I suppose we all hitch our wagons to something. For some it’s religion or their community, for others it’s the allure and promise of sex, for others it might be a political party or philosophy, and still others might choose science1. And so on. We don’t even have to be hitched to a single wagon, but can choose several.
Another way to frame this would be to say that we all, I think, accept some kind of yoke. That knuckle-dragging Neanderthal who always leaves the toilet seat up might be a right royal pain in the ass sometimes, but he’s your knuckle-dragging Neanderthal and, overall, it’s a positive thing to be yoked to it.
There’s a certain conformity required in accepting a yoke. We might tolerate or ‘go along’ with stuff we don’t believe in because to do otherwise would result in loss of favour, or in extreme and totalitarian regimes, loss of life.
In UK politics there’s this thing called the Party Whip. I confess I don’t understand it very well. The basic idea is that you have to vote along party lines even if you, as an MP, disagree with the proposal being voted on or you know that your constituents disagree with it. If you vote against the party, you can have the ‘whip’ removed, which is supposed to be some terrible punishment for your transgression, but doesn’t sound all that bad to me. It’s some arcane political system that is beyond my capability to grok.
In religious terms the idea is that we accept the ‘yoke’ of God and, in so doing, be made whole and complete in that act of willing submission. And let’s face it, if God exists, then hitching yourself to the divine wagon might be a smart move. There’s a bit of a problem of choosing which particular version of these hypothesised celestial wagons you need to hitch to, but we choose one and hope for the best. Or choose none at all, and also hope for the best.
Jesus2 is, perhaps3, credited with the original idea when he said
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light
There’s a similar idea of submission in Islam too. The word ‘muslim’ can be translated as “one who submits” in the sense of a master/slave relationship, but the root slm also points to “being made whole”. So there’s this idea that one willingly submits to God, to God’s yoke, in order to be in step with the divine purpose, and to be complete and whole.
One of the things that characterizes the ‘visionary’ movements that people hitch, or yoke, themselves to is the promise of better times ahead. It’s not a bad thing to wish for a better future, but it can be dangerous. Perhaps the estimated 50 million4 souls that Mao dispatched in pursuit of this ‘better’ future might have a thing or two to say about utopian visions.
Those who yoked themselves to Mao’s vision weren’t made complete, they just weren’t made into fertilizer.
Be wary of those who ask you to submit5. Be even warier of those who demand that you submit.
Those who do not pledge their allegiance to the ‘visionaries’ are a danger, a threat to be eliminated if they cannot be forced into submission.
Fair enough, the ‘woke’ don’t, by and large, call for turning people into fertilizer, but they certainly call for turning people into the unemployed.
Is the “woke yoke” one we should willingly embrace? Will it make us complete or whole?
The “woke yoke” comes with a vision too. It’s a vision where every ‘system’ has been dismantled and destroyed, and out of the ashes and rubble arises a new future of harmony and justice (and bigger houses if you’re one of the founders of the BLM movement). Quite how this particular version of “build back better” is supposed to happen is anyone’s guess. Presumably, these completely new and magnificent systems of fairness, equity and justice just spontaneously emerge, as if by magic.
The woke yoke is neither easy nor light. One must be on continual and perpetual guard against committing a microaggression. It’s important to be constantly on guard in case others happen to microaggress, too. Every word, every thought, every gesture, must be policed and analysed so as not to (allegedly) cause pain to others in a kind of all-encompassing walking on woke eggshells.
Only by eliminating any trace of individual dignity in this fashion can we, allegedly, bring about a society that respects the dignity of all.
What a freakish way to live.
It’s the modern version of The Flagellants who were a group of religious nutcases who scourged themselves as penance for their sins. As I was reading the wiki page on self-flagellation6 I learned of Sara Osborn who was an 18th century evangelical writer who practiced self-flagellation. But read her words in the light of diversity “training” that asks people to face their white guilt. She explained her fetish like this; it was to remind her of her
continued sin, depravity, and vileness in the eyes of God
Isn’t this pretty much a perfect description of how some people view whiteness these days?
The religious practices that woke is ‘steeped’ in (to use their terminology) have long been noted but this, I think, is a really stark and clear parallel.
It may sound all lovey-dovey and fluffy but the woke yoke is a steel cage, an Iron Maiden that will torture you in perpetuity. It’s a bleak and unremitting and wholly uncompassionate state of being that looks for harm and ill-intent instead of pre-supposing goodness and virtue. It’s an unforgiving and intolerant way of life that demeans and cheapens the human experience.
I was brought up in the Catholic tradition so I’m well-versed in guilt and the Christian notion of “sin”. It’s a crappy way to live your life; constant negative self-evaluation and constant negative evaluation of others. The basic concept of forgiveness, which is very healthy and positive, got a bit twisted by the Ecclesiastical eejits along the way.
The Hebrew word for “sin” literally means to miss the mark, or a better way of understanding it is to ‘miss’ the will of God. It’s both a failure and a call to improvement. It’s a recognition that we are not God and that only by living according to His will can we avoid “missing the mark”. That’s the religious perspective, anyway.
There are two religious sayings that have stuck with me even though, these days, I’m not particularly religious. I find both of them to be positive and affirming of the human condition and deeply empathetic in a way that the woke could never hope to achieve.
There, but for the Grace of God, go I
is a recognition that we can all fail - failure is a human condition, and who knows how we might have been had our lives and history been a bit different?
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone
is a warning against extreme condemnation. It is a reminder that justice that has not been tempered by mercy can be pretty bleak and oppressive.
The woke don’t seem all that forgiving or merciful to me7 and they’re far too ready to condemn8. They have all the negative features of a religion (heresy, self-flagellation, excommunication etc) but none of the redeeming features.
It’s not any kind of yoke I want to accept or to submit to. It would be to hitch yourself to a wagon of despair in which one takes a very bleak view of one’s fellow humans indeed.
And during covid we were coerced into jumping aboard the Vaccine Wagon - which turned out to have square wheels and to injure the passengers
I always wondered whether somewhere in Israel there exists a dairy produce shop called “Cheeses of Nazareth”. If there isn’t, there certainly should be.
No idea whether he was the first to conceptualize this. Probably not, since a fair bit of his teaching is pretty derivative and strongly overlaps with the teachings of Rabbi Hillel. Personally, I think Jesus is best understood as a strong supporter of Hillel’s school of Judaism and not as some weird third bit of a Godhead.
Estimates vary. The first search result gives an estimate of 40 to 80 million. We’ll never know the true scale of this horror. Mao is, without any doubt, the worst mass murderer in history. Meanwhile, back in the la-la land of Woke-istan, this pales into insignificance compared to the universe shaking crime of mis-gendering someone.
At least in religions it is, supposedly, God doing the asking. That’s somewhat higher up on the scale of Expert™
Never let it be said that I don’t know how to have fun
Unless you’re one of the marginalized. Then you can pretty much do whatever you like and you might even get some statues erected in your honour.
And this severe condemnation often rests on the most uncharitable interpretation of what has been said - but this is what happens when you’re trained to look for things like “microaggressions”. Everything, big or small, becomes a big deal. If you teach your kid to see demons then, guess what?, he’ll see demons everywhere.
When the woke yoke broke the woke bloke, he choked on his artichoke.
From 2035, only e-powered celestial wagons will be permitted in the European Union.
Do not let my shitposting blur the fact that this has been one of your finest pieces.
This statement you make is a great encapsulation of the passive-aggressive utilitarian pseudo-socialist lie: “Only by eliminating any trace of individual dignity in this fashion can we, allegedly, bring about a society that respects the dignity of all.” Luckily the woke are such passive-aggressive rather than aggressive snowflakes and scolds and they cannot rouse themselves beyond symbolic mobs and protests. Once corporations and administrations stop listening to them (and that is coming-- thank you Bud Light), they have no mojo remaining in their chamber. The best we can do is speak out and act out against this colonizing insanity and insist on pluralist democracy like RFK Jr is doing and roll up our sleeves. Once we refuse, they have nothing and they are too lazy and frightened to create or fight for anything.