Dr. Steve Turley on the Origins and Threat of Wokeism

Wokeism as an Existential Threat

• 🎯 Wokeism is presented as a post-American ideology that is fundamentally hostile to the United States and its founding ideals.
• ⚠️ Unlike the 1960s left, which criticized the failure of institutions to uphold American ideals, modern critical theory and wokeism argue that the ideals themselves are inherently wicked.
• ⚖️ This perspective leads to a prioritization of illegal migrants over citizens, viewing migrants as innocent of perpetuating a racist society.

Classical Liberalism and its Erosion

• 🔑 The discussion explores whether the roots of wokeism lie within the classical liberal tradition itself.
• 📜 Classical liberalism is generally defined by a default to reason and rationality and the restraint of executive power to maximize individual freedom.
• ✝️ It is suggested that when classical liberalism is separated from transcendent faith traditions (like Christianity in the US), it loses the parameters that prevent excesses.

The Collapse of Reason and Restraint

• 🧠 The neutrality of reason began to be questioned in universities in the 1960s, with the rise of postmodernity and critical theory, which viewed reason as a tool of colonialism and patriarchy.
• 🏛️ Simultaneously, the state began to exercise a monopoly over the public square, pushing out mediating institutions like churches and families, leading to a collapse in the restraint of executive power.
• 👤 This shift created sovereign individuals with few obligations beyond self-chosen ones, transforming liberalism into something irrational and repressive, which is termed wokeism.

Historical Context of Reasoning

• 📈 A study by Mary Puvie traced the idea of fact-based reasoning back to the French Enlightenment and Revolution, where the removal of clergy and monarchy necessitated new justifications for public policy.
• 💡 Without divine right to rule, concepts like common sense, facts, and statistics emerged to justify public power, but this foundation became strained in the 1960s.