Page 26 - Lamplight Magazine (1)

AGAINST

To sound the alarm over this hy st e ria p e r vading our culture is t o invit e c e nsure, t o be
c onde mned by the ec cle sia of Wokenes s for alleg ed s ymp a thy with th e ideolo gie s inciting
p rejudi c e . To be cle ar : I have no s ymp a thy with the ideas mo tiva ting the vie w s t o which the
w oke are opp ose d. My p oin t of de p ar ture is the insis t e nc e of the Woke in s anctifying the
canon of i de n tity-p olitics within p ro gres sive disc our se as w e ll as in c ultur al p roduction. T he
sup e r ior p os ition is t o main tain th e p rimac y of ae sth e tic mo tive s i n art in de fi anc e of the
e ncroachme n t of p olitical c onc e r ns. We ough t t o main tain the t e nsion of the iron ical i n art and
re sis t ac quiesc ing t o the p ur itans of Woke ne ss for whom the star k dic ho t omy of the lici t an d
the illici t must be up he ld ove r any ins tin ct t o p lac e value in subve r sion a nd sardonic ism. To
omit t o take this c our se of ac tion is t o r isk c ompromising c ultur al p roduction t o such an e xt en t
tha t w e fi nd ye t more case s of bad ar t such as B l ack Pan ther , C ap t a in Ma rvel and Na nne tte
be c oming ye t more nume rous, and w or s e still, tha t the Woke se ns ibility be c ome s e mbe dde d as
an ass ump tion in art.
T his e ssay has c onc e r ne d its elf with the damaging in flue nc e of the Woke min d-se t on art
and culture , no ting ho w it in troduc es a mo tive e xt e rnal t o the aes the tic value in art. M uch
more c ould be said about the malign in flue nc e of Wokene s s on p olitics, th ough thi s is more
evide n t in the US than B r itain . W h a t is c ommon t o all the domains whe re Woke nes s is fe lt i s a
fi xa tion on be ing see n t o be in s t ep with the p arty line , as it w e re. T hose who str ive t o stay
Woke realise tha t any devia tion from the c ode of w oke ne ss ris ks th e e xc ommunic a tion outline d
above . A nd this is wha t w e ough t t o c on t es t mos t about Woke ne ss – its p o w e r t o c o w and t o
de t e r mine the limits of ac c ep tability. We mus t do so be cause Woke ne ss make s an i llegitima t e
de mand on us: th a t w e ough t t o p erc e ive and e xplain the w or ld as w e ll as act in s uch a w ay
tha t p r ivileg e s a sanctimonious no tion of i den tity t o the e xclusion of all o the r c ons ide r a tions ;
it is t o e stablish ide n tity as the de t erminin g vec t or of human dynamics. We must re sist tha t
be cause it is a gross ove r-simp lifi ca tion . S o, le t us fle e the Woke an d take re fug e unde r our
duve ts.

WOKENESS

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