Yesterday I watched a fantastic movie- Thirteen Lives. I heartily recommend the film. It’s a tale of unlikely heroes attempting to rescue twelve Thai boys and their coach trapped in a flooded cave during monsoon season, made all the more compelling because the movie is based upon a true story. It was only later lying in bed I wondered how the critics had reacted to the movie. After all, it’s a film about a bunch of mostly middle-aged white guys trying to save a soccer team of non-white Thai kids- a story almost designed to challenge the preconceptions and prejudices of the Cultural Left.
But no, they couldn’t, could they? One couldn’t dislike such an excellent movie purely on the basis of the arbitrary characteristics of the participants involved, especially when real life events dictated the racial composition of the cast? Surprisingly not- Rotten Tomato gave the movie a critics score of 88%, only a few points shy of the 94% given by the audience. Of course, scrolling through the excerpts from reviews, one can’t help but notice the occasional nod to Wokeness with the odd reference to White Saviours, but given that this a marked departure from movies which critics loved, but audiences hated- like the all-female replacement of the beloved classic Ghostbusters, perhaps the critics can be forgiven the odd lurch into their preferred ideological cult, with its establishment mantras and received dogmas. Perhaps not.
But more importantly, perhaps we really have reached Peak Woke!
After all, Netflix has recently told its more ideological employees that if they don’t like the company offering a more broad range of content, some of which the woke find problematic, then they should seek alternate employment elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Washington Post recently terminated reporter Felicia Sonmez for harassing colleague Dave Weigel over the ‘sexist’ retweet 'Every girl is bi, you just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual'- an observation perhaps not entirely without merit, given the resulting backlash to a relatively tame bad joke resulted in a 30 day suspension without pay. One wonders what would have been the response had the tweet pathologized Straight White Men and been entirely more serious, rather than just a joke. Cheers and instant adoration, one suspects.
So have we reached Peak Woke?
Probably. But only in those institutions which are responsive to market forces. With CNN’s viewing figures in the toilet and their profits having just dropped to below $1 billion for the first time in a number of years, it’s rapidly becoming apparent to anyone seeking to make a buck in the cultural realm that Woke is passé, finnito, a fad which has had its day, but is rapidly passing its sell-by-date. Recently, the Halifax Bank in the UK experienced an en masse exodus of customers after a Social Media Manager told customers to leave the Bank if they didn’t like the new staff badges, complete with gender pronouns.
In the end, Woke lost the Culture War in the marketplace not because it was inversion of everything our moral senses had taught us in the West- to only discriminate on the basis of ability, and treat people according to the content of their character, not the arbitrary groups to which a person just happens to belong. No, Woke didn’t lose because it was a morally objectionable and sought to define the complex beauty of a human individual purely on the basis of group pigeonholing. Woke lost because it was just plain boring, and because people were simply sick and tired of being lectured to by a preachy and prudish youth devoid of experience or expertise in anything other than unfalsifiable academic conspiracy theories. Above all, Woke lost because it made the presumption that anyone who didn’t agree with equity, or socialism by stealth, must be a bigot, racist, ignorant or all three.
So yes- we have reached Peak Woke- but only in those areas of the social domain which are susceptible to, and governed by, market forces. Alas, the Long March through the institutions- in academia, the bureaucracy of the permanent state and many other aspects of public life- has been going on for a very long time. I suspect it will take a generation for the delusional pathology which has wormed its way into our institutions to pass. Maybe in twenty years time the current generation will look back on these years in the same way that those who lived through the radical sixties looked back on them in the eighties, with all but the ideologically committed experiencing a degree of abashment at the excesses and follies of youth, but I doubt it. I imagine instead they will become like the purveyors of the Socialist Worker, faded irrelevancies- still obsessing over the highly anecdotal extreme weather event, imagining that the world is going to end in twelve years, and becoming highly annoyed when one points out London still isn’t permanently flooded- tetchily pointing out the occasional precipitation-based river flooding, which is categorically not attributable to climate change- at least according to the IPCC.
Since I watched news coverage of this amazing rescue -never knowing whether it was going to end in tragedy - I can’t wait to see the film. I did notice the families of the boys had no trouble at all with ‘white saviours’, possibly because they were real people who live on love, not Theory.
One of the most glorious moments in the history of mankind -- the entire bloody planet agreed that those kids were going to be saved no matter what it took and dozens of people put their lives in mortal danger -- and the wokies have to grumble about White Saviors. The only fatality, IIRC was a Thai diver.
"So have we reached Peak Woke?"
There is hope!
"Recently, the Halifax Bank in the UK experienced an en masse exodus of customers after a Social Media Manager told customers to leave the Bank if they didn’t like the new staff badges, complete with gender pronouns. "
Stinking marvelous. The proles are rising!
But as you say, purging academia will take one hell of a lot of work and time.
Aug 8, 2022·edited Aug 8, 2022Liked by Geary Johansen
Love this post, Geary. I imagine the Thai kids and coach were grateful for any saviour, colour be damned. In today's environment surprised the producers stayed true to the races of the people in the real story. I am hoping to see the pendulum start to swing back to a place where all are respected and we can throw RACISM2.0(tm) and co-ideaologies on the bonfire. The people who helped me most have been white men and that includes helping me grow a career in finance. And it wasn't just one person, it was many all along the way. So I resent seeing white men be the subject of stupid marketer ideas and derogatory comments by brain dead wokesters with sub-standard uncritical thought processes. Over the years I've gone from dissonance to abject intolerance of the whole phenomena which seeks to see or invent malevolence where non exists in order to justify some moronic ideaology.
Woke is not over and it is just a part of a bigger something that for better wording I could call a movement. Maybe we reached peak of this nonsense but have not reached peak of all the other nonsense that is literally destroying the foundations of our society now: covidists insist on lockdown and the jab and I would be surprised if only Germany required FFP2 this winter. The net-0 in area of climate is another one. Eat the bugs, evil Ruskis, electronic currency controlled by the gov., social credit systems are other. I have no clue how it looks in other countries. I have broader access the real people only here in Germany and in Poland. In Poland people are sometimes willing to talk but as in Germany not willing to question the narrative. This is beyond their mental capacity and I can see why - just a few years ago I was like that too but then I started to have doubts - around 2015 - when my media accounts have been removed in a moment I asked questions about Merkel motives about "we cannot control the borders" back then. Then came reports of sea rescue missions at the cost of Libya when the number of drowned people fell when the rescue missions were forcefully stopped by Italian authorities. I read up material on this then. Then I read IPCC reports and investigated what real scientists really have to say about the subject. When covid came I was clearly on the wrong path - here in Germany they call us names for questioning orthodoxy.
This process is rare - I do not see many people going over it. Most of us just does what we always do. I have asperger which makes me very uncomfortable with things that do not add up.
I hope that woke has reached its peak indeed. I have my doubts. Has Travistock been closed and the criminals that drove it charged? No the clinic was just split into regional ones.
Maybe the media noticed that woke does not sell but more likely they feel the squeeze caused by these other polices now. I suppose this is how humanity always worked - there must be a big blow to change the path and sometimes we indeed reach the edge of the cliff and go over it.
When woke dies (which it did not) we still have these other policies that kill our civilization. There are plenty of them. This only ends when these policies clearly fail and people have nothing to eat.
In a poor country like Sri Lank it took one season to reach that point but the change did not come. - the regulation that caused the collapse are still enforced. I wonder what else must happen to stop these processes? Nuclear war?
You reached a similar conclusion that I and others have come to. Nature is healing. We’ve a long way to go and we aren’t out of the woods yet. But we’re seeing the signs. Turns out people still have a little common sense. I’m not sure we’re at peak woke yet, but if we aren’t it’s coming soon.
Interestingly, in this article, David French also makes a similar point. I think he may even use the term “peak woke.” He is perhaps a little overly optimistic, but he also uses a phrase I happen to like and that I’ve applied to wokism and Rawlsian autonomy mumbo-jumbo: “reality gets a vote.”
It’s behind a paywall but you honestly it’s probably worth the $10 to subscribe for a month, read the article and go and read a bunch of their posts/archives, and then unsubscribe if you don’t want to continue. Plus the comments might be a good place to engage with people who might subscribe to your newsletter. Occasionally you’ll see me in the comments there.
“ Alas, the Long March through the institutions- in academia, the bureaucracy of the permanent state and many other aspects of public life- has been going on for a very long time. I suspect it will take a generation for the delusional pathology which has wormed its way into our institutions to pass. Maybe in twenty years time the current generation will look back on these years in the same way that those who lived through the radical sixties looked back on them in the eighties, with all but the ideologically committed experiencing a degree of abashment at the excesses and follies of youth, but I doubt it. ”
That’s basically my assumption too.
“ But only in those institutions which are responsive to market forces. ”
Turns out the solution is… the free market! The market actually does create virtue, after all! Bryan Caplan had some stuff on his Substack just recently about this too. Although he’s calling for more active market-based attacks on woke capital (hostile takeovers).
It may be that wokology has peaked, we can hope the sad fact is that we are not likely to regain much of the lost ground. Evil does much work unnoticed and that effort will not slow.
Thanks for the review. I passed on streaming it last evening to watch docus on the making of Dark Side of the Moon and Tommy. Maybe another evening. Cheers.
I share your hopes too. It does appear that wokeness is on the ebb . Like most cultural fashions it was a fad which was always destined to burn itself out. With sporting bodies beginning to properly exclude trans atheletes from women's competition things are indeed looking up.
I was never excised about the all female Ghostbusters though. That always struck me as just another gimmick to try and revive a dead franchise.
Thirteen Lives- Reviewing the Reviewers
Since I watched news coverage of this amazing rescue -never knowing whether it was going to end in tragedy - I can’t wait to see the film. I did notice the families of the boys had no trouble at all with ‘white saviours’, possibly because they were real people who live on love, not Theory.
"with the odd reference to White Saviours"
One of the most glorious moments in the history of mankind -- the entire bloody planet agreed that those kids were going to be saved no matter what it took and dozens of people put their lives in mortal danger -- and the wokies have to grumble about White Saviors. The only fatality, IIRC was a Thai diver.
"So have we reached Peak Woke?"
There is hope!
"Recently, the Halifax Bank in the UK experienced an en masse exodus of customers after a Social Media Manager told customers to leave the Bank if they didn’t like the new staff badges, complete with gender pronouns. "
Stinking marvelous. The proles are rising!
But as you say, purging academia will take one hell of a lot of work and time.
Love this post, Geary. I imagine the Thai kids and coach were grateful for any saviour, colour be damned. In today's environment surprised the producers stayed true to the races of the people in the real story. I am hoping to see the pendulum start to swing back to a place where all are respected and we can throw RACISM2.0(tm) and co-ideaologies on the bonfire. The people who helped me most have been white men and that includes helping me grow a career in finance. And it wasn't just one person, it was many all along the way. So I resent seeing white men be the subject of stupid marketer ideas and derogatory comments by brain dead wokesters with sub-standard uncritical thought processes. Over the years I've gone from dissonance to abject intolerance of the whole phenomena which seeks to see or invent malevolence where non exists in order to justify some moronic ideaology.
Woke is not over and it is just a part of a bigger something that for better wording I could call a movement. Maybe we reached peak of this nonsense but have not reached peak of all the other nonsense that is literally destroying the foundations of our society now: covidists insist on lockdown and the jab and I would be surprised if only Germany required FFP2 this winter. The net-0 in area of climate is another one. Eat the bugs, evil Ruskis, electronic currency controlled by the gov., social credit systems are other. I have no clue how it looks in other countries. I have broader access the real people only here in Germany and in Poland. In Poland people are sometimes willing to talk but as in Germany not willing to question the narrative. This is beyond their mental capacity and I can see why - just a few years ago I was like that too but then I started to have doubts - around 2015 - when my media accounts have been removed in a moment I asked questions about Merkel motives about "we cannot control the borders" back then. Then came reports of sea rescue missions at the cost of Libya when the number of drowned people fell when the rescue missions were forcefully stopped by Italian authorities. I read up material on this then. Then I read IPCC reports and investigated what real scientists really have to say about the subject. When covid came I was clearly on the wrong path - here in Germany they call us names for questioning orthodoxy.
This process is rare - I do not see many people going over it. Most of us just does what we always do. I have asperger which makes me very uncomfortable with things that do not add up.
I hope that woke has reached its peak indeed. I have my doubts. Has Travistock been closed and the criminals that drove it charged? No the clinic was just split into regional ones.
Maybe the media noticed that woke does not sell but more likely they feel the squeeze caused by these other polices now. I suppose this is how humanity always worked - there must be a big blow to change the path and sometimes we indeed reach the edge of the cliff and go over it.
When woke dies (which it did not) we still have these other policies that kill our civilization. There are plenty of them. This only ends when these policies clearly fail and people have nothing to eat.
In a poor country like Sri Lank it took one season to reach that point but the change did not come. - the regulation that caused the collapse are still enforced. I wonder what else must happen to stop these processes? Nuclear war?
I do hope you are right about peak woke. The signs are promising!
Good movie. I was impressed that they chose to skip over the whole Elon Musk drama.
You reached a similar conclusion that I and others have come to. Nature is healing. We’ve a long way to go and we aren’t out of the woods yet. But we’re seeing the signs. Turns out people still have a little common sense. I’m not sure we’re at peak woke yet, but if we aren’t it’s coming soon.
Interestingly, in this article, David French also makes a similar point. I think he may even use the term “peak woke.” He is perhaps a little overly optimistic, but he also uses a phrase I happen to like and that I’ve applied to wokism and Rawlsian autonomy mumbo-jumbo: “reality gets a vote.”
https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/culture-wars-end-with-consequences
It’s behind a paywall but you honestly it’s probably worth the $10 to subscribe for a month, read the article and go and read a bunch of their posts/archives, and then unsubscribe if you don’t want to continue. Plus the comments might be a good place to engage with people who might subscribe to your newsletter. Occasionally you’ll see me in the comments there.
“ Alas, the Long March through the institutions- in academia, the bureaucracy of the permanent state and many other aspects of public life- has been going on for a very long time. I suspect it will take a generation for the delusional pathology which has wormed its way into our institutions to pass. Maybe in twenty years time the current generation will look back on these years in the same way that those who lived through the radical sixties looked back on them in the eighties, with all but the ideologically committed experiencing a degree of abashment at the excesses and follies of youth, but I doubt it. ”
That’s basically my assumption too.
“ But only in those institutions which are responsive to market forces. ”
Turns out the solution is… the free market! The market actually does create virtue, after all! Bryan Caplan had some stuff on his Substack just recently about this too. Although he’s calling for more active market-based attacks on woke capital (hostile takeovers).
It may be that wokology has peaked, we can hope the sad fact is that we are not likely to regain much of the lost ground. Evil does much work unnoticed and that effort will not slow.
Thanks for the review. I passed on streaming it last evening to watch docus on the making of Dark Side of the Moon and Tommy. Maybe another evening. Cheers.
I share your hopes too. It does appear that wokeness is on the ebb . Like most cultural fashions it was a fad which was always destined to burn itself out. With sporting bodies beginning to properly exclude trans atheletes from women's competition things are indeed looking up.
I was never excised about the all female Ghostbusters though. That always struck me as just another gimmick to try and revive a dead franchise.