By all metrics, the skies of 2024 are overwhelming in their display of the extraordinary. Celestial spectacles are appearing with increasing frequency for those who know how to gaze heavenward in wonder. Many witnessed eclipses on March 25 and April 8, which darkened many parts of the earth. However, the most spectacular displays were the … Read more
After the widespread negative repercussions about Fiducia supplicans, with entire episcopates refusing to bless “homosexual couples” and “irregular couples,”1 the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has published a new document, also with the pope’s approval: “Dignitas Infinita,” the Declaration on Human Dignity (which we will refer to as DI).2 A Traditional Document? Unlike … Read more
One thing that characterizes the Class of 2024 is that it has suffered from continual interruptions. Big interruptions, small interruptions, cultural interruptions, and i-interruptions seemed to conspire to deprive this class of the constancy that others enjoyed. Several such interruptions come to mind. Order Today: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic … Read more
What do you get for the homeowner who has everything? In today’s materialist world, the answer is to look for something new and trendy. The market is full of new gadgets and home improvements to maximize comfort and convenience. Order Today: Return to Order: From a Frenzied Economy to an Organic Christian Society—Where We’ve Been, … Read more
While commemorating the forty days Our Lord fasted in the desert, we should remember a great and supreme truth that should illuminate all Lenten meditations. The holy Gospels clearly show how much our merciful Savior pitied our spiritual and physical pains. Hence, He performed spectacular miracles to mitigate them. However, let us not imagine that … Read more
“Remember thy last end, and thou shalt never sin.” This good counsel from Holy Scripture (Ecclus. 7:36) is especially relevant today with the loss of the love of God and the sense of sin. Unfortunately, one cause of this loss is that the faithful rarely hear from the pulpit anymore about the last end. Church … Read more
America is being overwhelmed with a public health crisis. This is evidenced in rising levels of anxiety, depression, isolation, drug addiction, suicide and other psychological disorders, not to mention the deviations of homosexuality and transgenderism, which modern psychology largely fosters. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the crisis, with a notable impact on the elderly and young, … Read more
Among the thousands of travelers who crowd the Termini station in Rome every day, some stop by the nearby Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Via Marsala. The church was commissioned by Pius IX, who laid the foundation stone of the new building in 1870, but due to the annexation of Rome to the Kingdom … Read more
![The Woke World Traps Many. Here are Some Suggestions for Breaking Free of It To many people, the spirit of “wokeness” is baffling. It is the rough equivalent of saying that truth is a lie and that virtue is harmful. It turns the world upside-down and inside-out. The Path to Absurdity Perhaps the Smithsonian Institution inadvertently provided a guide to the nation’s befuddlement with wokeness in the summer of 2020, when its National Museum of African American History and Culture published an “iconographic” titled Aspects and Assumptions of Whiteness and White Culture in the United States. It said that everything from Christianity to Individualism and Science to Justice were parts of a “dominant culture” that alienates and excludes almost everyone. Despite its bizarre affirmations, the woke movement cannot be dismissed as misguided and doomed to failure. It enjoys too much protection and promotion. Wokeness continues to advance as observant Americans regularly see evidence of its power. The recent Congressional hearings in which the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tried to defend the woke worldview merely revealed its intellectual and moral bankruptcy. How can a set of ideas that are so ridiculous survive at America’s (presumably) finest universities? A Slippery Path to Self-Importance This is the environment in which Teresa Mull presents her book, Woke-Proof Your Life: A Handbook on Escaping Modern Political Madness and Shielding Yourself and Your Family by Living a More Self-Sufficient, Fulfilling Life. The book’s greatest asset is its common sense look at the origins of the woke mindset. The author explores how wokeness is present in every aspect of American life. Every city and village contains its adherents. Where did they all come from? What do they have in common? Why do they do the things they do? Eternal and Natural Law: The Foundation of Morals and Law In answering those questions, Miss Mull emphasizes the presence of social media, which she says allowed the woke mentality to spread far more quickly than it would have twenty or more years ago. Its “critical theory” roots are found in earlier decades but were primarily limited to the far-left on liberal university campuses. Platforms like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter created an alternate system for disseminating ideas across social classes and geographic limits. Legions of Victims However, spreading such ideas on social media only tells part of the story. One of the book’s most vital points is that it describes the psychological/moral role in the process. “Lacking a sense of self-worth and the dignity they inherently possess in knowing that they’ve been made in God’s image and likeness, the woke look to the capricious world for validation. When this method inevitably fails to satisfy them, they go to greater and greater lengths—tattoos, surgeries, displays of ersatz virtue, increasingly bizarre “identities,” absurd pronouns, and so forth—to gain earthly approval.” These, of course, are the followers, the hoards who search desperately for some meaning in their lives. Such easily led searchers have always existed. In the late sixties, they grew long hair and shouted, “Make Love, Not War!” In Nazi Germany, they donned brown shirts and strutted through the streets in their hundreds. In eighteenth-century France, they put “liberty caps” on their heads and searched for aristocrats to execute. A Satanic Leadership Class Their pseudo-elite leaders have all been the same as well. “[These pseudo elites] orchestrating the woke charade know exactly what they’re doing. They aren’t motivated by their selfless love of others. They want to be like gods, to make men women and women men, to control the population, to make themselves the center of the universe, and profit magnificently…. Many have given into the devil’s temptation, and many are receiving the earthly prize Satan promised, though, of course, it isn’t enough.” Learn All About the Prophecies of Our Lady of Good Success About Our Times True to his malicious nature, the true motivating force controls the whole show, although his strategies vary with each generation. “[T]he latest tactic of the ‘father of lies’ is to implant false accusations of injustice everywhere and turn lies about race and sex into popular opinion, thereby fanning the flames of division, disorder, and ultimately, destruction.” False Promises that Can Never Satisfy As with all of Satan’s deceptions, connections to the woke world exemplified by social media grow less satisfying over time. At first, communicating with—and perhaps influencing—people in other places without leaving the comfort of one’s room is intriguing. A network of “friends” awaits news, opinions and insights that would have gone unspoken in real life. However, an element of competition soon enters into these virtual relationships. Expressing a bit of knowledge first is crucial. Expanding one’s network becomes paramount. Then comes the fear of being ignored and the accompanying dread of rejection. As Miss Mull points out, “Fear is the woke mob’s main tool, and it is an effective one.” A single sentence taken out of context can result in being branded as a racist, homophobe, fascist, bigot, climate-denier or any other imaginative and insulting adjective. That elusive network of friends can vanish overnight. This process is, perhaps, the biggest reason that the number of young people experiencing various forms of mental distress—especially depression—is skyrocketing. Science Confirms: Angels Took the House of Our Lady of Nazareth to Loreto Escaping the ill effects of the woke world takes commitment and courage. The first step is to engage in real life, as opposed to the virtual variety. As Miss Mull illustrates, the life of God and Holy Mother Church should come first. After that, family and community—actual, not virtual—are essential to becoming more securely connected to a fulfilling life. Escaping Wokeness The latter half of the book provides some suggestions for building the “woke-proof” life that the title promises. This part of the book was perhaps less helpful to those whose careers or family connections tie them to a particular place. That is not to say that it does not make some important points, but they come couched in a style of life that Miss Mull finds attractive. For instance, she expounds at some length about the virtues of country as opposed to urban life. Chapter eight is devoted to self-sufficiency, especially in the realm of food production. However, even for those—like this reviewer—who prefer the stimulation of the city and for whom gardening is just a series of chores stacked one upon the other, this section of the book provides some valuable suggestions. After all, everyone can gain by leaving the bluish light of the screen (be it television, computer or cell phone) behind in the search for real life with actual people. There is life after wokeness for those who confide in God and break away from the consensus. [facebook-page-plugin href="Tradition.Family.Property.TFP/" width="400" cover="false" facepile="false" cta="false" small="true" adapt="true" link="true" linktext="Click Here to Like Traditional Values" lang="en_US" ]](https://www.returntoorder.org/content/uploads/2024/01/The-Woke-World-Traps-Many-Here-are-Some-Suggestions-for-Breaking-Free-of-It-300.jpg)
To many people, the spirit of “wokeness” is baffling. It is the rough equivalent of saying that truth is a lie and that virtue is harmful. It turns the world upside-down and inside-out. The Path to Absurdity Perhaps the Smithsonian Institution inadvertently provided a guide to the nation’s befuddlement with wokeness in the summer of … Read more
As we approach this 2024 March for Life, the pro-life movement is being put to the test. The post-Dobbs climate of euphoria has subsided. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) joins with all who oppose the slaughter of innocent human beings as we prepare for the battle ahead. With … Read more
