Thread by @ShellenbergerMD

The evidence is now overwhelming that progressive climate activists, Black Lives Matter, & LGBT groups cause the very things they claim to be fighting: higher emissions (from attacking nuclear & nat gas); more black deaths (from attacking the police); and harm to LGBT youth.

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1624528963879206917

Since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the number of black deaths from homicides increased by ~3,000, and the share of U.S. murder victims who were black rose from 53% in 2019 to 58% in 2021, due to the demonization and demoralization of police.

public.substack.com/p/warning-the-…

Emissions had been declining over the last decade, both in rich nations and globally, mostly due to the transition from coal to natural gas.

But then, climate activists started shutting down nuclear plants and blocking natural gas production, resulting in more coal-burning.

After LGBT people won their rights, radical activists demanded that *all* gender dysphoric youth, many if not most of whom are same-sex attracted, be prescribed puberty blockers & surgeries, which are far more damaging than mere "conversion therapy"

thetimes.co.uk/article/tavist…

I'm not suggesting that all climate, black, or LGBT activists cause harm. Some climate activists advocate nat gas & nuclear. Some black activists demand police reform, not defunding. And some LGBT activists demand reforms to how clinics deal with gender dysphoria.

But climate activists who advocate nat gas/nuclear, black activists who demand police reform, and LGBT activists who raise the alarm about trans clinics are all very much in the minority, and are often subject to harassment, deplatforming and cancellation.

And beyond climate, race/policing, and trans, "homelessness advocates" demand that people in the throes of addiction/untreated mental illness be allowed to destroy themselves on the street, and become a threat to themselves.

public.substack.com/p/the-secret-t…

In every one of these movements are activist leaders who display Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, anti-social) characteristics, operating in authoritarian ways, entrancing emotionally vulnerable followers, and demonizing, scapegoating, and ostracizing dissenters.

What's more, we have seen a blending of those movements with journalists in the corporate news media who routinely play the victim, a classic Dark Triad strategy, and demand social media censorship in the name of "preventing harm."

https://twitter.com/LevineJonathan/status/1624537138522910721?s=20&t=gjyYI_H3S_SvrEWLi5jRCA

As such, we have seen the profoundly illiberal Woke movement rise out of liberalism itself and become its opposite. Where progressives used to defend free speech, be suspicious of the FBI, and criticize corporate media, they now demand more censorship.

https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1624759424530386947?s=20&t=gjyYI_H3S_SvrEWLi5jRCA

We are gaining an increasingly complete account of how Woke Dark Triad activists created extremist emotional movements, fueled by rising anxiety from social media, and the unmet need for spiritual transcendence & social belonging, to successfully bully institutional leaders.

This is why civilized people undermine the pillars of civilization: law and order, meritocracy, and cheap energy.

It's also why liberal people undermine the pillars of liberalism: freedom of speech, tolerance of different viewpoints, and schools/universities dedicated to truth.

We frequently hear and make comparisons to past periods of widespread irrationalism: witch hunts, moral panics, McCarthyism, socio-psychiatric disorders, fascism, communism, and religious fundamentalism. Doing so is helpful in orienting ourselves.

https://twitter.com/_CryMiaRiver/status/1491065833204088833?s=20&t=Y_m7tBPi_hi81uWqiGuyHg

Wokeism combines many if not all of those past irrationalisms, including fanaticism, panics, and totalitarian behaviors, but it is also its own unique phenomenon that doesn't fit easily into analogies from the past. It requires its own careful study.

I explore the financial, political, and religious roots to apocalyptic environmentalism and Woke progressivism in "Apocalypse Never," and "San Fransicko," and since then have collaborated with @peterboghossian to create a religious taxonomy for Wokeism.

public.substack.com/p/why-wokeism-…

Now, I am working with colleagues to create a psychological taxonomy of Wokeism, inspired in part by the late Polish psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski's argument that totalitarian movements must be explained psychologically, not just condemned morally.

amazon.com/Political-Pone…

Lobaczewski argues that Dark Triad type leaders take political power they create a "pathocracy," rule by the sick.

Resistance depends on the "normal," or psychologically healthy individuals, who recognize just how dehumanizing the totalitarian leaders, and their agendas, are.

"A great ideology with a mesmerizing vision and values can also easily deprive people of the capacity for self-critical control over their behavior... Every great ideology thus contains danger, especially for small minds." — Lobaczewski

"The pathological social structure gradually covers the entire country, creating a 'new class' within that nation." This privileged class feels permanently threatened by the 'others,' i.e., by the majority of normal people."

Hence the demands for censorship!