A Freedom of Information Act request from Judicial Watch revealed that in April 2015, soldiers of the 67th Signal Battalion based in Fort Gordon, Georgia, were forced to attend a “white privilege” briefing, designed to coach them on how they have systemic privilege for being straight, white men.

In the PowerPoint presentation, the troops were instructed that “race privilege gives whites little reason to pay a lot of attention to African Americans,” primarily because of the invisible “powerful forces” that conspire to keep hard working black Americans down and stop them from being valued by the rest of society. According to the presentation, it is in fact white privilege alone that creates a “yawning divide” in income and general prosperity.

The presentation was structured around a hypothetical African woman who comes to America and discovers that the US is full of “white racism,” along with the fact that people are “organised according to race.” The presentation goes on to discuss how those who are apparently privileged by this racial system have to “make the problem of privilege their problem and do something about it.” The only thing missing from the presentation was a plea for donations and a Patreon link to end white privilege.

This is not the first step that the Department of Defense have made into the realm of political indoctrination. Previously obtained training materials decry conservative organisations to be “hate groups” and warn troops not to be drawn into “extremist” talk of “individual liberties, states’ rights, and how to make the world a better place.” Only last month, the Pentagon ordered military commanders to prioritise climate change and “incorporate climate change impacts into plans and operations.”

Other government departments have been affected as well. Taking a page from SJW-filled college campuses, the State Department has begun a crack-down on “microagressions” in the workplace. Employees who commit one may risk violating harassment laws. John Robinson, the chief diversity officer of the department, explained that microagressions “are much harder to spot than overt discrimination” and “can be detrimental to employee morale and engagement.”

It is sad to see the inner workings of the government infected by the latest brand of liberal brainwashing, although not surprising. The culture of trigger warnings, white privilege, and microagressions that have started online have moved off Tumblr and college campuses and into the real world recently. Only two months ago, the Canadian government set up an entire hotline for people who were triggered whilst reading their website.

Jack Hadfield is a British libertarian writer who just can’t control his cishet white male privilege. You can follow him on Twitter here: @ToryBastard_.