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How Wokeness Kills Class Politics and Empowers Empire
Hedges, Chris; Parenti, Christian
http://chrishedges.substack.com/p/how-wokeness-kills-class-politicsDate Written: 2024-09-25 Year Published: 2024 Resource Type: Audio Cx Number: CX25189 Oftentimes the idea of 'wokeness' or 'woke' ideology, whether calling it as such or acknowledging its existence, can be thought of as coinage of the right wing. Christian Parenti, professor at John Jay College, journalist and author, joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to make the case that what he and many others define as "woke" is actually a weapon used to further suppress marginalized people, prevent the awareness of class politics and class struggle and further divide the working class. Abstract: - Excerpt: Although the ideas behind "wokeness" attempt to foster a more egalitarian and inclusive society, it has been corrupted by the system itself and thus weaponized. "Woke ideology, wokeness, serves as an armory, an arsenal for the professional managerial class to draw weaponry and armor from in their increasingly Hobbesian war of all against all for posts," Parenti remarks. For him, this is crucial to understanding the material incentive behind what wokeness stands for now as it continually appears in corporate and academic sectors. "There are real material stakes for people, and one way a professional manager/member of this class can get ahead is by using these tropes to advance themselves and defend themselves," he argues. ... Enterprises like the Ford Foundation or the Rockefeller Foundation, Parenti argues, may present themselves as proponents of social justice but in reality "[they] are not established to and are not seeking to overthrow, undo or transform American capitalism. They are fundamentally about legitimizing and perpetuating it," he says. It turns out that woke ideology is only their latest tool in doing so. Subject Headings |