The woke believe they have solutions to societal problems and use government power to impose them, often ignoring evidence and creating artificial crises, while individuals should rely on institutions and processes to achieve their own goals instead of looking for saviors
Questions to inspire discussion
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What is the four-stage pattern of creating a crisis?
—The four-stage pattern involves manufacturing a crisis and proposing a solution that aligns with a shared vision, even if the situation was already improving.
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What is the argument for reducing dependency through government aid?
—The argument was sold as an investment that would pay off in the future, but the criteria for success was constantly evaded and many programs were not successful.
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What is the impact of community colleges and junior colleges?
—These institutions attract people who have no desire for education, using up taxpayers' money and making it more difficult for those who actually want an education.
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Does having more degrees guarantee better employment opportunities?
—No, it is a fallacy of composition to assume that increasing the number of people in the education system will necessarily raise national income or reduce crime rates.
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What are the current problems in society caused by?
—The current problems are self-inflicted wounds caused by certain individuals, and we should stop looking for saviors and instead rely on institutions and processes.
Key Insights
- 💡 The woke believe that they have all the solutions to the world's problems and that these solutions should be imposed on others through government power.
- 🤯 Thomas Sowell suggests that people often believe things without evidence because it fits their preconceived vision of the world.
- 🤯 Thomas Sowell argues that often the crisis that is said to need a solution has been getting better for years, but is ignored in favor of a manufactured crisis.
- 🤯 Thomas Sowell highlights the flawed logic of blaming societal issues on simplistic causes without considering the complexity of the issue at hand.
- 💼 The woke movement artificially created a crisis in the criminal justice system to gain a larger role for themselves, despite evidence showing there was no crisis.
- 🤔 Sowell challenges the assumption that everyone in community college or junior college has a desire for education, pointing out that many are there for social reasons rather than academic ones.
- 🔪 "It's all because of self-inflicted wounds and I'm saying these are the people who inflicted those wounds and this is why we shouldn't listen to them anymore."
In 1995, Thomas Sowell sat down with Ben Wattenberg to discuss his new book, “The Vision of the Anointed.”
Today, we see the notions discussed surface as the vision of the woke.
#WokeIdeologies
Clips
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00:00 👨🏫 Thomas Sowell discusses the vision of the woke, who believe that they have solutions to the world's problems and that these solutions should be imposed on others through government power, with their passion being greater due to their involvement in media, academic, and political elites.
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01:18 📜 Some groups assume that society's neglect is the cause of black infant mortality rates, but in reality, other groups with even less prenatal care don't have higher mortality rates, and the media often perpetuates false narratives that fit their preconceived notions without demanding evidence.
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02:36 📝 The four-stage pattern of creating a crisis and proposing a solution is often based on manufactured crises, and sex education in schools led to detrimental outcomes despite good intentions.
- The four-stage pattern of creating a crisis and proposing a solution is often based on manufactured crises that ignore the fact that the situation was already improving, and people accept it because it aligns with their shared vision.
- Sex education in schools was implemented with the expectation of beneficial results, but when it led to detrimental outcomes like venereal disease and teenage pregnancy, critics dismissed it as a bad policy due to the complexity of factors involved.
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04:25 📜 The blame for societal issues is often placed on simplistic causes, such as the criminal justice system, while ignoring root causes and evidence to the contrary.
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05:23 📺 The woke created an artificial crisis in the criminal justice system and the war on poverty to increase their role and dependency on government, despite evidence showing no crisis existed before their intervention, and the argument for reducing dependency through government aid was sold as an investment that would pay off in the future, but many of the programs from the Great Society were not successful.
- The woke created an artificial crisis in the criminal justice system and the war on poverty to increase their role and dependency on government, despite evidence showing no crisis existed before their intervention.
- The argument for reducing dependency through government aid was sold as an investment that would pay off in the future, but the criteria for success was constantly evaded and many of the programs from the Great Society, such as building junior and community colleges, were not successful.
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07:37 📚 Community and junior colleges waste taxpayers' money and make it harder for those who want an education, while having more degrees doesn't guarantee better job opportunities and increasing education doesn't necessarily raise national income or reduce crime rates.
- Community colleges and junior colleges attract millions of people who have no desire for education, using up taxpayers' money and making it more difficult for those who actually want an education, as the desire for education is not visible in these places.
- Having more degrees does not guarantee better employment opportunities for everyone, as it is a fallacy of composition, and increasing the number of people in the education system does not necessarily raise national income or reduce crime rates.
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09:29 📜 The current societal problems are caused by individuals who should not be listened to, and we should rely on institutions and processes for people to achieve their own goals instead of looking for saviors.
- The current problems in society are self-inflicted wounds caused by certain individuals, and we should not listen to them anymore.
- The disintegration of the family, educational system, and trust in ordinary people to make decisions are all problems caused by the notion that decisions must be preempted by judges, schools, and government subsidies, and we should stop looking for saviors and instead rely on institutions and processes through which people can realize their own goals.
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11:29 📢 They want to take over decision-making and put sex education material in schools without parental consent.