Pentagon Claims Concerns about Wokeness in the Military are “Ridiculous”

What would you call reports that sailors are spending more time in diversity training than warfighting, General Milley’s famous rant about wanting to understand “white rage,” and the Soviet-like investigations the military is conducting to ensure that no troops are “extremists.”

I would call those things concerning, to say the least. It’s bad news if the military is focused on wokeness and politics rather than warfighting and defeating our nation’s enemies.

The Pentagon, however, is denying such reports, calling them “ridiculous.” That denial came when Pentagon press secretary John Kirby appeared on “Fox News Sunday,” and made the ridiculous argument that it is “ridiculous” to claim the armed forces are too woke.

Those comments came after the anchor Dana Perino asked:

“Also, just more back here focusing on some criticism in the U.S. military, that perhaps there’s too much of a leftward tilt, or a wokeness in our military when we face really determined adversaries, committed adversaries in China, Russia, Iran, who maybe don’t have those same kinds of pressures. How do you respond to those criticisms?”

Kirby, rather than admitting that perhaps the Pentagon should be more focused on warfighting than pressing critical race theory into the minds of the troops, said:

“I think a lot of it, quite frankly, is driving a stake through a straw man here. This argument of wokeness in the military, I was in the military for 30 years, and I can tell you things like diversity and inclusion, that makes us a better military because it brings to the fore, in the decision-making, operational decision-making, that we conduct better ideas, more unique perspectives. Somebody else’s lived experiences which might actually make us smarter on the battlefield.

So those kinds of arguments — I think are ridiculous. because we are stronger military because of our diversity, and because we represent all Americans, just like we defend all Americans.”

You’ll notice that Kirby didn’t really answer the question. Instead, he conflated wokeness with diversity and gave a long, drawn-out explanation of why diversity is a good thing.

Problem is, that wasn’t the question. Perino didn’t ask if it was a good or bad thing that all races are welcome in the modern military, she asked if the military’s woke, leftward tilt would make it harder to fight determined adversaries.

Kirby didn’t answer that, and his decision not to speaks volumes. If he really thought that Critical Race Theory, spending military money on gender transition surgeries for troops, or commercials advertising homosexuality in the military were helpful and would give us an edge over China, he would have done so. It would have been a great way to rub the “effectiveness” of leftism in the military in the face of those who criticize it.

But that’s not what he did. Rather, he turned the question to one about a current sacred cow and third rail in American politics: diversity. In so doing, he tried to make any criticism of the woke military a race thing rather than a combat effectiveness issue.

That is, as he might say, “ridiculous.”

By: Gen Z Conservative, editor of GenZConservative.com. Follow me on Parler and Gettr.