Critical social justice employs tactics which wouldn’t be out of place in a Chinese Struggle Session, Soviet era denunciations and the collusion of many ordinary people within Nazi Germany. Isn’t it time we started judging social movements by the tactics they employ, rather than their stated aims? By this measure, MLK’s movement could be weighed as an unalloyed good, whilst the current activist climate- which in many ways stands as the direct opposite to colour blindness, could be seen as a prequel to all manner of historically certain atrocities- given its forebears.
There are few decent movies being made these days. Most of Hollywood seems to be embarked upon a creative process which is stifled by committee- with clumsy dramatic asides interjected to appeal to every conceivable demographic, whilst also delivering a stern sermon to the masses of unwashed bigots who seem to live amongst us, all but invisible to anyone with an iota of common sense.
But the rare exception to this narrative policy comes in the form of movies based upon historical events- I’m sure the activist-minded would like the change history, but must content themselves with simply ignoring and failing to teach anything in history which conflicts with their ideology, such as the anti-capitalist ideology of Hitler or the troubled past of the Chinese Struggle Session (so similar in form to modern Implicit bias training).
One of these recent rare gems is the film Denial, with its luminary cast of Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall, Tom Wilkinson and Andrew Scott. One of the best scenes of the movie features Rachel Weisz, playing real-life Deborah Lipstadt opining on the courage needed to stand up to the prevailing winds of Nazi ideology and the social framework it inculcated. Roughly speaking, the character finds the frequency with which people ludicrously imagine themselves bravely standing up to the societal forces at play, laughable.
It takes real courage for anything which really matters, and in order for that courage to be courage at all it must entail risk- which is the social arena means taking a principled stand risking censure, cancellation, ostracism, widespread slander and libel, as well as the sure and certain knowledge that the ideologically possessed will see you as every bit the caricature that those who operate in bad faith are able to convey.
Congratulations, Daniel Elder for having the personal bravery to join this most exclusive club. Badges and trophies mean little in this life, once divorced from the meaning the embody, and although you may have to wait to receive your medal, you are already the beneficiary of the immeasurable pride such a prize would doubtless convey:
“The media prefers to focus on how horrible this experience was for me, but an important facet easily lost in this narrative is how free I’ve felt since I made the choice. The defamation hurt, the career losses were devastating blows, but I had a bright flame of integrity burning at my core and, from this, I had the strength to slowly rebuild my life. My career direction is still uncertain, but personally I’ve become stronger than I’ve ever been in my life.”
The ideology which you may have faced may have noble intentions- at least for the foot soldiers who see it as little more than an empathy building tool. But the modus operandi, the way it operates in the silencing and ostracism of its heretics and critics is alarmingly recognisable to anyone who has read the opening chapters of Lui Cixin’s Three-Body Problem, or knows the history of denunciation in the Soviet Union- how one could disappear one’s neighbour with a maliciously worded indictment of their fabricated views to the apparatus of the State.
This excellent documentary series ensured that an entire episode was devoted to collusion of the German people with tyrannical Nazi rule. Simply put, they didn’t have the manpower to run their Authoritarian state- it required the active participation of a sizeable portion of the population to achieve its nefarious ends:
A look at the degree of voluntary support ordinary Germans gave the infamous Gestapo.
So to the activists I would argue- if you find yourself part of a movement, then you are not the hero in your own narrative. Heroism is to be found in the man who stands alone against the Coming Storm, not within the comfort and security found amongst fellow believers. Sometimes, those who find themselves the victims of those who would punish defiance and dissent might find themselves pushed together by the vicissitudes of happenstance, but even then they will be outnumbered by the those who would wish them harm.
I'd like to read a long essay about how easy it is for otherwise decent people to just go along with evil, and of course the rise of Hitler is the textbook case. If the troupe is going along then you go along too, it's just the way tribal species behave. Then there's the frog in the pot syndrome. And the more thoughtful 'waiting for the right moment' variation of it. There's the 'this will pass' justificationists. There's those waiting for some sort of bugle-call. Me, nuts, I'm just waiting for someone to hoist the flag of civilization. A thousand little efforts here and there, but we need to come together.
im not terribly read upon activism history, but wouldnt something like the stonewall riots before the first pride be a counterargument? ie, it seems that that antisocial thing did a lot of good
Taki's reports that even historical movies are no longer safe:
https://www.takimag.com/article/the-week-that-perished-144/
I love Tom Hanks movies...
I'd like to read a long essay about how easy it is for otherwise decent people to just go along with evil, and of course the rise of Hitler is the textbook case. If the troupe is going along then you go along too, it's just the way tribal species behave. Then there's the frog in the pot syndrome. And the more thoughtful 'waiting for the right moment' variation of it. There's the 'this will pass' justificationists. There's those waiting for some sort of bugle-call. Me, nuts, I'm just waiting for someone to hoist the flag of civilization. A thousand little efforts here and there, but we need to come together.
im not terribly read upon activism history, but wouldnt something like the stonewall riots before the first pride be a counterargument? ie, it seems that that antisocial thing did a lot of good