CIA embraces ‘Woke ideology’, leftists deny that that is occurring

In a mind-blowing advertising and marketing video first revealed on March 25, however which had escaped widespread discover till current days, the CIA enthusiastically endorsed a number of key tenets of what has now indisputably turn into a hegemonic left/liberal ideological and rhetorical assemble:
“I am a woman of color,” the video’s protagonist, an unnamed CIA officer, triumphantly proclaims. “I am a cisgender millennial who’s been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. I am intersectional, but my existence is not a box-checking exercise.”
She continues, “I used to struggle with imposter syndrome. But at 36, I refuse to internalize misguided patriarchal ideas of what a woman can or should be. I am tired of feeling like I’m supposed to apologize for the space I occupy.” 

The video is a fast tour de drive of the tropes and quirks most intently related to up to date “Woke Ideology,” akin to: 
A direct reference to “intersectionality” doctrine — arguably the ideology’s core working premise, taken to imply {that a} broad vary of identity-based oppressions “intersect” and have to be overturnedInvocation of the time period “cisgender,” which is meant to suggest the CIA’s inclusiveness of non-gender normative folks, i.e. TransA denunciation of “patriarchy,” some of the abhorred identity-based methods of oppressionWeird delight in a single’s self-reported analysis of psychological sickness, as if it’s simply one other id trait to be marketed and embraced, relatively than a debilitating ailment to be curedThe now-ubiquitous use of the noun “space” in reference to not any bodily location, however relatively to the imprecise metaphysical drive one purportedly brings to bear in life… or one thing like that. (“Know your worth. Command your space,” the girl additional provides) “Woke Ideology” is an imprecise, amorphous time period for a wide-ranging set of beliefs and practices; adherents to the ideology will usually deny that such a factor even exists. And but, everybody who hasn’t been dwelling below a rock is aware of roughly what the time period means, acknowledges the rhetorical type by which it’s expressed, and instantly understands that this video is an instantiation of it. Sort of like how one can establish instantiations of “communism” or “libertarianism” however the perpetual debates concerning the exact definition of these ideological designations.
While the video was produced by the CIA, it may’ve simply as simply been produced by any Fortune 500 firm or foundation-funded activist group, all of which at the moment are studying from more-or-less the identical script. 
The CIA video is definitely only one installment in a operating sequence known as “Humans of the CIA,” a title probably supposed to be paying homage to the Humans of New York social media craze, whereby strange residents are “humanized” with schmaltzy and touchingly relatable tales. Just because the CIA has at the very least tried to do with this sequence.
Another “Humans of the CIA” video encompasses a man narrating his Journey™ with the next quote: “Growing up gay in a small Southern town, I was lucky to have a wonderful and accepting family. I always struggled with the idea that I might not be able to discuss my personal life at work. Imagine my surprise when I was taking my oath at CIA, and I noticed a rainbow on then-director Brennan’s lanyard.”
The Gay CIA officer who was actually excited to see the rainbow lanyard
“Inclusion is a core value here,” the person who Grew Up Gay continues. “Officers from the top down work hard to ensure that every single person — whatever their gender, gender identity, race, disability, or sexual orientation — can bring their entire self to work every day.”
John Brennan, the previous CIA Director below Barack Obama (and a essential character within the CIA-generated Trump/Russia saga) occurs to function in each of those movies as a person who seeks to make sure that CIA brokers can “bring their entire self to work every day,” versus solely a part of their selves, like just some limbs. There he’s, smiling alongside the Latina Woman as a logo of CIA management’s dedication to fairness and inclusion. Also making a cameo look is one among Brennan’s successors, Gina Haspel, whose appointment was heralded by the Trump Administration as a victory for “women’s empowerment.” Clearly, there’s nothing partisan concerning the Agency’s newfound passionate devotion to those identity-related values!
John Brennan’s particular visitor look within the “intersectionality” video
Though it’s doable that the CIA advertising and marketing division’s zeal to undertake this lingo intensified with the onset of a brand new Democratic administration, the PR scheme seems to have predated the inauguration of Joe Biden. On January 4, 2021, a video was posted through which one other unnamed agent touts his expertise as a “chief of corporate strategy and education for diversity and inclusion” as fantastic preparation for a profession within the CIA. 
One struggles to think about Donald Trump personally authorizing such a advertising and marketing marketing campaign (though, who is aware of). Either approach, the CIA’s position in left/liberal political activism reached a sure crescendo below the presidency of Trump. Brennan was personally integral in launching the narrative that Trump had “colluded” with the Russian authorities in an effort to subvert American democracy, and this narrative turned an object of livid fixation on the liberal/left — partially because of Brennan’s fixed agitation on Twitter and his perch in company media:
Donald Trump’s press convention efficiency in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the edge of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing in need of treasonous. Not solely had been Trump’s feedback imbecilic, he’s wholly within the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) July 16, 2018
(For anybody who denies that segments of “the left” had been invested within the Trump/Russia narrative, please check out the organizations which sponsored rallies in protection of Special Counsel Robert Mueller all through 2017 and 2018. They embody the Working Families Party, Progressive Democrats of America, People for the American Way, Indivisible, and others. It wasn’t simply wishy-washy “liberals” or “centrists” doing this.) 
So, the CIA’s newest rhetorical overture could possibly be understood as a continuation of the pattern whereby the CIA’s prerogatives more and more align with the prerogatives of the foundation-funded left/liberal nonprofit complicated and activist class. Perhaps not coincidentally, former (or “former”) CIA brokers comprised a major share of Democrats’ incoming freshmen when the Party gained management of the House of Representatives in 2018.
Whenever they’re confronted with the truth that their rhetorical stylings are being aped throughout your complete nation’s energy facilities, now together with the Intelligence Community, left-wing activists and journalists are likely to angrily disclaim any culpability. The CIA’s resolution to institutionally pronounce itself a wellspring of “intersectionality,” they’ll insist, is all faux and cynical co-optation. 
However, this isn’t a lot a “co-optation” as it’s a pure evolution of Woke Ideology’s imperatives. The CIA can simply undertake one thing approximating an “intersectional” perspective towards racial, gender, gender identity-related oppressions and proceed on with its strange mission. In reality, the adoption of this rhetoric may improve its mission by strengthening its home cultural cachet. Say John Brennan is a real believer in intersectionality doctrine — which positively is just not out of the query — and actually believes the CIA might help perform its objectives. What then?
Asserting some discontinuity between these ideas’ newfound common recognition and left-wing activism is not sensible. Is there any stronger left-wing perception in circulation for the time being than that of “intersectional” oppressions, and their all-pervasive, defining affect on American life? All the CIA is doing is signaling its eagerness to partake within the ideological venture of dismantling these alleged oppressions. In a approach, it is a true victory for the Activist Left — the efficiency of whose beliefs are gaining buy at a spellbinding tempo, most likely by no means extra quickly than prior to now yr.
But as an alternative of interrogating why it’s that the rhetorical and ideological paradigm they’ve relentlessly promoted matches so simply inside the nation’s strongest establishments, from Wall Street banks to the Big Tech monopolies to the CIA, left-wing activists and journalists will usually petulantly change the topic. After I commented on the “Woke CIA” video yesterday through Twitter, hardcore radical Rage Against the Machine frontman Tom Morello got here out of nowhere to accuse me of denying the “evils” of previous CIA actions — akin to assassinations and coups — and appearing just like the “real problem” with the CIA is their sudden apply of distributing so-called “woke pamphlets.”
I’m studying a really illuminating e book proper now (not a pamphlet) that particulars quite a few largely-forgotten brutal CIA transgressions, akin to a covert 1958 mission which resulted within the bombing of a market and a church on Ambon Island, Indonesia, obliterating civilians. Anyone unfamiliar with this and different chapters in CIA historical past ought to “educate” themselves, and maybe that can assist them perceive what the boldly subversive left-wing guitar participant evidently doesn’t — which is that “Woke Ideology” is completely suitable with the CIA’s institutional prerogative to additional entrench its personal energy. 
That historical past makes it doubly absurd for liberals (and, albeit extra tacitly, leftists) to have been so tolerant of CIA interventions into home political affairs as a result of their short-term political targets (disabling and ousting Trump) occurred to align. Now, they appear angrier with those that level out the self-evident absurdity of this CIA advertising and marketing tactic than with the tactic itself. Maybe that’s as a result of they’ve been prime movers in creating the political circumstances below which adopting such ways is taken into account shrewd.
(Last summer time Morello professed himself an enormous fan of Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, one of many worst books ever written and a essential supply of the insane “anti-racist” precepts being adopted throughout company America. So that offers some perception into the place he’s coming from.)
Liberals and leftists need to consistently run round disclaiming that their beliefs, aesthetics, and speech codes have turn into hegemonic as a result of posturing as beleaguered, noble outsiders is prime to their self-conception. As one Twitter commenter put it to me, “My view is that the CIA has looked at the beliefs of those coming out of elite schools and decided this is how they have to pitch to them.” Well… yeah.
Many don’t discover it fascinating or worthy of remark that ideological prescriptions and rhetorical formulations as soon as largely relegated to Tumblr and obscure educational circles have migrated to the very best ranges of the US intelligence equipment inside a matter of years. They ought to be at liberty to maintain screeching into the void on-line, whereas others try to critically consider this culture-upheaving phenomenon.
Note: The article has been authored by famous journalist Michael Tracey and was initially revealed on Substack. It has been reproduced right here with permission. Mr. Tracey’s Substack may be accessed right here.