We are living through a time in which unproven accusations are once again enough to see a person damned.
Charges of ‘racism’, ‘homophobia’, ‘transphobia’ and even ‘fascism’ are commonplace and no evidence is required to secure a ‘cancellation’. People have had their careers destroyed and personal relationships ruined simply for expressing unfashionable opinions.
It will be oddly familiar to anyone who has seen Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. In the 1953 dramatisation of the 17th Century Salem witch trials, our tragic hero John Proctor cries out: ‘Is the accuser always holy now?’
The trials of Salem, a Puritan community in Massachusetts, lasted a little over a year, from February 1692 to May 1693. In that time, more than 200 people were accused, 19 hanged, five others had perished in jail and one, farmer Giles Corey, had been pressed to death with boulders for refusing to enter a guilty/not-guilty plea.
And their tormentors? A group of children who had stumbled upon the means to become the most powerful members of the community. Their histrionic accusations could see fellow citizens executed on the basis of ‘spectral evidence’ alone – what we might today refer to as ‘lived experience’, the phrase used by the likes of Meghan and Harry.
Thousands of people take part in a London Trans+ Pride march from the Wellington Arch to Soho on 9th July 2022 in London, UK. Unproven allegations are now enough to make a person go mad.
J K Rowling, Harry Potter author (pictued). In the name of compassion and division, Woke activists bully and claim to be progressive while promoting racism and tolerance.
Today, as in Salem today, anyone who attempts to use logic and reason, or dares to defend the accused, makes themselves vulnerable.
As Miller’s anti-hero says, ‘the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom’ safe in the knowledge that those who cross them are the next to be condemned.
For those of us who have found ourselves caught in the culture wars of the present – and I have often been vilified for having created a satirical character, Titania McGrath, the ‘radical intersectionalist poet and Twitter activist’ – the parallels are obvious.
Such patterns recur wherever reason is abandoned and fear prevails, be that during the 1950s McCarthyism that inspired Miller, or the ideological capture of today’s institutions and the trickle-down orthodoxies that followed.
THE new religion of ‘wokeness’ now dominates all of our major cultural, educational, political and corporate bodies.
Its high priests make grand claims of moral purity and brook no dissent, a mindset which has led to the development of today’s ‘cancel culture’.
They seek to control public discourse by deeming certain terms ‘problematic’ or supporting legislation against ‘hate speech’. For them to find and condemn sinners among us, they don’t need any evidence that a sin has been committed.
Phrases such as ‘social justice’, ‘anti-racism’ and ‘equity’ mislead people into believing that those who utter them are on the right side of history. What we are witnessing is the march of online zealots destroying people’s livelihoods and reputations, all the while proclaiming their own virtue, using hashtags such as #BeKind.
Similar to the Salem Trials they exact their punishments while pretending to be angels.
Although today’s ‘heretics’ are unlikely to be burned at the stake, their inquisitors are convinced they must convert for their own good. It’s bullying on an unprecedented scale.
Significantly, many are troubled by the rise of the movement – a recent import from the US – that would see us deny the biological reality of sex differences, confess to ‘white privilege’, or to perpetuating ‘systemic oppression’.
They were rightly worried about the incessant attacks on free speech, and how any person daring question the new order is brutally subdued.
This culture war revolutionary, often denounced by their chief adversaries, needs to be challenged. Because they want to end Western ideals and bring us back to our pre-Enlightenment level of ignorance.
It is a world that allows private feelings to override reason and evidence. It is a world in which wrong and right are reduced to a struggle of wills. If we don’t stand up to it, this is the battle in which the mob wins.
Book cover for the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. The new religion of ‘wokeness’ now dominates all of our major cultural, educational, political and corporate bodies.
The Handmaid’s Tale book cover by Margaret Atwood. Shool libraries have removed Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), following complaints about ‘racist, homophobic or misogynistic language and themes’.
All walks of life feel the impact. One example of this is the case of an actor friend who was approached by her agency following the tragic events in 2020 that followed the shooting death by a policeman in Minneapolis of George Floyd. Floyd was a black man from Minneapolis. To be considered for casting director roles she would need to post it as soon as possible.
These stories are not uncommon, though I’ve heard them many times. There is a strong general feeling that to publicly object to the prevailing dogma is to jeopardise one’s career and social standing.
Although I can’t keep track of how many emails have been sent by artists, academics and media professionals to show solidarity with my critique of this ideology, they have admitted that they couldn’t support my views in public. The problem is circular and can only be fixed if enough voices are heard.
An image of an angry witch that is being incinerated. Although today’s ‘heretics’ are unlikely to be burned at the stake, their inquisitors are convinced they must convert for their own good. It’s the legalization of bullying on an enormous scale
Unfortunately, this is part of the reality in most workplaces today. To speak a forbidden opinion or to misunderstand what has been taught can hinder future prospects.
Ex-teachers are still my friends. They have been troubled by sudden changes to their curriculums or pastoral policies. Many are being forced to undergo ‘unconscious bias’ training, even though there is overwhelming evidence such schemes are unreliable and ineffective.
The test seeks to reveal the type of prejudice you are exposing by allowing you to raise a grievance. Since witchcraft is not something that can be denied by a witch, it would seem impossible for them to deny its existence.
These cultural revolutionaries can be obsessed to the point of being insane. Last year, the body in charge of elementary and secondary schools in Ontario authorised the ritualistic burning of books for ‘educational purposes’.
In what they described as a ‘flame purification’ ceremony, almost 5,000 books were destroyed or recycled if they were judged to contain outdated racial stereotypes. This new religion considers some words harmful even though they were written years ago.
This is why the estate of Dr Seuss will no longer publish six of the author’s books that they now consider ‘hurtful and wrong’.
It’s why Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was republished with all the racial epithets removed, even though the book is explicitly critical of the slave trade.
It’s why school libraries have removed Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), following complaints about ‘racist, homophobic or misogynistic language and themes’.
The attack on The Handmaid’s Tale is especially odd, given that it is well known as a mainstay of contemporary feminist literature.
It depicts a future where women will be reduced to being broodmares of the ruling classes. They must conform to the perverse ideology of their leaders and cannot speak truthfully.
It is no accident that it is set in New England – Atwood described The Handmaid’s Tale as her ‘take on American Puritanism’. But not even its feminist credentials have saved The Handmaid’s Tale from the all-consuming lunacy of this new purity culture. Atwood’s interest in the era comes from a family connection. Mary Webster, her ancestor was executed in 1683 for being witch. However, Atwood’s novel is dedicated.
The New Puritans of today may not be hanging people who fail to conform, but they certainly embody the ideological fervour The Handmaid’s Tale explores.
Puritans in the 17th Century tried to reform society in line with their religious beliefs. However, they were profound thinkers who recognized their weakness.
However, New Puritans appear to have a self-deprecating lack of self-doubt and go about their day with an egocentric approach. The New Puritans have simplified the world and divided it into saints and sinners. They believe they should be included among the former.
Bad ideas were propped up as always by the elites. Today we are in a state of conformity. Parts of the media and the corporate class present the views of minority activists as though they are part of an established consensus. Some politicians and academics may struggle to define the word ‘woman’, but who among us does not understand the differences between males and females?
Worse, we are blinded by modern witchhunts to an obvious truth: economic inequality is the largest social injustice.
This was once an important priority for Leftists, but identity politics have made it a problem. ‘Social justice’ is a game played by the affluent, just the latest way to maintain their power in society.
It is risky to uphold liberal values within this environment, but only the silence from the majority makes it possible.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, despite his experience in Soviet Gulags, was able reflect upon the possibility of atrocities being avoided if more people had spoken up. ‘Every man always has handy a dozen glib little reasons why he is right not to sacrifice himself,’ he wrote.
This was also a key concern of Arthur Miller during the McCarthy years – that powerful people remained silent so as not to be themselves accused. Bad ideas can spread without being stopped. When authority figures are seized by perilous ideologies it becomes an act of bravery few will attempt.
Bridget Bishop, the first woman to be hanged in Salem, was it? As she stood in court, the girls accusing her writhed and screamed as if possessed, claiming Bishop ‘did oftentimes very grievously Pinch them, Choak them, Bite them, and Afflict them’.
Susanna Sheldon (a girl) claimed she witnessed Bishop sucking a serpent. Other villagers testified that she had urged them to sign the Devil’s book. Even to God-fearing communities like the Puritans in New England, these are absurd claims. They were questioned by few. The New Puritans are the clergy for the digital age – an elite class that claims to know what is best for unlettered plebians.
They look for prey on social media, like J.K. Rowling.
As the New Puritans grow in power and momentum, it is becoming clear that to ignore them would allow for their dominance. They will deny biological reality and threaten anyone who doesn’t acquiesce.
They will abuse people under the pretenses of compassion, encourage division and claim it progressive, as well as rehabilitate new forms of racism in the name and cover of tolerance. They will make up realities to match their emotions and cover their ideas in deceit.
They will use inflammatory language to misrepresent others’ concerns, accuse them of ‘erasing’ people’s existence, or committing acts of ‘violence’ through speech.
They will claim there is no objective truth, but demand we all acknowledge the truth of their ‘lived experience’.
They will continue to feed the far Right, promoting identity politics and claiming they are opposing fascism by using authoritarian tactics. If anyone suggests that their demands should be discussed or debated, they will not hesitate labeling them as bigots.
It is our duty to make the case for liberal principles again when this occurs. This will take a while, be uncomfortable and necessary, just like breaking a bone. We should also defend bullying targets, regardless of whether they are being attacked for their words or not. Never be intimidated.
While it is easy to long for peace and quiet, we now have to take the keys back of the kingdom.
© Andrew Doyle, 2022
l The New Puritans by Andrew Doyle is published by Constable on September 8, priced £20. To pre-order a copy for £18 visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937 before September 12. Free UK delivery on orders over £20.