The Woke Mind Virus Infects Nevada County Progressives
On March 10, 2025, over 400 people packed the Eric Rood Administrative Center in Nevada City, California, for Congressman Kevin Kiley’s community office hours, an event touted by The Union as a platform for constituent concerns in California’s Third District. What could have been a rallying point for real change devolved into a showcase of the “woke mind virus” and a gathering of virtue signalers more intent on preaching than solving problems. Just days later, on March 13, The Union reported an attempted bank robbery, an overdose call, and rumors of a dead body in nearby Glenbrook Basin. These incidents spotlight a stark truth: those 400 could have channeled their energy into helping individuals like the alleged robber, Josh David Morris, steering them from crime and uplifting others’ lives in the process, instead of posturing for moral clout.
Real Community Action over Progressive Performative Compassion
The woke mind virus infects when people abandon practical good for performative compassion. In Nevada City, the 400 weren’t there to address tangible community needs such as safer communities, better jobs, or more efficient government but rather to flaunt so-called enlightened ideals like technocracy and systemic reform. They likely peppered the representative of Kiley, a Republican who fights regulatory overreach, with sanctimonious rants, ignoring the families and neighbors their rhetoric sidelines. It’s a betrayal masked as virtue, prioritizing distant causes over the people next door. Their energy, wasted on signaling, could have been a lifeline for someone like Morris and, by extension, the community he rattled.
Consider the Glenbrook Basin chaos. Josh David Morris, 26, allegedly tried robbing a Wells Fargo on Sutton Way by jumping the counter to access the vault, likely terrifying the tellers before fleeing, only to attempt another robbery within minutes at knife point before finally being apprehended by police while Morris drove a stolen vehicle. That same day in the Brunswick Basin, overdose reports of a half naked man on the steps of The Union and a corpse found in the bushes painted a picture of a district fraying at the edges. Morris isn’t a faceless villain; he’s a local kid gone astray, a product of struggles the woke 400 overlook while chasing applause. Their preaching does nothing for him or the tellers or our neighbors whom he terrified. But action could.
The Woke 400 Missed the Chance to Lift Lives
Imagine those 400 redirecting their zeal. They could mentor troubled individuals like Morris by offering guidance, job training, or just a steady ear before desperation drives them to crime. One intervened life might spare a teller’s trauma, a cop’s chase, a family’s grief. It’s not abstract “systemic change;” it’s personal, gritty work teaching skills to keep a young man from a teller’s counter or from threatening a gas station attendant with a knife. Or they could support addiction outreach, tackling the overdose calls head-on with peer counseling. One saved soul could mean one less call to 911, one less ripple of chaos.
This isn’t fantasy—it’s what communities need. Kiley’s district faces wildfires, economic strain, and crime; 400 hands could make a dent. They could tutor at-risk youth—maybe Morris himself years ago—giving them options beyond robbery. They could fund a trade program, turning potential thieves into builders, sparing shopkeepers sleepless nights. Instead of haranguing Kiley about global woes and making government efficient, they could ask how to bolster mental health resources thus keeping someone from the edge of an overdose or a bad choice. That’s compassion with impact, not a megaphone.
The woke infected don’t grasp this. They’d rather decry “the system” than fix the person in front of them, choosing optics over outcomes. Helping Morris wouldn’t trend on social media, but it might save his life and other lives. The teller he scared, the cops who chased him, the neighbors spooked by overdose calls all benefit when one lost soul is pulled back. Four hundred people could touch dozens of lives like Morris, rippling out to hundreds more, far outstripping the reach of their hollow protests.
Nevada County Progressives Full of Hot Air
Kiley’s event exposed the virus’s toll: 400 woke progressives squandered a chance to act, opting for sermons over service. Glenbrook Basin’s mess is their mirror—crime and despair thrive where posturing replaces purpose. They could have been mentors, not moralists, lifting individuals like Morris and shielding their community from harm. Until they trade preaching for doing, Nevada County will stumble, and the woke mind virus will keep turning good intentions into wasted breath.
