This thread explains how Critical Theory and woke ideas focus too much on power and politics, ignoring truth and facts. They see debates as about interests and social control, leading to bizarre beliefs like men becoming women or Hamas being good. Power isn't what makes something true—truth is what truly matters.
1/
How did the woke become convinced that
-socialism is better than capitalism
-men can become women
-Hamas is the good guys
-5 year olds can change their gender?
It's because the Critical Theory wokeness is based on gets almost everything wrong
Lets talk about that
A Thread🧵
2/
According to postmodern variants of Critical Theory the bone of contention in every debate or argument is always power. In this view at the bottom of every argument is a set of political considerations and interests and those are the things that are actually at issue.
3/
If the arguments had no political consequences no one would bother to participate in the argument. It is only the fact that the acceptance of one view over another has political consequences that makes the argument worth having; if there were no consequences no one would care.
4/
People have an *interest* in the argument only because at bottom the argument is about *interests*. This means that what is animating the debate is the interests of the people involved and the political consequences of ending up on the losing side of the argument.
5/
On this view every argument is not really about the topic in play, instead that actual bone of contention has to do with the political consequences that occur from adopting one position or another and whose interests are served by picking one view instead of another
6/
If we accept this view then it follows that everything is actually being adjudicated according to the political consequences that follow from a given judgement, value, idea, belief, claim, etc and the interests that are served by accepting that Judgment, idea, belief, etc.
7/
Rather making judgements on the basis of truth, evidence, logic, or some other such criteria, political consequences and interests become the standard by which everything is judged, with the result that everything is viewed through the lens of politics, interests, and power.
8/
What this style of reasoning looks like in practice is roughly: “you tell me the politics of the situation, and I’ll tell you whose right.”
In other words, people judge who is right on the basis of whose politics they agree on, not by who describes the world correctly.
9/
So we end up with a sort of bastardized version of “inference to the best explanation” where the criteria for an explanation being the “best” one is that it is the explanation that is most useful for advancing Social Justice/Woke politics.
10/
There are many negative consequences of this sort of reasoning, not the least of which is that it allows people to interpret other people according to their politics:
“tell me the politics of the people involved and I will tell you who had good motives and who had bad ones.”
11/
Postmodern incarnations of Critical Theory believe truth is a social construct and what counts as true is determined by the people who have the power to control the narrative and use it to socially condition or brainwash everyone else into accepting their truth claims.
12/
These people that that under every truth claim is a machinery of politics and power which gives that truth claim its legitimacy. Once you accept that what matters is not the truth claim, but rather the machinery of politics and power that legitimize that truth claim
13/
So arguments stop being about the substance and start being about the machinery that is used to socially legitimize truth claims and narratives. The Critical Theorists focus on the machinary they think socially legitimizes the claim while the substance of the claim is ignored
14/
As a result of this the real substance of truth claims and whether or not those claims accurately describe the world is ignored; and the Critical Theorist goes about advancing ideas on the basis of whether or not the political consequences of those ideas are to his liking.
15/
I'll end with a story:
In 1948, while the the Soviet Union was at the Height of it’s power a Soviet Scientist named Andrei Sakharov came up with a design for a type of nuclear bomb. Sakharov would eventually turn against the Soviet Union and become a human rights activist...
16/
At the end of his life he is reported to have said this:
“I always thought the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that’s why I gave it to my people, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it’s the truth.”
17/
This is another way in which Critical Theory gets everything wrong. Power does not make truth nor does it determine what is true, it is the truth that makes people and ideas powerful....
18/
Because woke activists place politics over truth they end up believing ridiculous things:
-men can become women
-Hamas is the good guys
-5 year olds can change their gender
Truth matters, and if you lose that you end up in absurd places
19/
Thank you for reading!
I have written a fuller version of this essay at the link here: ()
All of my essay are there for free, but if you find my work useful please consider getting a free or a paid subscription.
1/
How did the woke become convinced that
-socialism is better than capitalism
-men can become women
-Hamas is the good guys
-5 year olds can change their gender?
It's because the Critical Theory wokeness is based on gets almost everything wrong
Lets talk about that
A Thread🧵2/
According to postmodern variants of Critical Theory the bone of contention in every debate or argument is always power. In this view at the bottom of every argument is a set of political considerations and interests and those are the things that are actually at issue.3/
If the arguments had no political consequences no one would bother to participate in the argument. It is only the fact that the acceptance of one view over another has political consequences that makes the argument worth having; if there were no consequences no one would care.4/
People have an *interest* in the argument only because at bottom the argument is about *interests*. This means that what is animating the debate is the interests of the people involved and the political consequences of ending up on the losing side of the argument.5/
On this view every argument is not really about the topic in play, instead that actual bone of contention has to do with the political consequences that occur from adopting one position or another and whose interests are served by picking one view instead of another6/
If we accept this view then it follows that everything is actually being adjudicated according to the political consequences that follow from a given judgement, value, idea, belief, claim, etc and the interests that are served by accepting that Judgment, idea, belief, etc.7/
Rather making judgements on the basis of truth, evidence, logic, or some other such criteria, political consequences and interests become the standard by which everything is judged, with the result that everything is viewed through the lens of politics, interests, and power.8/
What this style of reasoning looks like in practice is roughly: “you tell me the politics of the situation, and I’ll tell you whose right.”
In other words, people judge who is right on the basis of whose politics they agree on, not by who describes the world correctly.9/
So we end up with a sort of bastardized version of “inference to the best explanation” where the criteria for an explanation being the “best” one is that it is the explanation that is most useful for advancing Social Justice/Woke politics.10/
There are many negative consequences of this sort of reasoning, not the least of which is that it allows people to interpret other people according to their politics:
“tell me the politics of the people involved and I will tell you who had good motives and who had bad ones.”11/
Postmodern incarnations of Critical Theory believe truth is a social construct and what counts as true is determined by the people who have the power to control the narrative and use it to socially condition or brainwash everyone else into accepting their truth claims.12/
These people that that under every truth claim is a machinery of politics and power which gives that truth claim its legitimacy. Once you accept that what matters is not the truth claim, but rather the machinery of politics and power that legitimize that truth claim13/
So arguments stop being about the substance and start being about the machinery that is used to socially legitimize truth claims and narratives. The Critical Theorists focus on the machinary they think socially legitimizes the claim while the substance of the claim is ignored14/
As a result of this the real substance of truth claims and whether or not those claims accurately describe the world is ignored; and the Critical Theorist goes about advancing ideas on the basis of whether or not the political consequences of those ideas are to his liking.15/
I'll end with a story:
In 1948, while the the Soviet Union was at the Height of it’s power a Soviet Scientist named Andrei Sakharov came up with a design for a type of nuclear bomb. Sakharov would eventually turn against the Soviet Union and become a human rights activist...16/
At the end of his life he is reported to have said this:
“I always thought the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that’s why I gave it to my people, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it’s the truth.”17/
This is another way in which Critical Theory gets everything wrong. Power does not make truth nor does it determine what is true, it is the truth that makes people and ideas powerful....18/
Because woke activists place politics over truth they end up believing ridiculous things:
-men can become women
-Hamas is the good guys
-5 year olds can change their gender
Truth matters, and if you lose that you end up in absurd places19/
Thank you for reading!
I have written a fuller version of this essay at the link here: ()
All of my essay are there for free, but if you find my work useful please consider getting a free or a paid subscription.
Thank you so much 🫡
yes
1/
How did the woke become convinced that
-socialism is better than capitalism
-men can become women
-Hamas is the good guys
-5 year olds can change their gender?
It's because the Critical Theory wokeness is based on gets almost everything wrong
Lets talk about that
A Thread🧵 ... 2/
According to postmodern variants of Critical Theory the bone of contention in every debate or argument is always power. In this view at the bottom of every argument is a set of political considerations and interests and those are the things that are actually at issue. ... 3/
If the arguments had no political consequences no one would bother to participate in the argument. It is only the fact that the acceptance of one view over another has political consequences that makes the argument worth having; if there were no consequences no one would care. ... 4/
People have an *interest* in the argument only because at bottom the argument is about *interests*. This means that what is animating the debate is the interests of the people involved and the political consequences of ending up on the losing side of the argument. ... 5/
On this view every argument is not really about the topic in play, instead that actual bone of contention has to do with the political consequences that occur from adopting one position or another and whose interests are served by picking one view instead of another ... 6/
If we accept this view then it follows that everything is actually being adjudicated according to the political consequences that follow from a given judgement, value, idea, belief, claim, etc and the interests that are served by accepting that Judgment, idea, belief, etc. ... 7/
Rather making judgements on the basis of truth, evidence, logic, or some other such criteria, political consequences and interests become the standard by which everything is judged, with the result that everything is viewed through the lens of politics, interests, and power. ... 8/
What this style of reasoning looks like in practice is roughly: “you tell me the politics of the situation, and I’ll tell you whose right.”
In other words, people judge who is right on the basis of whose politics they agree on, not by who describes the world correctly. ... 9/
So we end up with a sort of bastardized version of “inference to the best explanation” where the criteria for an explanation being the “best” one is that it is the explanation that is most useful for advancing Social Justice/Woke politics. ... 10/
There are many negative consequences of this sort of reasoning, not the least of which is that it allows people to interpret other people according to their politics:
“tell me the politics of the people involved and I will tell you who had good motives and who had bad ones.” ... 11/
Postmodern incarnations of Critical Theory believe truth is a social construct and what counts as true is determined by the people who have the power to control the narrative and use it to socially condition or brainwash everyone else into accepting their truth claims. ... 12/
These people that that under every truth claim is a machinery of politics and power which gives that truth claim its legitimacy. Once you accept that what matters is not the truth claim, but rather the machinery of politics and power that legitimize that truth claim ... 13/
So arguments stop being about the substance and start being about the machinery that is used to socially legitimize truth claims and narratives. The Critical Theorists focus on the machinary they think socially legitimizes the claim while the substance of the claim is ignored ... 14/
As a result of this the real substance of truth claims and whether or not those claims accurately describe the world is ignored; and the Critical Theorist goes about advancing ideas on the basis of whether or not the political consequences of those ideas are to his liking. ... 15/
I'll end with a story:
In 1948, while the the Soviet Union was at the Height of it’s power a Soviet Scientist named Andrei Sakharov came up with a design for a type of nuclear bomb. Sakharov would eventually turn against the Soviet Union and become a human rights activist... ... 16/
At the end of his life he is reported to have said this:
“I always thought the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that’s why I gave it to my people, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it’s the truth.” ... 17/
This is another way in which Critical Theory gets everything wrong. Power does not make truth nor does it determine what is true, it is the truth that makes people and ideas powerful.... ... 18/
Because woke activists place politics over truth they end up believing ridiculous things:
-men can become women
-Hamas is the good guys
-5 year olds can change their gender
Truth matters, and if you lose that you end up in absurd places ... 19/
Thank you for reading!
I have written a fuller version of this essay at the link here: ()
All of my essay are there for free, but if you find my work useful please consider getting a free or a paid subscription.
Thank you so much 🫡
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