Opinion
22nd July 2022
What I learned in Church last Sunday
Last Sunday I went back to my old church. I moved out of the area nearly two years ago so haven’t been back often and although, once inside it was largely familiar with people I knew and could refresh friendships with, there was something outside which made me feel unwelcome and I had to steel myself to go in.
There was a new banner on the gate, which read “All are welcome”. Why would that make me feel unwelcome? Simply that behind the words, as a background, was the latest iteration of the Wokeist tyranny flag. The words were contradicted by the background. The words welcomed all, but the background declared the condition that people accept the doctrines of Wokeism as the price of welcome. Those who disagree or have doubts are not tolerated.
Because I am a reflective thinker I pondered this as I sat in a pew. I know most of the people who run the church; I used to be one of them, and I know they would not intend to exclude me. It is from their desire to be inclusive that they’ve swallowed the Wokeist line, not realising what it implies about non-Wokeists. How strange that someone who really believes in a fully inclusive diversity should be accidentally excluded by others seeking to be inclusive.
And as I reflected further I began to understand a problem in myself. As a reflective thinker, my natural response to tyranny is to try to expose it with argument. This site is full of arguments, all my own because nobody has responded. I have designed a logo to illustrate the point, and presented my arguments as a campaign, which indeed they are.
The problem is; I am trying to use arguments few appear to read to advance an idea which should be obvious, but is hidden from most people’s eyes by a poorer idea not argued, but promoted as a virtue, using fear and shame to impose it, and embraced by those fearing to be shamed or meaning well and knowing no better. They would, I believe, mostly drop Wokeism and embrace Diverse Diversity if they knew the difference, and the difference is obvious once it is known. The problem is it isn’t known, and it isn’t known because while the media and academics promote Pseudo-liberal ideas and the Wokeist flag is everywhere, Diverse Diversity is just a website for a campaign few find and few seek.
A campaign is good, but it isn’t enough. As I have found out over the last nine years, people by and large do not want to join campaigns. They don't want to be activists. They just go along with the best they can find which makes most sense to themselves. Well-organised activists who know how to influence people take advantage, not by recruiting campaigners, but by promoting their ideas and silencing opponents. They present their ideas as virtuous and their opponents as villainous and, even though their ideas might be as evil as they are good, if they can keep the evil hidden people will go with what they see. Diverse Diversity might be the better idea, but it remains unseen.
I argue because I am a reflective thinker, but Wokeists don’t argue. They simply keep repeating their unargued position so people hear little else, and because they persuade people to display their slogans and logos and frighten those with contrary ideas they operate through familiarity, not argument. My arguments remain unfamiliar, and yet, that needn’t be so.
Why is the Diverse Diversity logo unfamiliar? Why is its meaning not known or accepted? That is because, so far, it has been only the badge of a campaign. I have not used it in other contexts, nor have I explained its meaning. When I try to interest allies in my position I am ignored. What is obvious to me evidently isn’t obvious to others. I need to communicate better, and not just by argument.
I need to start using the Diverse Diversity logo in other ways and explain its meaning so people become aware of its message and the difference between Diverse Diversity and Wokeism. Only then will they be able to choose which is better. Rather than presenting the idea as a campaign I need to highlight its superior virtue by using it virtuously. The arguments are there to back it up, but the arguments are not enough to sell it to a wider population. They need to see and feel it in order to understand it. I am turning my thoughts to that and the results should start to appear on this website and other places as those thoughts become actions. I have started with a welcome sign to give a superior, more inclusive, welcome and I need to explain why so people can make an informed decision.
I seriously hope there will be more.