1/I've been thinking about this tweet. And more generally, about what the rise of Sanders means for the Social Justice movement (i.e. "wokeness"). Here are a few thoughts.
(warning: this thread will play fast and loose with terms like "Social Justice" and "wokeness"...)
(warning: this thread will play fast and loose with terms like "Social Justice" and "wokeness"...)
2/There's a strong version of this take, which is of Bernie as an anti-woke Old White Man, who wants to ignore race and gender in favor of an obsessive focus on class.
That sort of take was common back in 2015-16, spurred by events like this:
vox.com/2015/8/11/9127…
That sort of take was common back in 2015-16, spurred by events like this:
vox.com/2015/8/11/9127…
3/But while I know a few conservatives who hope that something like this is true, I think this "Bernie as anti-woke reaction" take is pretty wrong.
The primary reason being that Bernie's young core supporters, while not always THE wokest, are fairly woke! And pretty diverse.
The primary reason being that Bernie's young core supporters, while not always THE wokest, are fairly woke! And pretty diverse.
4/But there is a milder, more circumspect version of this take that I do kind of buy, which is that enthusiasm for Bernie, rather than for candidates whose primary electoral pitch was Social Justice, may mean that wokeness has less revolutionary energy than many believed.
5/The Democratic candidates who made wokeness their primary pitch - Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro, Beto O'Rourke - flamed out. Kamala Harris was also seen by many as a woke champion, and also flamed out.
6/Now Elizabeth Warren is, without a doubt, the wokest candidate - i.e. the candidate who emphasizes Social Justice the most in her rhetoric and her style. But if this doesn't lead to a recovery in the polls, it means every "candidate of wokeness" will have been clobbered.
7/The groundswell of support for Bernie among young left-leaning people shows that the revolutionary passion may go in a more economic direction.
As @jdcmedlock so memorably put it:
Broke: Wokescolds
Woke: Brokescolds
As @jdcmedlock so memorably put it:
Broke: Wokescolds
Woke: Brokescolds
8/So the plausible version of the "Bernie killed wokeness" thesis is that Bernie just happened to be there, absorbing some of the revolutionary energies that otherwise might have been directed toward Social Justice causes.
9/Now if this is indeed what happened, why did this happen?
One possible reason is that the more extreme forms of Social Justice ideology were always less popular than they seemed here on Twitter.
One possible reason is that the more extreme forms of Social Justice ideology were always less popular than they seemed here on Twitter.
10/Because of the way Twitter elevates and spreads extreme discourse, the average Twitter user -- or the average MSNBC anchor or NYT columnist -- is overexposed to the most extreme radical stuff from every movement.
noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-sh…
noahpinionblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-sh…
11/It can be hard to tell whether a Twitter movement's Shouting Class represents a fringe viewpoint or an ideology with broad deep support among the populace at large.
Twitter Socialism may simply turn out to have broader, deeper support than Twitter Social Justice did.
Twitter Socialism may simply turn out to have broader, deeper support than Twitter Social Justice did.
12/An alternative (optimistic) explanation is that Social Justice has already succeeded in many of its aims.
Sexual harassment, for example, is way down (despite a likely increase in willingness to report incidents):
hbr.org/2019/07/has-se…
Sexual harassment, for example, is way down (despite a likely increase in willingness to report incidents):
hbr.org/2019/07/has-se…
13/And cops who shoot Black people might now run a much greater risk of being sent to prison.
thedailybeast.com/cop-who-murder…
thedailybeast.com/cop-who-murder…
14/And some police departments across the country may now be reforming themselves and building a more harmonious relationship with Black communities.
thetrace.org/2019/04/stockt…
thetrace.org/2019/04/stockt…
15/Furthermore, it's certain that President Bernie's appointees will be far more woke than anyone Trump would appoint, and probably more woke than Obama's administration too.
So it's far from doom and gloom for the Social Justice movement.
So it's far from doom and gloom for the Social Justice movement.
16/A friend recently suggested to me that wokeness might simply make for bad national electoral politics, and that the movement will now focus more on arenas where it's stronger - universities, corporations, and other institutions.
Could be!
Could be!
17/So anyway, if I were to embrace any aspect of the "Bernie killed wokeness" thesis @AliceFromQueens advanced, it would not be that Bernie is a reaction against wokeness, but rather a redirection of the energy it created toward other ends.
...As always, we shall see!
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...As always, we shall see!
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