While seemingly on unrelated subjects, an imperceptible thread runs through the two books I recommend below. In times antiquated or modern, the voids in our hearts demand to be filled. Where previously, those voids were occupied by faith, family, and faithfulness, we now miserably fill those with confused replacements while ardently denying their very existence.
WOKE, INC. Inside corporate America's social justice scam, Vivek Ramaswamy
I first came across Vivek's contrarian thinking (by present standards) in a business news segment where he railed against stakeholder capitalism. As one of the few CEOs vocal about the disproportionate pressures exerted by the woke minority on companies' policies and culture, his voice was a clarion call in a landscape of cowering homogeneity. His is a relatable story, as a second generation Indian immigrant to the US, from Wadakkancherry, a town in Kerala, the state of my ancestors.
He narrates his experience working at Goldman Sachs, the most elite financial institution in America, where a hallmark event was 'Service Day'. Supposed to be a full-day spent serving the community, few of his colleagues seemed interested in planting trees at a park in Harlem. The group head showed up an hour late in a slim-fit suit and Gucci boots, "let's take some pictures and get out of here". In 30 minutes, they were at a bar where Vivek's colleague justified their flippancy by laying out the Goldman Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rule".
Vivek is an outspoken critic of the Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) rules, testifying at a congressional hearing about the dangers of distorted capital allocation by investors, in favour of a social justice agenda. He describes the emergence of the woke-industrial complex, an unholy coupling between government and big business, that allows this hybrid model to get away with what neither could, on their own. The pretence of not caring about profit or power has worked out very well for these corporations, by giving them precisely more of each.
In a ludicrous example, when female employees sued Statestreet, a US mutual fund, alleging a pay gap with their male counterparts, the company did what any responsible one would have done. It erected a statue of a little girl standing up to the iconic bull on Wall Street, with a placard, 'SHE makes a difference'. Turns out, 'SHE' also stood for an ETF which traded on the stock exchange, which when purchased, redounded to Statesteet's benefit.
The most egregious example of wilful corporate negligence was by one of the world's largest consumer behemoths, Unilever. In a Kenyan tea-plantation owned by Unilever, while offering top-notch security to their well-heeled executives, they left their economically disadvantaged, local, female employees unguarded from 'brutal and foreseeable attacks'. After violent incidents in which several women were killed and raped by local thugs, Unilever compounded its cruelty by refusing liability or making restitution for their wrongdoing. Of course, none of this dampened their worldwide marketing blitzkrieg for the 'empowerment of women tea plantation workers'. Meanwhile, they were fighting the just demands of the local women they mistreated tangibly, while effusively pretending to care for ethereal women globally.
As an ardent believer in service to one's nation, I've held that governments should encourage their youth to a stint in public office and bureaucracy. Not only would it be an opportunity to tackle seemingly intractable problems with the optimism of youth, but would also inculcate a sense of duty, preservation of a national identity, and the belief of one's rise being inextricably linked to the nation's.
The author recommends civil service by conscription. I disagree with the desire to make service mandatory, since non-voluntary actions tend to foster resentment and evasion.
One of the most poignant critiques in the book is on woke consumerism. Signalling virtue through the goods we buy is a vacuous attempt to fill the sense of purpose previously driven by religious impulses. As the author says, in the new American search for identity to give our lives meaning, we make the ordinary sacred. To which I must add its corollary - and make the sacred ordinary.
OUT OF THE DEPTHS, the autobiography of John Newton
In stark contrast to Millenial and Gen Z's convictions in their own goodness, is the repentant slave trader who never lost awareness of God's condescension to Him. He sails on many voyages to Africa, transporting slaves for trade, as a captain of those ships. Squandering many years of his prime in avarice, rebellion, and mistreatment of his fellow men, he surrenders finally and helplessly, to his need to be saved from himself.
John Newton goes on to write many timeless hymns, including the unfading, Amazing Grace. Along with William Cowper, the prolific and depressive poet, he published a collection of hymns, including the evocative 'God moves in a mysterious way', a profound gift through the centuries. His friendship offered a respite from Cowper's relentless despair.
'Out of the depths' is John Newton's autobiography, written as a reflection of God's mercies toward the most hardened of hearts; ever present through acute dangers, rampant backsliding, moral failings, and protracted grief. In our 'cancel first, ask questions later', culture, Newton's life story is a reminder that none of us can set ourselves up as a higher standard of love, justice, and compassion, than the God through whom we have the conception of those ideas in the first place.
He becomes a prominent abolitionist, preaching against the evils of slavery, as a pastor in London, and a confidant of William Wilberforce. Wilberforce, was an evangelical Member of the British Parliament who strove to put an end to slavery. After campaigning for 9 years to abolish the slave trade and finding it fruitless, he considered retirement from public life.
Newton wrote him a powerful letter. He believed that God had placed Wilberforce to serve as a witness to Him. "The example, and even the presence of a consistent character may have a powerful, though unobserved, effect upon others. You are not only a representative of Yorkshire. You have the far greater honour of being a Representative for the Lord, in a place where many know Him not, and an opportunity of showing them what are the genuine fruits of that religion which you are known to profess".
Encouraged, Wilberforce continued his efforts in Parliament, looking to the Bible for direction in all of life, not aiming to separate his faith from politics. Wilberforce recognized that without a spiritual base, those who attempt social reform would not only flaw in their efforts, but in the end, do harm.
"My judgment..rests altogether on the Word of God. A man who acts from the principles I profess, reflects that He is to give an account of his political conduct at the judgment seat of Christ". A sobering thought, which I hope stays ingrained in my mind when tempted to disengage loftily by dismissing my responsibility to think and act righteously in the so-called culture wars.
