Parwy's Blog: The Sacred Myths of Liberalism

Eric Kaufmann is a Canadian professor of politics. Following two decades at Birkbeck, University of London, he is now based at the University of Buckingham. He is Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, a countercultural research centre. He is the author of several books including, most recently, ‘Taboo: How Making Race Sacred Produced a Cultural Revolution’.

The Sacredness of Marginalized Identities and the "Anti-Racism Taboo"

The central argument is that a "sacredness" around race, which has stretched to gender and sexuality, emerged in the mid-1960s in the US, forming the "Big Bang" of our moral universe. This sacredness is the defining feature of "woke" ideology.
An "anti-racism taboo" emerged, which, while starting from a good norm against racism, became unbounded, evoking a disgust reaction. This means that the definition of "racism" can be stretched to include seemingly innocuous actions like mispronouncing a surname, everyone being white on a hike, or saying "Anyone Can Make It in America".
Defining "Sacredness": Making something sacred means it becomes an object of devotion. Any speech or action perceived as offending these "gods" (historically marginalized groups) leads to excommunication, or "cancellation" – being fired, shunned, or having one's reputation smeared. This explains the disproportionate and black-and-white reactions, lacking the nuance and proportionality found in law.
This "Kryptonite" power of sacredness has spread to other identity groups (feminists, LGBTQ+ movements) who want to wield it. Attempts to apply it to "fatness" or "deafness" were less successful.

The Role of "White Guilt" and Liberalism's Evolution

"White guilt" is considered absolutely central to this phenomenon. Shelby Steele argued that the mid-60s saw a sudden shift in moral and cultural authority from White America to Black America, leading to white people deferring and virtue signalling to demonstrate they are "not one of the bad white people". Affirmative action, according to Steele, is primarily a virtue signal, not genuinely about helping black people.

Kaufmann argues this is not a cultural Marxist phenomenon primarily, but rather originates from liberalism itself, particularly the Civil Rights Movement. White guilt quickly became integrated into liberalism in the mid-60s.
Liberal Principles vs. Liberal Identity: While classical liberal principles (e.g., John Stewart Mill, John Locke's procedural liberalism of individual spheres) are sound, the "liberal identity" that built up in the 20th century is problematic. This identity is largely based on egalitarian myths, fighting against racism and sexism, and portraying heroic episodes like the Civil Rights Movement or the Holocaust.
This mythic structure fosters a fear of the majority, seeing it as always one step away from fascism, and a romanticized view of minorities, who are often seen as virtuous, more moral, and having deeper spiritual insight ("minorities good, majority bad"). This emotional reflex needs taming to return to classical liberal principles.

Consequences and "Cultural Socialism"

The sacredness has led to "moral panics," such as the "Canadian Mass Graves hoax," which Kaufmann describes as "insane" but embraced by the Canadian political class.
The current situation can be framed as a "cultural Cold War," contrasting "cultural socialism" with "cultural freedom".
- Cultural socialism promotes equal representation (quotas, affirmative action) in humanities curricula, history, arts, and all aspects of culture.
- Cultural liberalism (freedom) prioritises excellence, rationality, objective truth, due process, and equal treatment, aiming for "human flourishing".
The problem is the inability to criticise the excesses of quotas, speech codes, or distorted historical readings without being cancelled.
The "Sacred Myth of Equality": Modern society has swallowed the idea that equality is a sacred objective. However, this has transformed from ensuring people are not impeded in realising their potential to demanding equal outcomes between different groups (e.g., men and women, racial groups). This ignores the reality of inevitable inequality between groups due to historical, cultural, and genetic factors.
Unlike economics, where a trade-off between equality and growth is accepted (e.g., a bigger pie means unequal slices), this trade-off is not accepted in culture. Demanding "cultural equity" (equal representation in every film, book, course) leads to "cultural poverty" (worse quality art and literature). This debate about cultural wealth and human flourishing versus equity is currently suppressed.

The Urgency of School Reform and Generational Shifts

There is a fundamental lack of courage in society to push back against these cultural movements. While individual resistance (e.g., asking questions in DEI sessions) is encouraged, the risk of losing jobs/reputation makes mass individual sacrifice unrealistic.
Kaufmann argues for government intervention as the only institution classical liberals/conservatives can hope to control, as cultural institutions (foundations, universities, schools, civil service) are "captured". Enforcing political neutrality in all public sector institutions (e.g., removing gender ideology, Critical Race Theory, DEI trainings). "School choice" is deemed a "pipe dream" for reform; hands-on government intervention, like in Florida, is necessary.
"Zoomers" (younger generations) exhibit significantly more illiberal views compared to older generations.
- 50% of Zoomers with an opinion believe JK Rowling should be dropped by her publisher.
- Two-thirds of Zoomers in Britain and America believe James Damore should have been fired. James Damore was a Google engineer who was fired from the company in August 2017 after it was discovered that he was the author of an internal memo titled "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber", arguing that male/female disparities can be partly explained by biological differences.
- Over 70% of students believe a professor who offends students should be reported to administration.
- Less than 20% of students would allow someone who thinks abortion should be banned to speak on campus; 85% would not allow someone who says "transgender is a mental disorder" to speak.
- 70% would oppose someone calling "Black Lives Matter a hate group" speaking on campus.
This suggests a generational shift where the priority is not hurting feelings rather than allowing free speech. This generation, as the future median voters and employees, will upend the classical liberal system if not addressed at the school level.

Underlying Dynamics and Long-Term Trends

Feminisation of Society: Kaufmann attributes the cultural shift more to a "feminisation of ideas" rather than being directly driven by women. Humanitarian ideas of being "nice," empathizing, and feeling people's pain have moved in a feminine direction, even if historical abolitionists were mostly male. He notes that empathy itself is not a universal good, as its direction matters (e.g., empathy for victims of lynching vs. empathy for white women in the South who triggered lynchings).
Cultural Marxism vs. Endogenous Liberalism: Kaufmann acknowledges the efforts of cultural Marxists but argues their impact would have been minimal if liberals had adhered to classical principles. Instead, liberals were highly receptive to cultural Marxist ideas because these ideas overlapped with existing liberal myths of fighting for the oppressed against "the big mean majority group" (e.g., white male). The success of movements like Black Lives Matter is seen as a manipulation of guilty and compassionate left-liberals.
The "Third Awokening": Kaufmann tracks surges in the use of terms like "racist" and "sexist" in Big Data, identifying surges in the late '60s, early '90s (political correctness), and the 2010s (the "third awokening"). While there might be temporary pullbacks, institutions like DEI bureaucracies remain entrenched, making the culture poised for future waves.
Demographic Sustainability of Liberalism: A crucial, underexplored question is whether liberalism is demographically sustainable. Kaufmann's earlier work suggests that world-denying religious groups (e.g., Amish, ultra-Orthodox Jews) with high birth rates are increasing their influence and vote share in societies like Israel, raising questions about the future cultural landscape.