Rule #1 for the Actively Unwoke: Know Your Values
We cannot win if we become the monster we're fighting.
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A little less than two years ago at this time, I was working my book Actively Unwoke: The Ultimate Guide for Fighting Back Against the Woke Insanity In Your Life.
In chapter 4 of my book, I have a list of 11 Rules for the Actively Unwoke. It’s a play on Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals.
And the very first rule I write about is the most important: Know Your Values.
If you don’t know what you’re fighting for then it is inevitable that you will exist in a perpetual state of fighting AGAINST a political tribe rather than fighting TO CREATE a better world.
Listen to this part of my book
If you’d like to hear me read this section of the book, listen to it in this episode of the Actively Unwoke Podcast.
You see, back when I was writing the book, I had just started to notice that the political right was beginning to act an awful lot like the woke left.
They were forming cancel mobs, going after people for no good reason. They were becoming unnecessarily enraged when people used words they didn’t like. They were attacking people and hurling insults over any minor disagreement.
I was really disturbed by this when I saw it happening. I was a Democrat for 20 years before I left the political left in early 2020 because I realized that cancel culture had taken over my knitting community. I left the political left because I realized that they no longer aligned with the values that were important to me.
Once you go through an experience like that - an experience of having to overcome the cognitive dissonance to realize that people on “your team” aren’t who you thought they were - it’s very easy to see it happening again.
That’s why I (and so many other former lefties) are able to look at the political right and say “you’ve changed from who you said you were.”
Two years later, this has only gotten worse. So many influencers on the conservative right have become the monsters they claimed to be fighting, and they are slowly but surely influencing their extremely large audiences to follow their bad example.
The terms “groomer” and “narcissist” are like the right’s version of “racist” or “white supremacist” - they use it to describe anyone who disagrees with their political ideology.
How is this any different than what the woke left is doing, and why is it ok for the conservative right to adopt their exact tactics? If you say it’s wrong when your enemy does something then you become no better than your enemy when you do the same.
We have to be better than they are. Otherwise, there’s simply no point - we’re just ushering in a different brand of woke.
We have to start by knowing our values.
Here are the values I wrote about in Actively Unwoke:
We’re fighting to protect freedom of speech for everyone, not just for the people we agree with.
We’re fighting to make sure that everyone can participate in the discussion and that dissent is permitted without cancellation.
We’re fighting for a true marketplace of ideas, one that utilizes debate instead of censorship and intimidation.
We’re fighting for children to be able to go to school and learn HOW to think, not WHAT to think.
We’re fighting because every time a child is told they can’t achieve success in the world because of the color of their skin, that is child abuse. And it’s happening in your local public school every day.
We’re fighting for people to be able to support whatever political party they like without risking their job.
We’re fighting to make sure people have the freedom to think and consider different ideas, and can even retain the right to change their minds based on new information.
We’re fighting for a society in which we can celebrate all of the progress we’ve made over the last 250-plus years, while still acknowledging that things aren’t perfect and there are still areas for improvement without being forced to say the country is foundationally racist.
We’re fighting for the things the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) used to fight for—the most deplorable speech to still be protected, because when you protect the worst of the worst, you protect free speech for everyone else. And really, offensive speech is the only kind of speech that needs protection anyway. No one is going to demand cancellation for people they agree with.
And today, I want to add a few more values:
I do not care what your skin color is - white, black, brown, etc. I will never judge you by your skin color. I will never treat you differently because of your skin color. I will never underestimate your abilities or make assumptions about you because of your skin color. I believe that your skin color does not dictate your human potential and I’m much more interested in what you DO rather than what you look like.
I do not care if you’re on any part of the LBGTQ+ spectrum. If you’re gay, non-binary, trans, it makes no difference to me. Adults have the right to live their lives however they want to. They have the right to sleep with whoever they want to. They have the right to do whatever they want to their body. They have the right to ask to be referred to by whatever name or pronouns they with, and I believe in affording all people a basic level of respect and courtesy.
I do not care what you have done in your past - I care who you are today and how you show up. Life is about experience and there has not been a single human being that has ever walked the earth that has done so without making mistakes. I do not believe in using people’s past against them - unless you want a world of robots then you must allow people to learn, grow, and change on their journey. Redemption is a real thing and forgiveness is what makes us human.
I believe that human beings have an inherent right to pursue happiness in any way that they define happiness. It is not my right tell anyone how to live their lives, what they are allowed to say, and what they are not allowed to say. I can, however, choose not to voluntarily associate with people who do not share my values, and I will exercise that right liberally when necessary.
Finally, I view it as my role to present information to you, not to tell you how to feel about that information.
I absolutely have a biased perspective: I believe woke culture (on both the political right and left) is evil. But I also believe that evil can only be overcome when we allow people to think for themselves. I’ll show you what’s happening, and give you a nuanced perspective that is not driven by malice or outrage.
Then, you have to decide for yourself if you’re comfortable with it. There may be times when you see something I show you and believe it’s perfectly ok. There are other times when the opposite will be true.
Deciding for yourself without the threat of force, cancelation, or mob justice is the only way we can maintain our humanity.
What do you think?
What are your values? What are you fighting for?
Leave a comment and let me know! And please share this with your friends and family who need to learn this information.
Fight back against the woke and support my work
I believe the woke - on the left and the right - are an existential threat to our values as Americans. Some of them know it, most of them are just useful innocents. Regardless, fighting back against this woke cultural revolution is my full-time job. I’m dedicated to exposing the woke ideology in our country, helping people to understand what’s going on, and providing spaces for non-woke people to connect, support each other, and plan ways to fight back.
Here’s how you can help.
I agree with the premise and the warning. I constantly have to remind myself to be shaped by Christ, not warped by anger at the enemy.
BUT a lot of them really are groomers, etc. It's appropriate to say so and warn others. But, yes, we should conduct ourselves by a much higher standard than Rules For Radicals.
I'm not trying to overlook or twist words. I publically applauded your efforts and simply laid an exception. I don't see pedophiles everywhere nor am I paranoid. I am not trying to twist words, simply provide perspective, which I believe is part of discussion.