1/ You will never defeat the left if you do not understand that postmodernism and critical theory (which the woke left use to create their arguments, ideas,and concepts) were created entirely to attack, subvert, and undermine enlightenment liberalism.
Once you underatand that...
2/ You can begin to understand that "liberalism" is not what creates wokeness...nor is wokeness an extension of liberalism.
Wokeness as created by critical theory and postmodernism (both of which are a reaction to and against enlightenment liberalism) takes advantage of...
3/ Gaps in the armour of the theories that support enlightenment.
As such, wokeness (the alloy of critical theory and postmodernism) is not an extension of liberalism, it is an ideological framework (or worldview) that exploits weaknesses in the armour of liberalism.
4/ So what is the answer?
We need something that is capable of withstanding the woke onslaught. Something thaat is not vulnerable to woke attacks.
I have seen a number of people attempt to try to take elements of wokeness and try to use woke theories against wokeness....
5/ This is a mistake.
If you adopt woke theories you will always end up with relativism, because if you follow Critical Theory and Postmodernism to their logical conclusion you will always get nihilism, cynacism, and relativism; even if your starting point is on the right.
6/ Wokeness is dialectical. That is, it proceeds by endlessly processing, changing, theorizing, and using writing, cinversation, arguments and (this is a key term) *DISCOURSE* to endlessly ratchet toward woke goals, ideas, aspirations, and ends.
The *ONLY* way to defeat this...
7/ Is to intellectually engage in a way that does not get sucked into the dialectical process.
Once you form an opposition to wokeness, if you do it wrong, the woke will pull you into their dialectic and try to mix your opposition to wokeness into the dialectical stew.
AKA...
8/ They will simply try to nuance, refine, process, and otherwise try to synthesize your woke opposition into the larger dialectical framework.
Thats complicated, so let's break it down.
Here is what that will try to do:
9/ They have wokeness, you oppose wokeness.
So they set up a dialectic. It will be a discourse, exchange, debate, or conversation where they set wokeness up on one side, and anti-wokeness up on the other.
So what's next?
The next thing is the key piece of the whole thing....
10/ The dialectical woke left does not try to use dialogue to discover truth.
What they do is *MAKE THE CONVERSATION PROCEED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF DEBATE AND THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT THAT ACCEPT THE FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS, AND PRIORS OF WOKE DIALECTICAL LEFTISM*
11/ They want to "synthesize" both sides of the debate. And how they will do that is by taking ideas and insights from anti-wokeness which they can repurpose to advance woke leftism, and then mix those ideas and concepts with the most potent woke ideas from the left.
Then...
12/ They will hold up this concoction of formerly anti-woke ideas (that they can repurpose to usein the cause of wokeness) mixed with very potent woke ideas, and say "we have solved the dispute by mixing the best ideas from both sides," all the while the entire process...
13/ Of setting up the conversation, picking ideas from both sides, mixing those ideas, and presenting the "new" solution (or third way) has been proceeding according to the values, goals, ends, ideas, and standards of woke dialectical leftism.
See how this works???
14/ People get duped into adopting woke terms of engagement and adopting woke concepts (thinking they can use woke ideas against wokeness) and end up in a dialectical process which has as it's first principle and main goal the achievment the ideological vision of the woke left...
15/ The entire dialectical process has as its main end the achievement of a leftist utopia (exactly the kind of utopian society described by Marcuse and Marx) and as such movement toward that goal is baked right into the process from the start.
Once you accept a role in that...
16/ Process you have already lost.
The process is always: 1. thesis>>> 2. antithesis >>>3. Synthesis.
In this case it goes 1. Thesis (wokeness)>>> 2. Antithesis (anti-wokeness) >>>3. Synthesis (third-way wokeness or neo wokeness)
Now here is the point, listen carefully....
17/ If you accept your role as "the opposition to wokeness" you have already accepted your role and place in the woke leftist dialectical process
Why? Because you've defined yourself in terms of opposition to wokeness, and that makes you the "antithesis" to the woke "thesis"...
18/ Once you do that *IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU DO* because the whole process is occuring according the the terms of debate, rules of engagent, and conceptual framework of the "woke" (dialectical) left.
This means you *CAN'T* win from a position where you set yourself up as...
19/ "The real opposition to wokeness" or as "the main opposition to wokeness."
Once you accept that framing you have already lost because that framing makes you merely the opposition to wokeness, and that just maked you part of a conversation and discourse the woke control...
20/ You must frame yourself as a worldview or framework that is comoeting with wokeness...but *NOT* merely by opposing it.
You not define, identify, or frame your self in terms of wokeness...nor can you be the "solution" to wokeness. The moment you do that the woke will say...
21/
"Let's say 'Wokeness' is the thesis, 'the solution to wokeness' is the antithesis....let's try to take the best of both worlds."
At which point they'll repurpose your "solution" and mix it with potent woke ideas and just take a few more steps toward their woke goals...
22/ See how that works???
The only way out is to assert that your view is *true* and then refuse to accept the legitimacy of their dialectical process....and that includes refusing to frame yourself interms of your opposition to wokeness.
Accepting any role in their process...
23/ Including saying "we are the main opposition to wokeness" is a losing battle.
/fin
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People who celebrate the murder of their political opponents are not participating in the marketplace of ideas, they are encouraging deadly political violence by building a permission structure to legitimize and justify the murder of those they disagree with.
My freedom of speech means I get to clearly and succintly explain to the whole world that if you call for the assassination of your rivals this is not free speech, it is a direct incitement to political violence.
John Stewart Mill gave a famous example where he said that if someone claims corn dealers are starvering the poor this can be allowed if circulated through the press, but is not allowed when shouted in front of an excited mob assembled outside the house of a corn dealer....
1/ The Radical Left has used political violence to advance their cause for decades. What's new is the progressive left's professional class building a permission structure to justify the use of political violence
It's called Assassination Culture, and we need to talk about it
🧵
2/ To understand what's happening, you need to understand that the line between progressive-left professional class and radical left has been blurred. The extremist radical left and the socially progressive "bluesky left" are increasingly intertwined both socially and politically
3/ This is because many of the extremist radical from the 60's and 70' who advocated for, and participated in, the use of political violence have been welcomed into the mainstream institutions that are run by the progressive left professional class.
Look at the number of pro-athletes posting condolences about Charlie Kirk, and you'll see what a huge cultural figure he was.
He wasn't just famous in conservative circles, his clips debating college students were a loadbearing pillar of online political pop-culture
His willingness to calmly and politely debate all comers on any issue (at the very moment when cancel culture was strongest and people were afraid to say what they think) made him a sort of lovable internet folkhero.
He was an indelible piece of the online landscape.
Charlie was not quarantined to the "conservative ghetto" of online content; he broke contain and became a mainstream cultural figure.
Charlie became the cultural symbol of free debate, free speech, and settling differences in public with words
What he is describing here is the deconstruction of America as an ideal. The goal is to destroy America by subverting the conception of America as a force for good which sustains American confidence, and attacking the founding narrative from which America derives it's legitimacy.
They will try to redefine America in a way which subverts the legitimacy of America as a national project. They want to erase the current American narrative, and replace it with a new one which grants them the right to inherit America's wealth, power, prestige, and influence.
They will attack America the same way they attacked Universities: by undermining legitimacy, authority, and self-confidence by asserting that the whole project is just racism, colonialism, and oppression in disguise.
2/ on racist resentment against white people and racialist identity politics, complete with the racist stereotyping.
This shows a continuity of thinking over a period of a decade, and there has been no take back, or explanation for the disgustingly racist tweets she made.
3/ Chris said he didn't care if she was fired, the point was to use her posts to force the New Yorker to choose between equal enforcement of bans on hiring racists who make racist content, or to be explicit that racism against Jews and whites is allowed...