- Oct 11, 2007
- 69,253
- 34,866
Robert Barron, Catholic Bishop of Winona/Rochester NY, finds a curious ally in Atheist Bill Maher. He doesn't share Maher's religious views, but they are pretty solidly allied in their opposition to something called 'wokeism' that is dominating the national cultural scene.
Quoting from Bishop Barron's essay with emphasis mine:
". . .Bill Maher first came to my attention in the 1980s as a clever, wry and politically alert stand-up comic. But I began to follow him more closely about 20 years ago when, in the wake of the new atheist movement, he dedicated a good deal of his comedy to mocking religion and religious people. . .
. . .Although he annoyed me, I suppose I continued to watch Maher to see what the “other side” was saying and thinking. . .
. . .Over the past five years, Maher appears to have largely dropped his obsession with religion and has spent considerable time articulating his opposition to the “woke” ways of thinking that have managed to capture the allegiance of most of the major institutions of our country: universities, corporations, the military, government and so on.
As he has done so, I have found myself, time and again, nodding my head in agreement. To my surprise, the nemesis had become an ally.
Like me, Maher finds that what he and others have called “wokeism” represents not a development of classical liberalism, but a deviation from it. Whereas classical liberalism holds to freedom of speech, a colorblind society, equality of opportunity and the peaceful adjudication of dispute through argumentation, I see proponents of wokeism argue for strict limitation on speech, a racialized consciousness, forced equity of outcome and the stirring up of antagonism between those considered oppressors and those considered the oppressed.
Moreover, the classical liberalism espoused by everyone from former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King Jr. called for the fixing of our social problems through reason and political action, whereas many on today’s left embrace the rhetoric of victimization and complaint. Finally, the classical liberal tradition holds to the objectivity of science and the reliability of mathematics, whereas what I see as the philosophy of wokeism treats the fields of both science and math as expressive of patriarchy and western cultural imperialism . . ."
My Commentary: For me, it warms the heart to see an intelligent affirmation of what I have been arguing for years now. The Left uses 'wokeism' as a weapon to divide and conquer society and bend it to their will. And they have infiltrated and are using government, media, social media, internet search engines, entertainment, education, big business, religious organizations--everything they can use to control the message--to implement that goal.
Donald Trump, white supremacy, MAGA's/Republicans, JudeoChristianity, Patriots are not a 'threat to democracy' as the leftists are fond of saying, but rather it is they and 'wokeism' along with militarization of government that is.
Quoting from Bishop Barron's essay with emphasis mine:
". . .Bill Maher first came to my attention in the 1980s as a clever, wry and politically alert stand-up comic. But I began to follow him more closely about 20 years ago when, in the wake of the new atheist movement, he dedicated a good deal of his comedy to mocking religion and religious people. . .
. . .Although he annoyed me, I suppose I continued to watch Maher to see what the “other side” was saying and thinking. . .
. . .Over the past five years, Maher appears to have largely dropped his obsession with religion and has spent considerable time articulating his opposition to the “woke” ways of thinking that have managed to capture the allegiance of most of the major institutions of our country: universities, corporations, the military, government and so on.
As he has done so, I have found myself, time and again, nodding my head in agreement. To my surprise, the nemesis had become an ally.
Like me, Maher finds that what he and others have called “wokeism” represents not a development of classical liberalism, but a deviation from it. Whereas classical liberalism holds to freedom of speech, a colorblind society, equality of opportunity and the peaceful adjudication of dispute through argumentation, I see proponents of wokeism argue for strict limitation on speech, a racialized consciousness, forced equity of outcome and the stirring up of antagonism between those considered oppressors and those considered the oppressed.
Moreover, the classical liberalism espoused by everyone from former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King Jr. called for the fixing of our social problems through reason and political action, whereas many on today’s left embrace the rhetoric of victimization and complaint. Finally, the classical liberal tradition holds to the objectivity of science and the reliability of mathematics, whereas what I see as the philosophy of wokeism treats the fields of both science and math as expressive of patriarchy and western cultural imperialism . . ."
My Commentary: For me, it warms the heart to see an intelligent affirmation of what I have been arguing for years now. The Left uses 'wokeism' as a weapon to divide and conquer society and bend it to their will. And they have infiltrated and are using government, media, social media, internet search engines, entertainment, education, big business, religious organizations--everything they can use to control the message--to implement that goal.
Donald Trump, white supremacy, MAGA's/Republicans, JudeoChristianity, Patriots are not a 'threat to democracy' as the leftists are fond of saying, but rather it is they and 'wokeism' along with militarization of government that is.
