Promoting normativity while discrediting Queer Theory

The common ground of the anti-woke movement

Drag Time Story Hour for terrible parents everywhere!

By

James Pew

Since roughly a few weeks ago, when I quietly soft-launched the Canadian School Board Investigation Initiative, the subscribership of Woke Watch Canada has grown considerably. This new growth has consisted primarily of people concerned with K-12 education in Canada: Parents, educators, school administrators, trustees and students.

The feedback we are getting from supporters (we don’t get feedback from haters) is that the coverage and analysis we offer on all things woke in Canadian education is helping many people understand both the nature and the severity of the problem. I find this encouraging and I am inspired to recommit to offering a strong mix of elements to our work that both inform and educate.

While coverage concerning breaking developments are crucial, I strongly feel our writing should also include aspects that aim to instruct. By exploring the intricacies of the academic and practical implications of wokeism. And by recommending and discussing other valuable knowledge sources. Not just reporting on events that take place - others already do that better than us.

When it comes to informing the public on the breaking developments in the ongoing drama of wokeism (here “wokeism” is used as a general situation, not just a set of social justice ideologies), the identity politics battleground is best covered in real-time by independent Canadian media like True North, the Western Standard, Rebel News, and others (please make recommendations in the comments).  

I recommend parents read all of Sue-Ann Levy’s True North reports on the situation in Canadian schools. Also from Rebel News, Drea Humphrey is another great journalist who covers many topics of interest to parents (checkout her work concerning sexually explicit books in school libraries).

In terms of mainstream media, the National Post (NP) is the most important. I admit that I read religiously the opinion columns of Barbara Kay, Conrad Black and Rex Murphy. I think it is absolutely extraordinary that these legendary columnists all write for the same paper. If you disagree with their views, all the more reason you should read them. There is no better education into the affairs of contemporary Canada than the one offered by these three.

There is however, a way to make one's education into modern Canada even richer. By adding two more op-ed writers who do not write for the National Post: Brian Giesbrecht and Peter Best (I have published several essays in these pages from both authors). Reading these five principled and erudite Canadian writers is an inspiring, enriching and comprehensive way to gain a big picture understanding of the modern catastrophe Canada is rapidly slipping into, but also to understand and appreciate exactly what it is that Canada has that is worth fighting for.

That being said, take note of the media organizations and the writers brave enough to go against the woke tide and to challenge the totalitarian calamity arising from decades of illiberal subversion of activists and social agitators which so damaged our public institutions and our way of life, and continues to do so. There are many more than just the aforementioned distinguished and much loved column writers. My final thought on the matter is simply: let principled writers, ideas and opinions be your guide.

Returning to the National Post. I do feel it is the most important mainstream Canadian publication and that it does the best job in objectively covering identity politics, wokeism, the culture wars, or whatever else you want to call it. The National Post covers things that other media organizations ignore. The NP has a lot of great journalists - too many to get into today. And the NP also publishes many great op-eds from many different guest contributors. The piece I discuss below was written by two of them. 

Normies Unite

On February 15th, Leighton Woodhouse and Michael Shellenberger published an op-ed in the NP called Normies unite! Toward a liberal-conservative alliance against Wokeism. In that piece was an astute observation pointing out the success of the woke movement as largely attributable to the fact that it is united. In contradistinction, the slow-to-react counter-movement has not yet come together around what clearly is a common purpose: opposing and dismantling wokeism.

“How…did things get so bad? A big part of the reason is that Wokeism is a dogmatic, powerful, and bullying religion. But another part of the reason is that the Woke are united and the anti-Woke divided.” -  - Leighton Woodhouse & Michael Shellenberger

Woodhouse and Shellenberger suggest the counter-woke movement adopt the title “normies.” I’m all for it. I’m a normie. The normal-ness implied by “normie” is those things we associate with the traditional “good life” in a liberal society. While much of that good life may no longer be possible we should always strive to preserve as much of the good as we can. To be deliberate in your normativity is in itself an act of preservation.

I think it is obvious and fair to say that wokeism is an outright assault on the “normal.” Woke people literally gag at the invocation of the term. It’s racist and transphobic and misogynistic, and it perpetuates the patriarchy and the colonizers mindset, say the woke activists. Normativity is a huge problem for them. Therefore, I recommend you take delight in your normativity - even if some aspects of your character don’t perfectly fit that mold (no one’s does!), celebrate the ones that do.

Here is an example of a little paragraph I published as a thread on Twitter. The purpose is to be deliberate and unapologetic in stating things I believe and desire for society, and to generally promote normativity:

Most things that have yet to be “queered,” do not need to be. I would prefer they weren’t. But when they are, I will reject them and choose instead the original pre-queered iteration. I will say that I reject them because I reject the idea of queering things altogether. I think the queering of things is something the queer community should keep to themselves. And I am turned-off and annoyed by all acts of queering things and discussion of queering things. I don’t hate anyone, including queer people, but I, being a normie, would appreciate if the promotion of queer lifestyles and queer theory be contained to those who actively seek those things out, and never ever be promoted to those who don’t, especially the captive audience of school children who don’t seem to be given a choice in the matter either way.

The woke cult

“The separate Woke dogmas have come together to offer the unity provided by traditional religions. Where climate change offers the apocalypse and Black Lives Matter offers absolution from the Original Sin of white supremacy, “being trans” gives one a soul. The three issues form the trinity of Wokeism. As a single religion, Wokeism manipulates powerful emotions, including fear, guilt, and anger.” - Leighton Woodhouse & Michael Shellenberger

Even though no two woke activists are able to define what their movement is, or explain with any clarity what it hopes to achieve and how it plans to achieve it, the woke religion transcends these constraints and adherents are always fast to agree with each other. Cult members are able to efficiently signal their acceptance of woke doctrine. When a woke activist speaks with jargon and lingo (which is practically all they do), no one understands them, but other activists take cues from the use of that jargon. Once that signal is received, woke people are trained to unite around “allies.” They may never have met each other before, they may be completely different people with most things not in common, they may not even like each other. But when they hear woke-speak they are intrinsically compelled to support and amplify it, and oppose those who challenge it. A movement with this level of unity, which so frictionlessly transmits the Trojan Horse of social justice ideology, is a social phenomenon that will take an enormous effort to overcome. Normies have our work cut out for us.

After explaining the damage done by the woke movement, particularly concerning gender ideology which leads to the unnecessary medicalizing of children, Shellenberger and Woodhouse give a little description of what a united anti-woke movement might look like:

“Such an alliance would reject victimhood ideologies and pseudoscientific views of race and sex. Expressly assimilationist, integrationist, and anti-essentialist on race matters, this movement would acknowledge that sex differences are real and worth defending in some arenas of activity.

But we might also agree to reject the pro-scarcity, anti-human, and Malthusian strain of environmentalism and embrace pro-human, pro-abundance environmentalism. We might further agree that we need an approach to addiction, mental illness, and homelessness that emphasizes recovery, not addiction maintenance.”  - Leighton Woodhouse & Michael Shellenberger

The authors go on to say that an anti-woke movement would prioritize free speech, and that they “hold freedom of speech as an absolute value and favour policies as close to free speech absolutism as possible while also recognizing existing constraints established by courts to prevent speech from being used to incite violence.” That reflects my own views on free speech perfectly.

“As such, we have seen the profoundly illiberal Woke movement rise out of liberalism itself and become its opposite. Where progressives used to defend free speech, be suspicious of the FBI, and criticize corporate media, they now demand more censorship.”  - Leighton Woodhouse & Michael Shellenberger

Why “Normies”?

Simply put - “For too long, people committed to the basic and normal values of liberal civilization have allowed themselves to be divided by issues from the past with declining relevance to today’s problems. Now, as we learn more about how radical political ideologies can create psychiatric disorders, it’s time for the normies of the world to unite.”  - Leighton Woodhouse & Michael Shellenberger

Hear, hear.

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Thanks for reading. For more from this author read Exploring The Grievance Pathway Of Anti-Racism

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