Being Hated in Choosing Truth Over Fear

Some Thoughts on Defeating the Woke Cult One Person at a Time

Aug 01, 2024

When you decide to put yourself out into the world, and by that I mean when you decide to live authentically and to pursue truth AND love, you will get a lot of hatred for it. It doesn’t matter the method in which you put yourself out there - it could be running for office, it could be pastoring a church, it could be speaking truth when the opportunity arises at work or at a family dinner, or it could be sharing your thoughts online or in a podcast, like I do. It doesn’t matter the size or reach - what matters is that when you speak truth in the world, you will be hated by some. This is always, always, always going to happen.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” - John 15:18-19

I think it is human nature to sometimes think that we can find the perfect way of expressing ourselves so that we are not misunderstood, so we are not hated. We fear being misunderstood. We hate to have people think wrong things about us. We tend to think that if we speak with love and truth, then people should be able to hear us. And if they don’t, sometimes we are tempted to think that we failed in finding the best way of phrasing our argument, or showing enough love or grace in our words. But if you’re a Christian - think on this: Jesus IS truth. God IS truth. If the world hated perfect truth, how could we expect to win over everyone with our imperfect but sincere attempts to speak it? Being hated by some will be unavoidable.

“But oh, I'm just a soul whose intentions are good. Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood.” - Nina Simone

Even as adults, we feel the hurt that comes when someone close to us, or even strangers, think the wrong thing about us. This fear of being misunderstood, of not being perfect, of being hated for things that are false - of being hurt - keeps many people silent in the face of great evil in the world. It shouldn’t.

We sometimes place a value on being “nice” and on being liked by everyone, at the expense of being loving and truthful. This is why I and others draw a distinction between being nice and being kind. I think it was Jordan Peterson I first heard speak about this difference. “Nice,” as I hear it used today, too often describes people-pleasing behavior. It’s lukewarm. It’s speaking words while saying nothing. It’s empty calories of the vocabulary. It prioritizes what people think of you over being truthful. “Kind,” by way of contrast, is often used today to mean loving and generous, gracious and forgiving.

If you accept these definitions, then being kind does not mean you will always be thought of as nice by everyone. Being kind, being loving, often requires truth - especially in evil and chaotic times. Truth can be spoken with gentleness or it can be spoken with harsh rebuke or it can be spoken with cutting humor, but it must be spoken in times when evil is so easily substituted for good, when dark is so easily substituted for light. When the world is celebrating sterilizing and mutilating children as if it were a good thing, we cannot afford to be lukewarm.

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” - Revelation 3:15-16

As someone who spent twenty years in the evil cult of Woke Identity-Marxism, I know firsthand the fear that comes when you first start questioning that belief system, let alone speaking up against it! It took me six months to start feeling my way out of the woke cult, and another six months to get past the fear I had of speaking the truth. Woke (Social Justice) is dangerous belief system, rooted in Marxism, that teaches people to judge and treat one another differently on the basis of “identity groups.” It’s racist and sexist. It’s a form of collectivism (like white supremacy) as opposed to individualism, and it’s authoritarian in nature. It seeks to normalize mutilating, sterilizing and sexualizing children in the name of the “trans identity group.” At it’s core, it is opposed to every societal norm and to a well-functioning and successful society itself, because it views norms as oppressive and it views a well-functioning society as an impediment to Communism.

But this essay isn’t about convincing those in my old ideology to leave it, though I’ve written about that many times and will continue to do so. This essay is about appealing to those who have ALREADY left the woke cult, who find themselves hamstringed by the very real fears that accompany speaking what you know to be true.

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” - Elbert Hubbard

One of the questions I often get from people in interviews (and in private, from friends who have left woke but are afraid to speak) is, “How did you get past your fear of speaking out against woke?” My answer: you have to reach a point where there is something you fear MORE than you fear speaking up. I got to a place, as the scope and magnitude of the harm of woke ideology became more visible to me, where I became MORE AFRAID of what would happen if I stayed silent, than I was of what would happen if I said the truth.

For some of you, if you are Christians, it might be that you come to a place of fearing God more than you fear the repercussions of speaking truth. For some, like the detransitioners, it might be that you start to fear how many more children will have to go through the butchery you endured, more than you fear what names people will call you when you decide to share your story. For some, it might be that you begin to fear for the future for your children and grandchildren, more than you fear what incorrect things people will think about you.

“He who dares not offend cannot be honest.” - Thomas Paine

I can’t say what greater fear might start to grow in you as you walk away from woke. But I can say that if you get over your fear of being rejected by some (which WILL happen) and you get over your fear of people misunderstanding you and thinking false things about you (which will happen) and you get past your fear of being hated by some (which WILL happen), you will reach a place of greater resilience and strength. You will find waiting for you the reservoir of peace and contentment that comes from knowing you’ve placed truth and love at the top of your hierarchy of values, no matter that it necessitates some people not liking you. You won’t care as much if some people don’t like you. Because that’s not as important. Your ego is not as important. And - you will find other seekers, like you, who make for real and lasting friendships, built on something more substantial than ideology. The woke do not have friends; they have allies.

The way we win against Identity-Marxism is one by one. One person at a time getting past their fear of the cult and choosing truth over fear. When you take that walk through fear to the unknown, you will encourage another to do so, and they will encourage another. If those of the world hate you, remember, they hated Jesus first. Their hate is inevitable whether you choose to be one of the ones who take it on your shoulders and let it roll off them - or not. But love and truth require one another.

“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.” - Alexander Solzhenitsyn