The Real Time show last Friday saw Twitter Troll- in- Chief Elon Musk explaining to Bill Maher the danger of the "woke mind virus" e.g.
Elon Musk on the "Woke Mind Virus" | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - YouTube
which this entitled fool believes poses some kind of apocalyptic threat to free speech. The go to kvetch is always any criticism of what's written, said or tweeted by the Right's trolls (including Maher at times, like about his vaccine bunkum) and god forbid - the bogey of "cancellation" - which is always over -hyped, exaggerated, e.g. the example of Bari Weiss,
Of course, the very essence of what the Right's trolls and fools call "wokeness", as I noted in my March 17 post about Plato and democracy, was hailed by the ancient Greeks as indispensable to the functioning citizen of the Polis. Thus Plato's words to Guaron in Book 3 of The Republic:
"If he do nothing else and holds no converse with the Muses, does not even that intelligence which there may be in him, having no taste of any sort of learning or inquiry,0r thought or culture, grow feeble and dull and blind? His mind never waking up or receiving nourishment and his senses not being purged of their mists?"
Where we see pointedly see that the issue of "the mind never waking up" is a severe liability, not an asset. Not something to be pursued in any way, shape or form. Plato clearly saw that such a condition meant sleepwalking through life, making terrible choices and failing to see the consequences of them. This brings us to Elon Musk (on a recent Real Time) as well as Florida Gubernator Ron Desantis, the latter blabbering about wokeness as "a form of cultural Marxism that tries to divide us based on identity politics.".
Desantis' ignorant "cultural Marxism" twaddle and Musk declaring "the woke mind virus" as a threat to free speech are both in fact mind viruses themselves. Indeed, the entire "wokeism" thrust of the GOP and deranged conservos comprises an amorphous mind virus based on sounding one note, one word to infect susceptible minds. This can certainly be deduced from the original definition of mind virus (as an infectious meme or idea) by biochemist Jacques Monod in his book 'Chance and Necessity'. According to Monod, three attributes define the mind virus which were laid out (pp. 154-55):
1) Performance value: What change does the meme or meme complex bring about in behaviors for the person who adopts it?
2) Propagation value: How far and wide is the meme spread, and what means are employed to achieve this?
3) Infectious value: How easy is it to infect other brains?
In terms of performance value, Monod is careful to note (p. 155),
"it brings to the behavior of the person or the group that adopts it....greater cohesion, more ambition and self-confidence. These thereby receive added power to expand which will ensure promotion of the idea itself. But its promotion value bears no relation to the amount of truth the idea may contain. The power of the idea is provided not by its structure but in the fact its structure is accepted, that it gains command. So one cannot separate its power to spread from its power to perform."
This exactly applies today in the US of A - not to any "woke mind virus" per se as an existing entity, but rather to the specious claim there exists a woke mind virus. Thus, the claim is the mind virus! An inspection of the properties and what is happening now amongst the deranged Right - led by the likes of Desantis and Musk (though he will of course deny it) - is that they and others of their ilk are spreading the mind virus via the claim there exists a "woke mind virus". Proof? As noted last night on All In, current polling of Republican voters discloses 85% believe there is a woke mind virus. This huge proportion attests to not only the performance value but the infectious power of this bogus claim. The key aspect of the latter - as Monod has pointed out - is that "its promotion value bears no relation to the amount of truth it contains" - which is zilch, zero none.
So that Musk could blab to Bill Maher to his heart's content about a woke mind virus but have no remote clue what he is talking about, because the content isn't the point. The point - as MSNBC ALL In host Medhi Hasan noted last night - is to have an all-purpose pejorative or put down term of abuse for general application in a culture war. The meaning isn't important, because the users themselves don't know what the hell it means. And whenever they're asked to specifically define the term they manage to fuck it up with a word salad - as in this hilarious viral clip.
Such word salads occur because the Right's babbling twits despise the values inherent in the actual meaning of "woke". That is, humanist values representing a commitment to a thriving rather than destitute populace Values that also emphasize inclusivity, individual freedom and equality defined through a social justice consciousness. And which also embraces empathy, civility and critical thinking. The Right's authoritarians and free speech abusers can countenance none of this, so they just blab out their own epithet form of "woke" indiscriminately like they do "freedom". Hoping and expecting their masses will just gobble it all up like simpletons.
Basically then, the Right's useful idiots and blowhards - like Musk and Desantis - simply want their unthinking masses to remain in a state of slumber, gobbling up their lies, bunkum and spin - whether about Biden, critical race theory, trans kids "grooming" normal kids, or Disney World being a colony of the "Woke".
The job of the remaining sentient citizens is not to be played or mesmerized by this pretentious linguistic gambit. Further, to grasp the purpose for spreading the actual mind virus, which requires distinguishing it from the fictitious one invented by the likes of Musk, Desantis and their clones.
See Also:
And:
by Amanda Marcotte | March 17, 2023 - 7:47am | permalink
Excerpt:
"Woke" is currently the favorite word of the right. Republican politicians can't go more that 5 or 6 words without peppering "woke" into their sentences. Turning on Fox News, you'll hear the word "woke" repeated ad nauseam, like a record skipping, but for hours at a time: "woke woke woke woke woke." Everything is "woke": Banks. Children's books. The military. Disney. M&Ms. Super Bowl performances. To be a Republican in the year 2023 is to spend every waking moment outraged and terrified by "woke," certain its wokey tendrils will snake their wokeness into your brain and woke-ify you into wokeitude.
But the funny thing about "woke" is that, while all Republicans hate it, they don't seem to have any idea how to define it.
And:
by Amanda Marcotte | March 18, 2023 - 7:32am | permalink
Excerpt:
When Republicans use the word "woke," it's a deliberate bit of obfuscation, a way to signal bigotry to their fellow travelers while pretending it's something else to those who call them out for it. But it's also pretty hard to ignore the bullhorn levels of racism that are often embedded in complaints about "woke" culture. When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., complains that it's "woke" to let Black women sing at the Super Bowl, for example, the only rational conclusion is that it's their skin color that offends her.
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