In a provocative September 6, 2025, blog post titled Is Everything a Total Fake? Bruce Charlton argues that while not every narrative in our modern, totalitarian-leaning Western society is a complete fabrication, a significant and growing portion is. He contends that the "Everything is a Fake" narrative, asserting that public discourse is pure illusion, misses the mark, but contains a kernel of truth. In today's woke society, where progressive ideologies dominate institutions, media, and culture, much of what shapes our lives is indeed laced with fakery. From contrived events to manipulated narratives, these distortions are not total fakes, but deliberate blends of fact and fiction designed to mislead. While not everything is fake, the pervasive untruthfulness in woke narratives, especially around issues like the 2020 pandemic, climate change, and AI, profoundly dictates our lives, from policy to personal behavior.

The Nature of Fakery in Woke Society

Charlton rejects the extreme claim that "everything has always been a fake," noting that fakery has intensified in recent decades. He points to his own lived experience and the acceleration of manipulative narratives since the 1990s as evidence that things were less faked in the past. In woke society, defined by its dogmatic adherence to progressive ideals like equity, inclusivity, and centralised control, fakery manifests not as pure illusion, but as a calculated mix of real events and fabricated narratives.

Take the 2020 "Birdemic" (Charlton's term for the pandemic), which he describes as "very nearly a Total Fake." It was a top-down, orchestrated phenomenon, with staged events and fabricated evidence woven into a narrative of crisis. Yet, it incorporated real actions, like lockdowns and medical interventions, that led to tangible consequences, such as excess deaths from disrupted healthcare. This blending of fact and fiction made the narrative harder to debunk, as real events lent credibility to the overarching lie. Similarly, the CO2-driven climate change narrative and the push for AI dominance, rely on selective facts, rising temperatures, technological advancements, spun into theories that serve centralised power rather than truth.

Woke society thrives on this hybrid of reality and deception. Policies mandating diversity quotas, for instance, are grounded in real demographic data, but framed in ways that exaggerate systemic inequities or ignore trade-offs, pushing narratives that justify control over individual freedom. The result is a hyper-complex web of half-truths that, as Charlton notes, makes it nearly impossible to discern what actually happened.

Why Not Everything Is Fake

Charlton's key insight is that total fakery is rare because it's less effective. Lies mixed with facts are more convincing, as they exploit the credulity of the inattentive majority. A complete fabrication risks exposure; a partial truth, woven into real events, is harder to unravel. For example, woke narratives around systemic racism often cite real incidents of injustice but inflate them into sweeping claims that demonise entire groups or institutions, shaping public perception and policy. The 2020 riots in the US, tied to racial justice protests, were real events, but their portrayal as purely organic uprisings ignored evidence of coordinated agitation, blending fact with manipulation to drive a narrative.

This strategic use of partial truths explains why institutions tolerate, and even promote, discussions of fakery. By allowing debates about whether "everything is a fake," the system deflects attention from the deeper issue: intentional untruthfulness. As Charlton argues, the real problem isn't total fakery but the deliberate distortion of facts to serve evil intent, whether that's consolidating power, eroding freedoms, or enforcing ideological conformity.

How Fakery Shapes Our Lives

In woke society, these manipulated narratives dictate our reality. Policies rooted in false or misleading theories, on climate, health, or social justice, govern everything from energy prices to workplace rules. Consider:

Economic Impacts: Climate policies, based on exaggerated CO2 narratives, drive up energy costs, hitting working-class families hardest. In 2025, UK households face record-high energy bills, partly due to net-zero mandates, while Australia's Labor government pushes similar policies despite stagnant job growth (only 22,000 jobs added in August 2025, per economic reports).

Social Control: Woke narratives around inclusivity justify censorship, like the UK's Online Safety Act, which Nigel Farage warns could chill free speech. In Australia, similar laws target "misinformation," shaping what citizens can say or think.

Personal Behavior: The 2020 pandemic's fear-driven narrative led to widespread compliance with lockdowns and vaccine mandates, altering social norms and personal freedoms. Today, AI adoption is framed as inevitable progress, pushing individuals toward reliance on centralised tech systems.

These examples show how woke fakery, built on kernels of truth, reshapes society. Facts, like CO2 emissions or viral spread, are real, but their interpretation through dishonest theories creates policies that control lives. As Charlton notes, facts without truthful interpretation lack meaning; they become tools for manipulation.

The Deeper Problem: Untruthfulness and Intent

The real danger, Charlton argues, is not that everything is fake but that woke narratives are fundamentally dishonest, serving malign goals. Woke society's obsession with equity, climate, or AI isn't about solving problems but about consolidating power. The global push for AI, for instance, uses real technological advances to justify surveillance and control, framed as progress. Similarly, diversity initiatives often mask corporate or state agendas, using real social issues to enforce conformity.

This untruthfulness is why woke narratives dominate our lives. They shape laws, cultural norms, and even personal choices, from job applications requiring DEI statements to energy policies raising living costs. The system's tolerance of "everything is fake" debates is a distraction, keeping us from questioning the intent behind these narratives. By focusing on whether events are real or staged, we miss the bigger picture: a deliberate shift toward centralised control, cloaked in moral rhetoric.

Navigating the Woke Illusion

If not everything is fake, but much is, how do we respond? First, we must distinguish facts from truth, as Charlton urges. Facts, temperatures, social inequalities, are raw data; truth requires honest interpretation. Woke narratives exploit facts to push false theories, so scepticism is key. Question the framing: Why is this issue being highlighted? Who benefits? Second, resist the paralysis of "everything is fake" thinking. Recognising that some events are real, even if manipulated, empowers us to challenge distortions without dismissing reality entirely.

Finally, we must reclaim agency. Woke fakery thrives because people comply, whether out of fear, apathy, or trust in authority. By questioning narratives, seeking primary sources, and prioritising truth over comfort, we can loosen their grip. Nigel Farage's MAGA-inspired challenge to UK Labour, and the parallel discontent with Australian Labor, show that populist pushback against woke narratives is gaining traction. Voters are rejecting manipulated stories, demanding policies grounded in their lived realities.

Not everything in woke society is a total fake, but much is. The blend of real events and fabricated narratives, around pandemics, climate, or social justice, creates a web of untruths that shapes our lives, from economic burdens to eroded freedoms. Charlton's insight is that the problem isn't total fakery but intentional untruthfulness, using facts to serve dishonest ends. While woke narratives dominate, their cracks are showing, as seen in rising populist movements in the UK and Australia. By discerning fact from truth and challenging manipulative theories, we can resist the woke illusion and reclaim control over the forces shaping our world.

https://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2025/09/is-everything-total-fake.html