2023-11-11: “Wokism” as a Parareligion

David Rand

2023-11-14

The post-left, a.k.a. “wokism,” has in reality betrayed the left. It rejects the Enlightenment values which are cornerstones of the political left. “Wokism” is antisecular, neoracist and pseudoscientific.

Although debate continues on how best to describe the so-called “woke” movement, there is general consensus among many authors and observers that it is a very damaging, cult-like movement which has rejected Enlightenment universalism.

Some authors conclude that “wokism” is literally a new religion. I prefer to call it a parareligion because of the absence of any explicit supernatural belief. At any rate, it is clear that “wokism” greatly resembles a religion, with its unfalsifiable dogma (ubiquitous and eternal racism), its original sin (whiteness), the extreme moral arrogance of the faithful (any disagreement is considered heresy and censored), its magical thinking (gender identity), its mantras, puritanism, rites, martyrs, etc.

As a parareligion or religion, “wokism” must be separated from the State. This is especially imperative in that it has already infiltrated many institutions in our society, including universities, schools and government departments. The need for secularism has never been more urgent.

“Wokism” consists of extremely destructive criticism of European civilization, while refusing to recognize its merits, all the while white-washing non-European civilizations.

Cette conférence a été présentée en français le 9 septembre dernier. La vidéo est disponible sur notre site web francophone : Le « wokisme » en tant que parareligion

Links from the slide presentation:

• Stillbirth, The Failure of Secularism in the English-Speaking World, Rand, David, 2022.
• Cynical Theories, Pluckrose, Helen Lindsay, James A., Pitchstone Publishing, 2020-08-25.
• Identité, « race », liberté d’expression, Antonius, Rachad; Baillargeon, Normand, Les presses de l’Université Laval, 2021.
• Woke Racism, McWhorter, John, Penguin, 2021-10-26.
• La religion woke, Braunstein, Jean-François, Éditions Grasset & Fasquelle, 2022.
• La pensée woke, Santarossa, David, Éditions Liber, 2022.
• Le wokisme serait-il un totalitarisme ?, Heinich, Nathalie, Éditions Albin Michel, 2023.
• Grievance studies affair, Wikipedia.
• Qu’est-ce que le wokisme ?, Patrick Moreau, Le Devoir, 2023-08-12.
• The Cancer of Wokeism, Alliance of Former Muslims, Ireland.
• Critical Race Theory and the ‘Hyper-White’ Jew, Pamela Paresky, SAPIR, Spring 2021.
• Indian Act, Government of Canada.
• Pourquoi déconstruire ? Origines philosophiques et avatars politiques de la French Theory, Taguieff, Pierre-André, H&0 éditions, 2022-11-24.
• The prophet and the proletariat, Chris Harman, marxists.org, Autumn 1994.
• Blog 129: Lessons from the Muslim Association of Canada, David Rand, Atheist Freethinkers, 2021-12-09.
• Deconstructing White Privilege with Dr. Robin DiAngelo, General Commission on Religion & Race, United Methodist Church.
• We Got Here Because of Cowardice. We Get Out With Courage, Bari Weiss, Commentary, November 2021.
• Empty Graves: The Genocide that Wasn’t, Frances Widdowson, Elizabeth Weiss, Minding the Campus, 2023-11-07.

The 37 slides:

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