The scary part about it is....those of us with jobs are either now, or soon to be, under intense scrutiny. If you aren’t sufficiently ‘woke’ about the supposed ‘inequality’ of whatever ‘outrage’ happens to be in ascendancy at the time, you’re in danger of having your job taken away, your character publicly trashed, or even worse.
Many of us are not well-off enough to weather such a storm. One may have a strong opinion that doesn’t go along with the mob-rule of ‘wokeness’, but we also don’t relish the idea of having our livelihood taken from us, and especially having it affect wives and kids who are relying on us.
My husband is a contractor working for the Air Force. This morning he came out of his office to tell me about several new “diversity directives” he received in his work email this morning.
This isn’t a shooting war, it’s a culture war. Your gun will be useless when you must conform to keep your job.
Facebook this week is filled with anti-racist “woke” memes we can still choose to ignore, scrolling past without clicking on “like”..... for now, at least. But this time next year, if Trump loses?
I’m thankful I’m 75 years old. We don’t have too many more years to put up with this crap. But half of our income is social security. I do not trust the left to leave SS unconditional. The day is coming when that monthly deposit to my checking account will require a loyalty oath and a “social score”.
If you aren’t sufficiently ‘woke’ about the supposed ‘inequality’ of whatever ‘outrage’ happens to be in ascendancy at the time, you’re in danger of having your job taken away, your character publicly trashed, or even worse.
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This is true everywhere. In fiction writing, there are now diversity editors who will eject and post demeaning reviews on Amazon of any work not sufficiently woke. There are ironclad *guidelines* to make it past these censors.
As a reader, I make it a point to patronize writers who ignore this. I read indies and some old-time science fiction and thriller writers exclusively.
As a writer, I, for the time being, write for myself and don’t even think about publishing. As an retired elder, this only hurts in that my retirement plan was to write well enough to make some extra money from self publishing. That is now deferred.
I don’t have any answers, but younger workers need to do a gut check:
Can you earn anything at all on your own, without a *job*?
Do you live in a blue state and are stuck with their taxes and regulations?
Do you have any way to leave? Any place to go? Any network to help in the transition?
Can you downsize your lifestyle to free-up money while withdrawing from the mainstream in that area?
Is enduring slavery worth it? Will your family thank you for the sacrifice? Will they actually be better off because you grovel and lie?
Know that no one is ever sufficiently woke. The rules change overnight and there is always someone who will rat you out, with or without cause. It can have nothing to do with you or your behavior. You will never know who resents you, your family members, your relatives. You will never know who decides they must denounce someone/anyone to preserve themselves and their family. Your friends and relatives can be pressured to denounce each other. You can be pressured to denounce your own family. Your spouse and your children can be inculcated or manipulated enough to turn against each other. I am not exaggerating when I say I have experienced and observed the woke joining together to seduce someone simply in order to break up a nuclear family &/or for some perverted personal coup-count. These people make sure the one they control gets the finances and the kids, which are then diverted to the *cause*. It is vicious.
I have experienced the above. It is why I left the left. When I 1st came to FR, I tried to warn people about the myriad groups being formed and the local groups being infiltrated and I was laughed at and told conservatives don’t worry about loonies. Now loonies are in charge worldwide.
You younger people need to make life-altering decisions. Maybe pooling resources, selling out and relocating with plans to not work for others until this is over.
IDK. These are serious times.