French Theory, Matrix of Wokism and Western Decline

The author apologizes, on behalf of the French, for the emergence of French Theory, which he identifies as the ideological source of wokism. He attributes to thinkers like Foucault, Derrida, and Deleuze the creation of an intellectual framework that dynamited the fundamental pillars of Western civilization: truth accessible through reason, the distinction between good and evil, and the transmission of heritage.

These theses, though complex and debatable in isolation, crossed the Atlantic and were absorbed by American universities in the 1980s. There, they found fertile ground in American puritanism, racial guilt, and identity obsession. This marriage gave birth to wokism, with figures like Judith Butler (performative gender), Edward Said (post-colonialism), and Kimberlé Crenshaw (intersectionality), who applied the French matrix ("no truth, only power") to question all hierarchy, institution, and norm.

The result is a paralyzed civilization, incapable of defining fundamental concepts or defending its history. The author laments that France exported this nihilism in a "chic package" thanks to the legitimacy of its institutions. He concludes by calling for reconstruction by the "builders" of Silicon Valley and startups, who believe in truth and make things, as opposed to the "deconstructors" and "commentators."