The Wall Street Journal published an article this weekend about Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. The details were interesting and entertaining. It talked about Musk's previous business ventures that made him billions. It talked about his family life. It talked about some of the details of the acquisition of Twitter and the timing of the deal's closing that kept the previous leadership from exercising stock options and receiving bonuses. That was kind of devious, but all is fair in love and war and business, I guess. You will find this article insightful. With all the details in this article, and around this event, I was struck by two small aspects which make a huge and profound statement about our time. They coincide in a very negative manner and send a warning to everyone about what Musk refers to as the 'woke mind virus'. One of those aspects is the estrangement the Elon Musk and his oldest, 16 year-old, transgender daughter. She has separated herself from the family, disavowed all her riches, and become a Communist. She believes all the maxim‘s of the 'Communist Manifesto'; riches are evil, private property should be eliminated, majority oppresses the minority, for equality people need to be controlled by the government. This 'change' began at the progressive school she attended in Los Angeles. From a family standpoint, this situation is sad.  But, in and of itself, it is not an unusual story. I speak to many friends who have a strange relationship with young people From their family. Most are daughters, but a few are young men. From a societal standpoint, this is a warning. Here are two related family stories.

1. Years ago, I was speaking to a friend at a neighborhood party whose daughter was in college and being introduced to the concepts of systemic racism and white privilege, major underpinnings of the progressive mindset. In conversations with her daughter, my friend had begun to find the concepts intriguing. This is something we all do, look for understanding,  when faced with a fear of losing our child to a strange notion. We began discussing these political narratives. I asked her does white privilege work if a white person goes to a black church in downtown Dallas and asked them to stop singing and yelling out during services? And, does white privilege work if a white person goes to India, knocks on a business door and asks for a job, do they get it because they’re white? Or, are they shunned? Are these situations just the result of natural majority and minority relationships? Relationships that can be improved, but are not basically racist, just a statement of lack of comfort with someone different? The conversation ended there.
2. In a separate conversation at dinner with friends who have three sons, I learned that one son had left the family and moved to New York City. He couldn't stand it in Texas, he couldn’t stand the state government, he couldn’t stand the culture, and he doesn’t respect his parents for their support of all the above. He basically cut all ties. I asked where he got these ideas, his mother said, his college girlfriend 'woke him up' to what was happening. His girlfriend and he are no longer together, but he retains the ideology.

This all came to mind when I was reading the section of this article about Elon Musk and his 'daughter'. We each know several similar stories of family tension and separation over the progressive ideology. It illustrates the destructive impact of woke ideology. Our young adults are being affected by educational and political elites pushing a failed and destructive ideology. Musk is quoted as saying, “Unless the woke mind virus, which is fundamentally anti-science, anti-merit, and anti-human in general, is stopped, civilization will never become multiplanetary,” As Musk took over the company he discovered some telling signs that Twitter was aggressively pushing this destructive ideology. Twitter prided itself on being a friendly place where coddling was considered a virtue. “We were definitely very high-empathy, very caring about inclusion and diversity; everyone needs to feel safe here,...allowed a mental “day of rest” each month...commonly used buzzwords at the company was “psychological safety....signs on the restrooms said “Gender diversity is welcome here,” and ... [as] Musk poked through cabinets filled with stashes of Twitter-branded merchandise, he found T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Stay woke,” " Accusations of Twitter censorship of politically different views and algorithms to 'shadow ban' people and ideas seem striking more real and ominous. As you read the media attacks on Musk since his acquisition of Twitter (now 'X'), who they loved prior to his acquisition of Twitter, you have to wonder why that attitude changed? Why is he now the enemy? Could it be that he is in the middle of one of the core strategies of the radical progressive left? Could it be his acquisition of Twitter? Has he both purposely and accidentally stumbled on a core strategy? Destroying American culture, reinforcing capitalism as evil, majorities suppressing minorities, equality of outcomes, do you find these things left ideology throughout the world?  Of course, you do. But, if you talk to members of the woke culture movement, they fight back that there is really no correlation, is really a conspiracy theory and wokeness is about diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism. The truth is, it’s not a conspiracy theory and those seemingly universally supported concepts are lost leaders to a destructive ideology. True believers in this ideology have been pushing these ideas on the American population under the radar for a century. It has only reached public awareness in the last decade. In her book, Awake, not Woke, Noelle Mering describes the cultural beginning of this ideology in the United States and its origins in Marxism and Communism. Those who deny as a conspiracy theory, the correlation with Marxist objectives are what Communists have described as 'useful idiots' to the cause.  Otherwise intelligent people dupped into believing a high minded change for the good.  Instead it is a 'Trojan horse' with cataclysmic destruction inside. My reason for bringing this all up is that the threat is real. Woke activists at Twitter were censoring tweets and messages, and simultaneously woke ideology is sabotaging families, Musk's being one. Permeating our society is this 'woke mind virus', our families, our companies, our politics, and suppressing our free speech. It all screams from this article as an organized political strategy that requires action. Woke is a disastrous an destructive ideology. It has gone on unnoticed for too long. More From The Wall Street Journal: