By Robert Coutinho

Today I was reading an article https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3984507-desantis-signs-bill-targeting-discriminatory-esg-in-florida/ by Saul Elbein in The Hill. The article was describing legislation that was just signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The legislation, signed above a lectern that read, GOVERNMENT OF LAWS, NOT WOKE POLITICS, requires banks to loan to, “…business with for-profit prisons, guns, porn, bad agriculture, dirty energy, or extractive industry,” according to Ken LaRoe, the CEO of Climate First Bank. Climate First Bank is the first FDIC-ensured community bank in the country dedicated to the environment and sustainability. Climate First Bank is based in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Mr. LaRoe went on to say that the legislation specifically listed those businesses that his bank does not do business with. In order to stay chartered in Florida, he would now have to sign an affidavit stating that he did not discriminate against those industries.

What struck me most about this article was not that DeSantis and the Republican super-majority in the Florida House and Senate would be willing to support such laws, but that they would be so brazen about doing so. They literally put them all together and touted the fact that they were doing it as a defying act, against what they called, “Woke-ism.”

Since, when one generally asks any of them what woke-ism happens to be, they stumble all over their answers, it begs the question, “What do they mean by woke-ism?”

Now we know. This is what hit me so squarely in the face. This was the epiphany.

It has to do with the definitions of Good, and by contrast, Evil. Good, in general, is defined as that which supports life, creation, artistic expression, beauty, happiness, and joy. Evil is not a thing in and of itself; it is, instead, the opposite of Good. It is the absence of those things and/or the destruction, denial and perversion of those things that are good. Greed and toxic pride are included in evil because they inevitably lead to destruction.

The bill just signed by the Florida governor, was touted as one to prevent environmental, social or governance factors from being discriminatory against business development.

It was also listed in the bill that financial institutions would be barred from, “…discriminating against their customers for their religious, political or social beliefs—including their support for securing the border, owning a firearm, and increasing our energy independence,” according to a fact sheet from the State of Florida.

All of this phrasing is simply used to hide the fact that the authors of the bill did not want to say that they were passing a bill that was deliberately supporting and abetting destructive and/or evil business practices in the state, and requiring others to not “discriminate” against them. Because, you know, all discrimination is wrong, isn’t it?

Well, no. I happen to be a big supporter of discriminating against cannibals, actual witchcraft (selling one’s soul to evil spirits in return for supernatural powers with which to harm one’s neighbors), human sacrifice, white supremacists, black supremacists, Asian supremacists, but I digress.

So, in other words, the Florida legislature and Governor DeSantis created a law that was deliberately evil. They touted it as, “anti-woke.” Since Evil is that which is opposed to Good, their definition of Woke must be: Good.

There you have it in plain, simple to explain, legislation folks. Destruction, death, pain, ugliness, are all anti-woke. How do we know? The Florida government just enshrined it into law. However, at the same time, those same politicians are adamant that woke-ism must be stamped out. It must be eliminated from out society. They insist that anti-woke is what we must preserve, not the other way around.

Robert Coutinho is a disabled pharmaceutical chemist. He contracted ME/CFS in 1997 and has been housebound since that time. He has written numerous articles and comments on this site, especially dealing with world economics, which he learned during is extended illness. He lives with his family in the 10th Mountain Division.
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