A common refrain back in 2014-16, when many were becoming aware of the mind virus we now call ‘woke’, was that “They’ll learn once they get to the real world.” There was an assumption that the hollowness of their philosophy would collapse in on itself.

Historically, similar dismissals are seen. Socialism and Communism are rightly pointed to as failures for the corruption and despair brought about by them. However, people still turn to them, just as they embrace general ‘wokeness’. Why?

The comforting answer is to just say that they are stupid. To pretend that those who disagree with us do so only for self serving and nearsighted ends. To be sure, there are self serving and nearsighted elements there. But to simply dismiss them therefore is to underestimate them. Ideas don’t stick around in history if they are ONLY abject failures. True, some people will persist in any folly for as long as they can, but there has to be something even to the folly for it to stay more than a decade.

As such, we have to be able to recognize the merits present just as much as the evil. We have to be able to actually understand our enemies and not make the mistake they make of dismissing that which disagrees with them. We have to know them, or else we will continue to make the same mistakes. We need to be able to see and grab the roots.