America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Radical Left Conquered Everything, Christopher F. Rufo, author; Charles Constant, narrator
When the final page is turned, the reader will be a bit bewildered but also enlightened. The reader will need to do some further investigation. The author will have led the reader from the origin of Critical Theory to its development today as Critical Race Theory. He will have traced what he believes is its path from its beginning to its ultimate culmination that has brought utter divisiveness and discontent to our country.
The journey might be a bit convoluted and sometimes over our heads, as some of the ideas and names responsible for the explosion of the belief in Critical Theory that has led to DEI and our woke society, were previously largely uncovered and unknown. Although the very ideas emerged during a time in which I came of age as a fully functioning adult, working in the same world of education that the promoters of Critical Theory were engaged, I was unaware of their influence. We did not have computers, social media or 24 hours news cycles at that time.
Rufo believes that the prominent individuals discussed in this book were influenced by the teachings of a man called Herbert Marcuse. He is referred to as “a leading figure of 1960’s counterculture, and a “Guru of the New Left”, by Jacob McNulty in his book Marcuse. Through further research, I learned that he was a student of the Frankfort School and its philosophy of analyzing social systems, developed in Germany in the 1930’s.” In the New World Encyclopedia, Critical Theory, which Marcuse actively taught and promoted, “is a term applied to a wide variety of critical approaches to Western Political society and culture.” I found many definitions of this term Critical Theory, as I sought to understand more fully what seemed to be a very elusive idea that was even a bit muddled and overly broad to me. However, it was this very theory that caught the attention of some radicals for change, during the 1960’s, with a fervor that eventually led to its popularity in our current day, exhibited in our DEI and woke society. Some of the explanations describing this theory follow exactly as I found them:
“Max Horkheimer first defined critical theory (German: Kritische Theorie) in his 1937 essay "Traditional and Critical Theory", as a social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society as a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only toward understanding or explaining it.”
“Critical Theory is a worldview that challenges the idea of a single truth and aims to understand human experiences to bring about social change. It is a diverse set of strategies united by a sociopolitical purpose, drawing inspiration from various philosophical and sociological schools of thought.”
I then sought a definition I could understand more easily and found this one: “What is critical theory in simple terms? The definition of critical theory is a theory that focuses on overcoming social constructs that oppress people in society. This theory argues that social constructs can benefit certain people at the expense of others.”
So Charles Mancuse is the father of our current radical movement in the United States, the idea that has promoted victimhood, changes in the meaning of words, gender confusion, active demonstrations, riots, protest marches, and “wokeness” in our society, though few have probably heard of him. His theories were first promoted and presented in left-leaning Universities like Yale and Harvard. The very activists who should have been incarcerated but were set free, moved into Academia in our best schools and began to convert our students into activists, promoting the idea that they were being unfairly treated and were victims of a society that thrived on keeping them that way. Eventually, it promoted the idea that systemic racism was the cause. White people were the villains.
Derrick Bell was a Civil Rights activist who followed the philosophy of Marcuse and may be called the father of Critical Race Theory. He believed that racism was so deeply embedded in white society that no matter how much progress was made, it would always return, as it has, and with the death of George Floyd, that idea exploded and the entire society experienced an hysterical reaction to it, promoting a petty criminal to the height of a hero. The idea is that every time there was a revolution of sorts, when progress was made, the conditions always reverted back, so that little progress was really achieved. This was because white society was not embracing the change, and black society really wanted changes to improve their world, not necessarily the world in which they lived with white people. They wanted their own identity, and equality was not giving that to them. They, therefore sought equity, and the equality of outcome, not equal opportunity. They did not necessarily want to attend white schools, but wanted better black ones. They did not want a merit-based society. They preferred a society in which they would be shown favoritism because of their neglect in the past. They also wanted reparations for the suffering of their ancestors.
For almost seven decades, commencing with universities and then slowly leaking into high schools, middle schools and elementary schools, we have stood by as our students have been taught less about the three “r’s” and more about activism, revolution and even violence as a method to overthrow our current way of life. They have been taught to believe that racism is systemic in white society only. They have been encouraged to apologize for their white toxicity, white experience and white privilege. They have been taught this by those who believe that they have been victims of a white society and now have the right to achieve their goals, to gain power by any means necessary.
Historically, there was the militant group, the Weather Underground. The names involved are recognizable, Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Angela Davis, just to name a few of the individuals that escaped punishment for heinous crimes committed in the 1960’s, and then went on to influence future activists, spreading their Critical Theory, by obtaining positions in academia, journalism and publishing. Their ability to escape consequences for their atrocious behavior somehow enabled them to gain employment as professors in our world of higher education. It led to the development of The Black Liberation Movement, the Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panthers, the New Black Panthers, the Black Lives Matter Movement and others that have all attempted to change our very way of life and rule of law. They believed in violent revolution and promoted it. They and their followers have been corrupting the minds of our children, our very future leaders. After they were forced from the streets, they were welcomed in the hallowed halls of our finest universities, and their theories have invaded every classroom, slowly spreading to all levels of education. They gained control of the narrative and promoted their message of discontent and victimhood, arousing the lumpenproletariat to rise up.
Eldridge Cleaver, Huey P. Newton, Paulo Freire, Mari Matsuda, are a few more names that will be exposed as supporters of activism and reform, some you will know, some you will not, but they spread the idea that certain segments of the population were oppressed and on the other side of the coin were the oppressors. Today, we are familiar with Barack Obama, Ibram Kendi, Al Sharpton, to name a few more that are believers in the idea of systemic racism. They also believe it only exists in the white oppressor community, which I believe is categorically false.
The activists of today want reparations, intersectionality, equity that produces equality of outcome, redistribution of wealth and land, restricted speech, and the idea that their rights are whatever the people in power, hopefully them, say they are. They believe the rules are not for them. They do not believe in a merit-based society so that the best and the brightest are often dismissed and our achievements are less than desired. They believe that whites have exploited their race and therefore need to face it and show remorse. Black society is promoting themselves now, at the expense of others, and justifies their behavior with critical race theories. They reject a color-blind reality.
According to Rufo, “diversity is the framework for demographic representation, equity is the method to obtain group entitlement, and inclusion is the signifier that regulates speech and behavior.” “Restricted speech is necessary to regulate the policies of DEI. Intersectionality is a political ideology that encourages micro-aggressions and the feelings of victimhood that are necessary for the woke society to succeed. DEI is as follows. The D is racial standing, the E is the power transfer and the I is the enforcement. D(iversity)=racial standing, E(quity)=power transfer, I(nclusion)=enforcement.
So since the 60’s, the left leaning, virtue-signaling citizenry has sent the message, loud and clear, that it is okay to use whatever means you find necessary to achieve your goals, but lately, it seems that they may have gone a bit too far, as the backlash has begun.
Rufo believes that a strong leader must come into power to defeat "the new left" with a counter revolution.