Toxic "woke" seeps into government

Submitted by Dave (United States), Jun 3, 2021 at 20:06

Contrast the official patronage given to this Islamic partisan with that accorded to critics of Islam. Robert Spencer was banned as a military instructor on Islamic ideology, as was Stephen Coughlin. Both may have sharply critical views of Islam, but they are undeniably knowledgeable about Islamic doctrine. They were victims of the "woke" trend which mistakes criticism of Islamic ideology as racism against people.
Undeniably, those claiming the mantle of Islamic purity have been responsible for horrific violence. Their motivations should therefore be studied thoroughly and dispassionately without regard for social niceties.
The recent ad for the CIA, emphasizing "woke" themes, such as trans-gender, as well as "woke" oriented training in the military, point to a looming attitude in the government which could result in deliberate blindness to the threat of jihad or other manifestations of violent ideologies, all in the service of trendiness, much to the detriment of national defense.
Threats to American security may take the tangible form of cyber attacks, terrorism or weaponry, but they all started as ideas which challenge our values and way of life. A prudent approach is to allow as much research into thinking about those ideas as we do into researching defense technology. Not only will that enable us to better understand and take preemptive action against our foes, but it can also help to dissuade potential foes from following such harmful ideas. An effective defense requires stark realism, not fanciful politesse.
Probably, the people who approved of funding this work thought of themselves as virtuous in approving an idealized view of Islam, as though they were trying to say that there are no anti-Islam bigots here. But the purpose of learning is to gain knowledge, not to prove one's moral bona fides. People need to analyze before they moralize.
It may be moral to be "woke", but it is intellectually dishonest. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to defense, which is why this "woke" trend needs to be put to sleep.

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