Excellence

“The antidote to wokeness is excellence.”  -Christopher F. Rufo (tweet from 10/2/2020)

 

This tweet captures a sentiment, that has been floating around my head for the last week.  Having watched The Last Dance, less than a month ago, I’m left contemplating how different things are now, since my childhood. 

 

The memories sparked from The Last Dance have been intense.  Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were my childhood.  Watching a recap, twenty years later, sheds light on the cultural revolution we have undergone since. 

 

With exceptions, Michael Jordan was universally accepted as a role model.  As many of the people and institutions that we blindly trusted are disgraced, I’ve worried that Michael Jordan might be next.  After watching the documentary, I was assured he was just as great as my 14- year-old self, believed him to be.

 

What stands out the most, is that Michael embodied the same principles my parents were trying to impart on me, at the time.  Character traits like working harder than anyone else, striving to be my best, perseverance, raising up those around me, teamwork, leadership and general toughness were being taught at home and reflected in pop culture.  Today, I can’t even name a universally recognized role model (I admittedly don’t follow mainstream culture) let alone someone a parent (assuming and hoping parents are decent, well-adjusted people) would condone. 

 

Above all, Michael embodied excellence.  It emanated so powerfully from every action he took, that I get choked up thinking about it.  Cut to professional sports today.  Excellence appears to be the last thing on anybody’s mind.  Now we have a race to the bottom.  Who can embody victimhood or grievance culture the most?  How did we get here? 

 

Until recently we could see symptoms of the problem, but we didn’t have a diagnosis.  There have been cultural commentators, politicians, twitterati and college professors desperately trying to warn us of the cultural infiltration.  In the last few months, a few academics have enlightened us to an organized effort, that has been gaining traction in the shadows.  We now know, these early warnings were not a drill.   

 

Even without knowing the real cause, many of us have intuited a problem.  I was originally made aware of the problem because of First Amendment issues around 2015.  Anyone alert enough at the time, wasn’t surprise when Trump won in 2016.  His victory seemed like a direct reaction to the pinch that many were feeling, but couldn’t explain.  Now we know.   

 

Those such as Christopher Rufo, James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose, have dove deep into woke culture, perhaps even more than those who subscribe to it, and are now doing the Lord’s work to inform the unassuming public, including the President.  Hence the recent executive order banning Critical Race Theory in governmental institutions.   

 

How is this related to Michael Jordan?  I’m hoping those who are old enough to remember when striving for excellence was something we could all get behind, will wake up.  What do you want to impart on your children?  That they can do anything?  Reach any heights?  Shatter limits?  Destroy records?  Inspire billions?   Or that they are victims?  Or oppressors (based on their skin color)?  That competition is bad?  That striving for excellence is shameful? 

 

It seems stupid to type, but that is what we are witnessing.  What a difference 25 years makes.  I am optimistic though.  Whether intuitively or because of understanding the woke movement people are coming to.  Consciously or unconsciously, reasonable people know that glorifying victimhood is a recipe for disaster.  Nothing could be less American.   

 

Like Mike, anyone with any fight left in them, isn’t going to be able to sit on the sidelines and watch as the weak wreak havoc on our court.  Now is the time to be the best version of yourself and encourage the same in everyone else.  Victimhood can’t abide in excellence.