Wokism as Simulated Religion

Contextual Quote

"Just as our economies are based on the erroneous idea of infinite growth, Wokeism preaches infinite sin; the unholy union between the two is terrifying."

- Alexander Beiner [1]

Discussion

Alexander Beiner:

"Until now, we have been exploring the ideological roots of Wokeism. To see how this ideology became a new form of religion, we can turn to theorist Jean Baudrillard. In ‘Simulacra & Simulation’, Baudrillard suggested that we are living what he called a hyperreality. This is a world in which our signs and symbols, which proliferate through modern media, no longer reference back to something in the real world, only to other signs and symbols. As a result, we become trapped in a self-replicating simulation of reality. Nothing is real, and nothing feels authentic.

Wokeism is birthed from this hyperreality. It has all the trappings of religion, but an underlying emptiness. But how does this make it a simulated religion? To see that, we have to ask what true religion is for.

Religion brings us into contact with something beyond our limited selves, connecting us to a deeper reality. Many religions and wisdom traditions recognise that we are trapped in some kind of delusion. Buddhism teaches us to zoom out of our cognitive loops that trap us in suffering and into an awareness of our essential emptiness and interconnectedness. Sufism talks of the core essence that lies beneath our limited personalities. Christianity teaches us humility, offering eternal life and salvation through Christ.

Wokeism shares many of these qualities; the idea that we are trapped in a system that warps our perception, that we can transcend this by thinking correctly, and that there is a moral good beyond us; however, these tenets are simulations of something deeper it cannot access.

In Wokeism, true human empathy becomes a performance through virtue signalling on Twitter. True systemic change is simulated by a hashtag over a profile picture. And always the complexity and rawness of being human is boiled down to a single, rigid belief: you are an individual participating in or victimised by systems of oppression.

Wokeism is a performance of religion. It is simulating the transcendent values of empathy, care for the vulnerable, and the desire to end injustice. However, as a postmodern phenomenon it has none of the divine spark, what some Gnostics called ennoia, that emerges from a deeper aspect of being.

When I spoke to Calvinist minister and YouTuber Paul VanderKlay for this essay, he argued that Wokeism lacks another essential quality of true religion: the ability to build and maintain a community. Inevitably, it ends up consuming itself and any community it touches in a cycle of blame, shame and accusation. This would be concerning if we were simply dealing with a fringe religion, but we are now dealing with a state and corporate-sponsored religion.

The ultimate expression of the hyperreality of Wokeism can be found in its adoption by corporations and governments. As Tyson Yunkaporta points out in ‘Sand Talk’, civilisation, and Western civilisation in particular, has an incredible ability to absorb and transform any ideas or practices that could threaten it.

The largest threat toward our civilisation would be a serious challenge to the corruption of our financial and political systems. A serious, concerted effort to address growing wealth inequality, lack of class mobility, environmental degradation and wide-spread corruption. As Adolph L Reed pointed out on a recent episode of the Useful Idiots podcast, the systemic issues that Wokeism sees as identity issues are often primarily class issues. However, solving class issues requires genuine systemic change. Endless argument about identity does not, and is therefore selected for by institutions in order to maintain the status quo.

The reason Wokeism is so easy to adopt into a corporation is that it is also a product of late-stage capitalism; a last gasp of a system running out of steam. Its doctrine can now be found in most major companies. As Matt Taibbi has pointed out, the emphasis Robin DiAngelo and others place on ‘lifelong vigilance’ of power and privilege creates a situation where Wokeism can perpetually insert itself into the workplace– there can never be enough sensitivity trainers to cleanse the sin away. Just as our economies are based on the erroneous idea of infinite growth, Wokeism preaches infinite sin; the unholy union between the two is terrifying.

(https://medium.com/rebel-wisdom/sleeping-woke-cancel-culture-and-simulated-religion-5f96af2cc107)