Post woke - Peter Boghossian
20/12/24
Words like “intersectionality” and “decolonisation” are used as a secret handshake to signal your membership of an exclusive club.
This week the government got rid of the “wellbeing” frameworks in the Local Government Act. Unless you're a psychopath, no one could disagree with social, economic, environmental or cultural well-being. But the inability to prioritise one well-being promise over another makes wellbeing a sloppy and imprecise word, backed by sloppy and imprecise thinking.
Same for critical race theory, donut economics, and circular economy. I know what a donut is. But shove these words together, and you're speaking English as a second language.
Obfuscating meaning ends up in the politics of diplomacy of the Ardern government. This was a theory of politics that sought to obfuscate differences rather than reveal them, avoid offence rather than argue the merits of a better idea. Making people feel kind was more important than hard choices to get results.
Peter Boghossian's alternative is to debate, engage, and listen better. Don't avoid tough conversations.Peter Boghossian is the author of
How to have Impossible Conversations. Josie's interview with him is
here.