“Diversity of thought is just a euphemism for white supremacy.” – The Madness of Crowds
Scottish journalist Charles Mackay’s 1852 expanded book, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”, describes and then debunks a series of schemes that over earlier centuries caught the imagination of our forebears and caused immense irrationality. An assortment of follies, crazes, and blind beliefs led many down the path of destruction and delusion. Later, in a preface to the most recent revision of Mackay’s book, Russell Napier writes: “If two or three persons can only be found to take the lead in any absurdity, however great, there is sure to be plenty of imitators. Like sheep in a field, if one clears the stiles, the rest will follow.” Enter America’s modern-day culture wars.
Supported by an increasingly woke public, an agenda based on identity politics, which was originally pushed by academia and the media, and now by big tech, has magnified marginal ideas and advanced them as if they were majority opinion. To not accept and endorse them, will put one in the minority and subject them to penalties that range from exile off social media to the loss of one’s job or career. And since many only feel comfortable within the warmth of the herd, they are quick to conform to what they have been told is a righteous cause. It’s hard to forget the speed at which many Americans dropped to their knees following the George Floyd murder, eager to demonstrate their submission.
What once started as a genuine bid for equality for women, blacks, gays, and the like, has been reimagined. Having crossed the finish line of acceptance and parity, we are now told that the race is not over. What used to be considered equal, is today deemed unfair. So, they’ve moved the goalpost, upped the ante, and now demand more and greater atonement. A ready-made chance to twist the knife and exact some pent-up revenge. And in so doing, perverted the real struggle for tolerance and transformed it into a faux battle over nothing but noise.
The fight for racial equality, perhaps the most persistent problem in America, resulted in the 1964 Civil Rights Act along with many non-discrimination laws. Where blacks once endeavored to integrate, they are now attempting to re-segregate under the neo-parody of separate but equal. Where the stain of racism has long been removed, we must stain anew, this time on unsuspecting whites, using racism to fight racism. Critical race theory is again being deployed in universities, businesses, and government, educating society on the bane of whiteness. And whenever racism begins to disappear, it must be revived, often as a hoax where the culprit almost always appears with a noose. Ironically, those who never liked generalizations made about their own group, now regularly do the same to their political foes.
On the gay front, supporters spun the rainbow into a flag in 1978, and thus began their rallying cry for equal rights and gay marriage, with same-sex unions officially recognized by SCOTUS in 2015. And while scientists continue their heroic search for a gay gene, acceptance by the American public has largely moved in their direction. That sentiment, however, has not been reciprocated. There remains a one-sided détente where straights have yielded, while gays continue to resist. Now, we’ve reached the stage of good gay, bad gay. Pete Buttigieg, a gay Democrat, was selected as a cabinet member under Joe Biden’s administration, with fake news cheering him as the first gay cabinet member in US history. That honor, however, goes to Richard Grenell’s ground-breaking achievement under Donald Trump’s administration.
The biggest modern delusion, of course, is the denial of gender. The fallacy is that men and women are born biologically the same and gender is fluid, even for a three-year-old, while male and female stereotypes are being sold as social constructs. To support such nonsense is to believe that men and women both have periods, birth babies and are cranky during menopause. If that’s not enough, we’re now being forced to conform to a new version of alphabet soup: she/he/they, we can live with. Ze, xe, ve, yo? is going to take some time.
In Douglas Murray’s 2019 book, “The Madness of Crowds”, Murray picks up where Mackay left off, but this time looking at the modern delusion of woke culture and the emergence of identity politics. What had grown in the labs of academia is no longer quarantined and has seeped into real life. And now it is all our problem. Murray focuses specifically on the absurdities surrounding the trans movement, gender issues, women’s rights, and racism that have surpassed their original lofty goals and have now climaxed into a hierarchy of victimhood. Adding to the problem is the emergence of big tech and social media, which are actively moderating content by silencing any opposition to the prevailing narrative.
Attempts to stifle free speech have only exacerbated our differences and led to a cancel culture that is completely out of hand. With the help of big tech, corporate media has whittled every issue down to one story that is presented as fact. There is no allowance for debate, and dissenters are flagged for punishment.
Yet, our hope remains with the simmering silent majority perched in the purple mountains, the fruited plains, and the alabaster cities. Having grown weary of the constant discourse, normal folks are anxious to return to a separation of politics and life. They stand ready to defeat this noxious ideology with sound logic and a different form of unity, one of harmony.
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