Woke-ism

 This virulent 'wokeism' has been spreading like a bad virus, and in

academia more than anywhere else.  From grade schools to Law Schools, we
hear more and more about it all the time now.  In my view it has two
components that make it work so damn well.  A small cadre of really
indoctrinated activists running on passion but little knowledge, and a
large body of people who partially accept the ideas but mostly are cowed
by the intensity of the activists and ready to appease them rather then
ever get attacked for being racist, misogynist, homophobe, transphobe,
fill-in-the-blank.  The more that appeasement is seen to occur, the
bolder and broader the demands of the extremists.  The more is heard
about people getting cancelled and how ugly meetings and presentations
get, the more the intimidation works.

Once in a while some manager or administrator finally says no.  At one of
the major colleges last week a student group demanded that every course
come with a set of trigger warnings.  The Dean, a woman, finally said
"no, we're not doing that" and it died down.  It's three years ago now
that a college president in the midWest responded to some kind of
activist demand with the statement that the school is not a day care
center.  We need a lot more of that. 

Maybe a simple statement that if you are 18 and old enough now to vote,
you are old enough to act like a grownup and just make choices about what
you want to study or not study, sign up for the courses you want, don't
sign up for the ones you don't want, attend guest lectures you like,
don't attend ones you don't like. 

A really key thing would be strong statements that peaceful protests are
fine, any other kind gets everyone involved suspended with the
possibility of expulsion.  How do you stop bullies from more bullying?
The certainty of a smack in the face, metaphorically, works lie a charm.
Everyone learns to respect the rights of others to go to classes or
lectures and have their own opinions, and if it upsets you, just go
somewhere else. 

Crowd control experts have known for a very, very long time that the way
to shortstop trouble is identify the leaders early on, and the moment
they throw the first rock or bottle grab them then and there and drag
them off.  Pepper spray anyone coming to "rescue" them and take them in.
Have enough officers available that if the crowd continues to go
hysterical and violent, you can push forward swinging batons and taking
more people down.  The bulk of the crowd are not that brave, when they
see that they are not going to be allowed to pull their crap this time,
they will break and run.

None of this is complicated.  The way you stop people from doing
something is to make it very clear that they will not get what they want
and there will be real penalties for trying.

The major problem is that police leaders are afraid now of the videos
that will come out of "police brutality", and that eventually they will
be in trouble for doing their job.  We've just seen NYC pay out millions
to protesters who were not treated with kid gloves and given tea and
cookies when arrested at a violent protest.  This was really a terrible
thing, if a society cannot defend itself against violent mobs, then the
chaos and destruction just keep going.  Hmm... how are things these days
in Portland and Seattle?

I really wonder how far it will have to go, how bad it will have to get,
before somehow leaders are elected and motivated enough to start doing
the challenging job of suppressing any kind of violent protest.  Oh well,
they won't be charging down the street I live on, so I can just sit back
and wait to see the final train crash that's coming.

Del