many of you have been taught to believe that fundamental, traditional, Judeo-Christian values, the values of Western Civilization, the very values upon which this country was built, grown, and succeeded, are now characterized as irrelevant, inconsequential, evil, or portrayed as “right-wing propaganda.” These clouded and jaded views have no substance or merit, propelled by those who have accomplished little and never made or created much in their lives.
Those arriving in America that lived under the yoke of socialism or communism abroad recognize the telltale signs of what is happening in our country and are fearful that we will undergo the same coup or revolution they endured. They see frightening parallels and are appalled by them, as they should be. Why would they migrate to America? Better question: Why is your generation supportive of the same socialist policies that brought about what they experienced? Answer: Because it is all new to you and it all sounds good. That is exactly what people thought in their native countries until it was too late to reverse course. Now their movie is coming to a theater near you.
The woke lack credibility with those who have come before your generation. However, to be taken seriously, you must build credibility over time. It is offensive to more experienced generations that you somehow think you know better, telling the rest of society what they should or should not do when you yourselves do not have the experience on how things work. Moreover, they know you have been indoctrinated with views underscored by a flawed ideology. And now, based on your years of adult experience, you expect the rest of America to concede that somehow you know better?
The issue at hand is preventing your generation from making the colossal mistake of heading down a socialist and ultimately a communist path, dragging the rest of us down with you, and then having it take multiple generations to pull us out, at great cost in resources, lives, loss of personal freedom and property, and time. You will find that, should we head down the woke socialist path, there will be a tipping point at which time the course becomes irreversible. And you will not like the result.
If you believe that you can and will win your battle to create a world better than prior generations, you will eventually learn that your new-found arrogance is misplaced, and you wind up devaluing things that came before you. It makes you want to disassociate with anything from the past, not recognizing that with adequate time and experience, you will naturally begin to recognize the value of history’s lessons, that prior generations were not far off the mark, and perhaps things were not as bad as today’s progressives acknowledge.
Progressive ideals are making inroads within your generations and with those similarly indoctrinated; however, not with prior generations. Here is a little secret. The majority of people in this country have become exhausted with calls for social justice. They have already put up with grievances for decades, which have already been addressed and dealt with. The sooner your generation learns this, the better off all of us will be. People care about themselves, their families, and livelihoods, not about the complaints of the woke, meaning that your social justice issues are just that – yours. The rest of the world does not revolve around your viewpoints.
Social justice warriors fail to fully understand the impacts and ramifications their actions foster, resulting in unintended consequences and collateral damage rarely considered. These activists are often blind to see that their quest to achieve justice, or to undo an injustice, actually creates harm or impinges on freedoms of others. The result is the creation of new injustices that are the very thing social justice warriors claim to resist. For example, CRT is creating newly spawned racism directed against a non-racist majority to overcome racism. Go figure.
Wokeness is a theoretical creation of the mind, not a real thing. It is a morphing, changing notion based on moral relativism that is hurting, dividing, not helping our society, and is polluting our culture. It is not only infiltrating our institutions, but also the minds of otherwise intelligent individuals. Wokeness harbors the underpinnings of coercion and peer pressure to “go along to get along.” Even European countries are balking at wokeness and made it clear that wokeness is one export from America that they do not want or need. Further, wokeness is setting back race relations and motivated thousands to engage in destructive behaviors against their fellow citizens.
The notion of wokeness was born by pulling together disparate non-facts to help build narrative that mirrors Marxism and Frankfurt School adherents. It is interesting to see how quickly the woke are to re-write history and eradicate statues, monuments, and symbols from our history that they find offensive, yet rely on our history as the basis for perceived injustices that allegedly remain unresolved. This selective use of history, coupled with cherry-picked facts and historical fact twisting is producing a near-religious narrative unwittingly birthing and festering a contagion that will, in the end, destroy the country that freedom hath put together.
To those who disagree with my assertions, ask yourself a few questions.
ü Why is it that prior generations, your parents’, grandparents’, and great-grandparents’ generations literally fought in wars to fight against the spread of communism, socialism, oppression, and human exploitation?
ü Why did they do that — because they were un-woke?
ü Why did this country fight a war that ended slavery?
ü Why did this nation already put legislation in place to end the systemic barriers to racial, religious, education, sexual, and employment discrimination?
Because prior generations continued to incrementally improve our nation’s condition, not to radically change it based on a fallacious ideology, one that stifles individuals, takes away incentives to innovate and create wealth, diminishes individual freedoms, and has led to the murder of hundreds of millions.
Older generations are deeply disappointed with you and your woke views.
Recent events have upended prior generations’ life’s work and sacrifices, efforts made to avoid precisely what is happening today and to make yours and your children’s lives better. And your lives are much better than theirs, although many of you cannot see or admit it. They see that you are, sadly, being manipulated and are too naïve or unwilling to see what is happening to your generation. Prior generations are despaired because they have learned life is short and it is wasteful to spend your lives going down a path to nihilism, regressivism, and errant paths due to the influence of a small minority of elites that have tightly wrapped your heads around a doomed ideology. They are further dismayed that you are valuing and revering ideas and individuals that are dragging our society and culture downward, because your influential figures value the wrong things, have lost their way, and are morally adrift.
The majority desperately want the woke to wake up to the flaws of wokeness, undergo personal epiphanies and transformations in recognition that you are being led astray and lied to about your future and the prospects of our nation by people who have only their own interests at heart, not yours.
Your parents and grandparents had very specific grievances that could be addressed and fixed through some form of new legislation or regulations, or by changing mindsets of the American public. And real change did occur. Barriers that existed came down. Our society improved. The standard of living raised for all who were able and willing to join in our economy and the American system. And the system worked, it does work, and keeps getting better. In contrast, your grievances are nebulous, unclear, unfounded, and are so general that few can even cite specific problems or solutions.
If you want compassion and credibility for your cause, you must persuade your fellow Americans. You will not gain support through demands and coercion. You need to convince others that your vision or cause is sound and appropriate for our nation and should be followed based on its merits. So far, you have failed to do this except within the woke universe that have been similarly indoctrinated.
The quality of life for Americans far exceeds that of those living in other nations. If you were able to travel to other countries extensively and see how the rest of the world lives, it would be extremely difficult to justify what is so terrible in our country today. You are creating and focusing on First-World problems that the rest of the world does not have time for because they are too busy trying to provide the basics needs of life for themselves and their families.
Some countries that have tried socialism and communism and have wound up adopting a hybridized form or socialism and capitalism, including Sweden, Norway, Yugoslavia, Denmark, Russia, Cuba to an increasing degree, Eastern Bloc European nations, several African nations, and China, yes, even China. They learned that they cannot advance and keep pace with the rest of the world without capitalist-styled markets to generate wealth to improve standards of living and achieve national aspirations. These nations are mostly homogenous in culture and racial make-up. America is not. You cannot cite with honesty these countries as models that MIGHT work for America. You don’t see folks flocking from America to any of those places.
Your goal of creating a socially conscious society, diverse, equitable, inclusive society, does not on the surface sound bad. However, to believe that you can do it better here in America than others could not achieve is pure fantasy. Why? Because, at the end of the day, you must deal with human nature.
There will always be those who seek power while exploiting others. There are reasons equitable outcomes do not and have not existed. Ultimately, there will always be innumerable uncontrollable factors and those who consider themselves elite due to wealth, education, experience, or some other measure, who will seek power and enrichment at the expense of the masses. Those of you who think you will be part of a new world power structure will wind up relegated (or worse) and you or your descendants will wind up fighting against the very authoritarianism that resulted when you tried to put a socialist ideology in place.
Here is one last point to ponder. Has any major world religion ever preached diversity, equity of outcomes, and inclusion? Think about it. Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islamism, name it; these faiths do not adhere to the notion that everyone should be equal in all respects, nor that everyone should have the same things, property, wealth, or experiences. None. They do, however, espouse ways for people to live together, emphasizing how to love and treat fellow human beings, and to do good on earth while we are here. Religions acknowledge the existence of wealth and poverty, justice and injustice, human greed and hubris. They seek to provide guidance on how to live productive, disciplined, and spiritual lives. If people were capable of following the Ten Commandments, there would be little need for laws and rules.
However, people are fallible and human nature prevents us from doing the right thing. Our founders recognized this reality and designed our self-correcting constitution to keep human political aspirations in check.
In contrast, socialism and communism tear down these checks and protections, which is why a tyrannical elite class emerges under these systems. An elite class is always exclusive; otherwise, there would be no elite class. If you believe that the elite class will put your interests first instead of their own, you would only be fooling yourselves.
In the final analysis, societies are either progressing or regressing. The woke bill themselves as progressive, but in actuality support few policies that truly connote progress; rather, they support policies that are typically are not steeped in facts, serve a narrow class of people, and despite claims, are not fair, beneficial, nor promote goodwill for all. Thus, they are regressive.
As a parting thought, you do not need to “reimagine” or make it all up again. The way already exists. Otherwise, the rest of us, and you too, will have to put the pieces of society back together. Better yet, don’t tear it down to begin with.
The awakened invite you, the woke, to take the journey beyond wokeness and join the rest of the awakened world. Once you do, you will be much happier with your lives, your outlook for the future, and need not be awakened again.
