Thread by @whstancil

We are living through a reactionary panic among white elites. They have convinced themselves that all this racial inequality talk has gone too far and must be squelched. They’re hiding it (barely) behind a new vocabulary of “wokeness” and claims of political pragmatism.

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1457358348454711296

What’s remarkable about this is that almost every single person complaining about “wokeness,” “cancel culture,” or “left-wing cultural politics” would argue that they are PERSONALLY in favor of an egalitarian, colorblind society in which race is irrelevant.

The reason I feel comfortable identifying what’s happening as reactionary backlash is that, as Perry suggests, there’s no specific left-wing idea that has gained a strong foothold. Instead, the problem is implicitly understood to be the mere EXISTENCE of progressive ideas on race

https://twitter.com/perrybaconjr/status/1457427424547909639

White elites see things happening in the world they don’t like, are hunting around for a cause, and have decided all the bad things are happening because racial progressives, young lefties, and other suspiciously radical people are being allowed to participate in politics at all.

Even though it hasn’t been very subtle, part of why the white reactionary backlash has been overlooked is that it has a lot of threads that are only loosely tied together and it wasn’t initially obvious they were all related.

One of the most confusing aspects is that the backlash can be identified on both the left and the right - people on both sides have essentially identical complaints about "wokeness" or "identity politics" but also claim to be substantively disagreeing with each other.

It's hard to sort out until you realize that the thing that predicts these views isn't so much political ideology but the social status, race, and often the gender of the people who hold them. This isn't about ideology, it's about status threat, which crosses party lines.

*looks directly at camera*