WOKEISM Must Die!
WOKEISM in Corporate America
and Our Military
by
Paul E Vallely MG US Army (Ret)
October 3, 2022
"Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning justice and racial justice.
It is derived from the African American Vernacular English expression "stay woke", whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues."[1]
Wokeism focuses on corporations and organizations like our military that capitalize on the stir and social popularity of social-driven movements to achieve “unknown ends.” Some would say, “Pretty self-explanatory as it is, woke capitalism refers to the capitalist, profit-driven approach followed by corporations— capitalizing on the stir and popularity of social movements to achieve their ends
Wokeism has been described by its critics as the omnipresent use of race—and to a lesser extent, gender—to replace meritocracy and thus ensure equality of results. What follows from implementing that ideology are reparatory actions to reward those of the present by atoning for the injustices done to others in the past. Some see it as an update of 1960s cultural Marxism fads. Others scoff that it is just a return to 1980s-style political correctness. Still more see it as the logical successor to 1990s-type race, class, and gender obsessions—albeit with a shriller and more dangerous Jacobin, Soviet, and Maoist twist. Wokeism’s s hysteria also invites comparisons to the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism.
But few have described wokeism as the cruel creed that it is. Wokeism’s s natural logic is to destroy the lives of people of all genders, of all races, and—if necessary—those of every age, all to leverage an otherwise unworkable ideological agenda. It is a nihilist and destroys everything it touches. It tears apart foes and friends alike, whether by fueling media-driven hatred of Donald Trump or faux-deification of the disaster that is now Joe Biden. [2]
“Wokeism” in the military and the corporate is not an isolated example of the indoctrination underway to transform America from a liberty loving country, constituted and propelled by independent men and women, and other genders, into a land without borders where private enterprise and the rights to speech, private rights, including privacy itself, and individual initiative are eliminated.
Wokeness in the military is being imposed by elected and appointed leaders in the White House, Congress, and the Pentagon who have little understanding of the purpose, character, traditions, and requirements of the institution they are trying to change. The push for it did not begin in the last two years under the Biden administration—nor will it automatically end if a non-woke administration is elected in 2024. Wokeness in the military has become ingrained. And unless the policies that flow from it are illegal or directly jeopardize readiness, senior military leaders have little alternative but to comply. More reason to replace our current Generals and Admirals and replace them with junior officers that have not caved to this insane WOKENESS!
Woke ideology undermines military readiness in various ways. It undermines cohesiveness by emphasizing differences based on race, ethnicity, and sex. It undermines leadership authority by introducing questions about whether the promotion is based on merit or quota requirements. It leads to military personnel serving in specialties and areas for which they are not qualified or ready. And it takes time and resources away from training activities and weapons development that contribute to readiness.
Why should we stop wokeness in the military? Doing so subverts the military’s warrior ethos and puts our nation, her freedoms, and her people at real risk. It also endangers the men and women who have voluntarily put their lives on the line to defend America. Therefore, we must do everything that we can to stop the spread of wokeness throughout our armed forces and put a stop to it. The American military remains a faithful and loyal servant of the republic. Most Americans are still proud and trusting of our military. But this trust and support cannot be taken for granted. If Americans perceive that the military is being exploited for political purposes or being used for experiments in woke social policies, that support will evaporate, and the consequences will be dire.
In 2015 Ross Douthat coined the term "woke capitalism" when writing a piece for the New York Times. He defined it as how companies signal their support for progressive causes to maintain their influence in society. He really tapped into something. Since then, this mindset has only grown, as the largest corporations are now weighing in on every major public policy issue. The problem: they increasingly land on the "leftist" side of the issue. So, what is the impact? Is this a coordinated effort? What is the antidote to this "corporate wokeness" infiltrating our largest American companies? On this episode, Andy Olivastro joins us to weigh in with a unique perspective. He led communications and reputation strategy for some of the largest corporations and best- known brands and witnessed first-hand this gradual shift toward "corporate wokeness."[3]
This trend toward wokeness is becoming increasingly popular throughout corporate America. Corporations are willingly becoming activated political arms for left-wing causes. Why? What happened to these historic brands remaining neutral, letting the quality of their products speak for itself on the open market, and letting politicians worry about politics? What about shareholders and the employees of these corporations? Do they have a say in such divisive policy stances? Who is behind this increased wokeness in the boardroom?
Whenever you hear a management or corporate type talk about “diversity” and “inclusion,” you may be certain that you are about to hear a rationale for creating a more ideologically uniform and ideologically exclusive community. The familiar left vs. right categories no longer serves as dependable guides to our cultural reality. The cultural left has captured the bureaucracies at American corporations. One thing we hear a lot from our friends on the left is that Big Business is conservative and would never do anything that would hurt its bottom line. Wrong! I have seen personally how companies will do politically correct things that hurt their business model, but that win its management pats on the back among their social cohort.[4] Woke Capitalism also refers to ESG investing that stands for “environmental, social and governance.” ESG concepts are tied to climate change, green technology, social justice causes, exploitation of minorities and is exploited by government oversight (????) or government promotion of causes.
Here is a partial list of companies that went WOKE:
JP Morgan Chase
Bank of America
Facebook
Twitter
Netflix (though they have retracted)
Google
Disney
The NBA
Apple
The NFL
Levi Strauss
Nike
· Neiman Marcus Group - *No surprise here. When your entire marketing strategy consists of targeting wealthy elites, we know that kowtowing and virtue-signaling to their hoity-toity, highbrow customers is inevitable alphabet soup applies to the executive is unclear. NMG donates substantial funds to no less than three LGBTQ groups and flies the Pride Those are not all the woke companies to challenge and avoid. There are many, many more.
A good practice before buying anything is to research the company you are buying a product from and find out if it is a woke, anti-American company or a company that you are comfortable doing business with. The idea is to “avoid” these companies: Cancel Culture for the Cancel Culture, one might say. As noted previously, some of the companies that make up our list are extremely difficult to eliminate from our lives, but they can still be avoided on occasion. And such avoidance must not be limited merely to doing business directly with these organizations, there are other ways for our voices to be heard. For instance, refuse to invest in these companies, whether through direct stock purchases or via mutual/index funds in your portfolios. America is still a center-right country, and we are continuing to shift ever so slightly to the right. The wokesters who attempt to force LGBTQ celebrations, BLM anti-Americanism, runaway government spending, and climate politics idiocy down our throats are in the minority.
In sum, wokeness is not about kindness, equality, fairness, or morality. It is the power agenda of the elite of all races. For differing reasons, they rig the game in their own interests, without a care about who suffers. Rich white people assume that they possess the money, influence, networking skills, and connections to navigate around the very exclusionary rules they make for others. For them, there are seldom costs. But they win apparent psychological gain at feeling spiritually superior while driving a Range Rover. They get high on the sense of power they wield to engineer the lives of millions deemed less important than they. And to the degree they feel guilty about their own monopoly of wealth and leisure, such transient superficial remorse is alleviated by abstract caring for the “other.”
And if we “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” Patriots stand up for our values and say “no,” thereby hitting them where it hurts – in their back accounts – we will make a difference.
Published by the Stand Up America US Foundation
Contact: standupamericaus@protonmail.com
[1] WIKIPEDIA
[2] Technology News and Trends Sept 29, 2022
[3] Heritage Foundation April 2021
[4] The American Conservative, April 2019