That’s the subject of my latest Free Press column. Quote:
It is important to distinguish between the positive side of wakeism and the negative side. The positive side supported gay rights and ended racism in the public sphere. The irrational side has brought us cultural cancellations, blocked conversations, emphasized very specific views of racial and gender identity, advanced DEI and other racist policies, and generally made America a place of intolerance. Most of all it was about who has the right to direct the agenda of public discourse, and who has the right to dismiss those who disagree.
The irrational side, as it was about power and control, had negative vibes built into it. Fortunately, American society pushed back against many of the conflicting manifestations of those bad vibes, but did we get rid of the bad vibes themselves? I do not think so. Americans are still seen as low on trust, unhappy with America’s position in the world, resentful of the economy and cost of living, and increasingly skeptical of both AI and billionaires. All of that happened at a time when the state of the American economy, while mixed, is not nearly as bad as it was in, say, 2009. Happiness and mental health seem to lag behind real world achievements.
So what was going on? The powers that be behind wakeism no longer allow so much public attention and respect when arguing about terms and pronouns. Instead, the left movement has emerged with the opposite emphasis on action, and often action of a negative kind. California is considering, for example, a windfall tax on the state’s billionaires, which even many left-leaning Democratic politicians do not support. However, it can be passed through a referendum…
Furthermore, we may be entering an era with a new culture of murder. There was the assassination of Charlie Kirk, of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and several assassination attempts on President Trump. It may be debated how many of these killers had direct links to the political left, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that leftist propaganda about the destruction of democracy helped make these acts possible.
The social forces of the American left have moved out of the realm of rhetoric and into programs of concrete action, whether in politics, through expropriation, or through organized violence. In retrospect, wakeism, for all its problems, was a harmless way to distract activists and keep them busy with wars of words—a far worse distribution of public power than we see now. So while I can’t say I’m looking forward to the return of high-wokeism, I can see that it’s been replaced by a much worse far-left movement.
It is worth pondering, read everything. I should be careful not to let the right off the hook, even though the column is mainly about what made Wokeism successful. A negative emotional contagion has affected the left and right wings today.
