I am convinced that critical social justice can and will be defeated ultimately for the sole reason that it’s so fundamentally misaligned with reality. However, the tragic truth is that much collateral damage is being done to individuals and institutions where this ideology has already taken root. The more people who decide to take a stand courageously against this destructive ideology, the sooner we will usher in a sound and truly helpful discourse around solutions to injustice.

By now there are enough “cancel culture” stories to fill volumes. After my own story about standing up to a woke mob—and succeeding—went viral on Twitter, I decided to speak out, because I am convinced that Americans need more encouraging stories about standing up to cancel culture, and information on how they can do it themselves.

In order to withstand attacks, you’ll need to be armed with an understanding of the ideas in play, and the courage to stand up to bullies. I hope my story can help give you both.

My story began in 2010, when my husband and I founded a nonprofit organization that trains people around the world who are providing care for survivors of trauma. We were pleased with the success of our organization for the first several years, but around 2016, we noticed a change.

My husband, who serves as executive director, eventually found himself uneasy among his staff. The general tone was one of criticism. It wasn’t explicitly directed at him at first, but toward “systems,” the “hegemony,” and “normativity.”

We were not acquainted with critical theory at the time, but the common rhetoric about “systems of power and oppression” was an indicator that there was a shared perception of reality among team members to which we were not privy.

We initiated all-team sessions to hear from our staff and discern what was happening. What usually happened was the staff made vague assertions that the organization was “causing harm” and would present a list of demands. I later came to understand these meetings were essentially “struggle sessions”—an opportunity for our woke employees to shame us into submission, a technique often used in Mao’s China.

I decided to do some research into the ideology that was animating the staff to see what my husband and I could do to save our organization and the people we serve. I’m convinced that there’s no shortcut around this learning process if you want to successfully make a principled stand. Here are some of the things I learned.

Know What You Are Dealing With

Through my research, I came to realize that our staff were following “critical theory” and its descendant theories, like critical race theory and queer theory.

These theories basically divide society into two groups: oppressor and oppressed. If you are white, straight, male, and/or wealthy, you are an oppressor. If you are a racial minority, gay or trans, a woman or identify as some other gender, and financially not wealthy, you are oppressed. The objective of critical theory is to defeat oppressors and overturn the system that benefits them.

Those who have embraced the tenets of critical theory are colloquially referred to as “social justice warriors,” or simply “woke.” (It’s important to note that most people who have been influenced by critical theory and its descendant theories—like critical race theory and queer theory—most likely wouldn’t identify themselves as “critical theorists”).

I like the term critical social justice to identify the ideology, because it doesn’t have a pejorative connotation and is descriptive of the earnest (though I believe misguided) motivations of many of its adherents.

Whatever they are called or what other people call them, they share the conviction that they have acquired a critical consciousness that enables them to rightly perceive systems of power and oppression unseen by others (hence, being “woke”). This belief governs all of their actions.

Understand How the Battle With the Woke Mob Is Fought

To protect yourself and your organization from becoming subverted by critical social justice ideology and subsequently cancelled, you must understand how the battle is fought.

First, critical social justice is an anti-objectivity ideology: One of its fundamental assertions is that there are no objective truths, only “positional” truths. As explained by Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo in their 2017 book “Is Everyone Really Equal?”:

One of the key contributions of critical theorists concerns the production of knowledge. … These scholars argue that a key element of social injustice involves the claim that particular knowledge is objective, neutral, and universal.

An approach based on critical theory calls into question the idea that objectivity is desirable or even possible. The term used to describe this way of thinking about knowledge is that knowledge is socially constructed.

Bearing that in mind, you can throw out your notions of engaging in classical discourse where the best idea will emerge victorious. Your ideas are not on trial: You are.

Shift the Focus From ‘Identity’

Your woke assailants will accuse you of ineptitude, the inability to perceive reality, or even immorality based on your identity—by which I mean, the characteristics you can’t change about yourself. Your identity can even disqualify you from talking about certain subjects.

For example, they will demand your silence in conversations on race if you are deemed “white” or even “white adjacent.” They will suggest you do “harm” or “violence” if you are “cis-gendered” and attempt to engage in conversation on gender identity.

This identity-based gatekeeping is a result of the presupposition in critical social justice that all truth is “positional.” Therefore, only those who have a certain “social position” due to their identity can perceive or speak truth on topics related to their identity.

Don’t take the bait and engage in self-defense. You will be eviscerated if you let the conversation become about you.

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