When will ‘the left’ stand up to the threat of totalitarianism?
Totalism is on the rise in the United States, and it isn't coming from where you'd expect.
This is a plea to the grown-up and reasonable political left. I know you’re out there, quietly reading and observing and waiting for the right time. Now is the right time.
NOTE: This was posted in 2020, after about three years of research into a new phenomenon - that I wasn’t sure was organic - coming out of Tumblr, Reddit and Twitter.
Since then, obviously, the thinking has evolved. I’m uncomfortable with the term “Wokism” because it has become too loaded, and rather than address substantive issues as an expert and be heard, instead have to constantly qualify every word just to get anyone to listen, but Wokism was also what others call it, so I try to meet people where they’re at. I prefer to call it the gentrification of the left.
Others may just call it boring old Superstructure, but hey. Who cares what the hell we call it (this is so damn boring… remember when the internet was not shit), so long as we fix the problem and address it before it is too late.
As I have been talking about on YouTube, I have grave concerns about a worldwide faction of very-confused very-online people, that have managed to squeeze past our blind spots, into progressive parties, institutions, media and tech companies under the guise of ‘social justice’.
I’m using the placeholder of “Woke Cult” for now. Yes, I know. But it refers to what I believe is a virtual “cult”1 that has emerged from various Internet fandoms. Others may call it “SJWs” or “Critical Theory” or the “Tumblr Cult” or “The Radical Left” or “Cancel Culture”, but they’re used interchangeably in this instance. Whatever gets you there. Most of you dismiss it as “internet stuff”, but there’s a very real problem that is being ignored: people are being radicalised and used as weapons, and it is not okay.
The challenge is that there isn’t an accurate, non-loaded term for it yet because it is still playing out. I’d like to suggest “Deepfake Politics”, inspired by “Deepfake Methodology“, but this is still emerging.
The main point is that this particular movement claims to be the voice of “social justice”. Good things. Intersectional feminism, diversity and inclusion, race, disability and LGBT rights. But this isn’t that. It strips out the economics and replaces it with a shallow and performative fascimile of what people (Americans) think “the left” is.
People who have never been to a meeting or organised anything in their whole lives, are wholly focused on clicks and like and retweets - and it shows. Its behaviour resembles Scientology and the Unification Movement way more than it resembles Marx.
Frankly, Marx would be rolling in his grave, and probably actually impressed with how neoliberalism has twisted and morphed itself in his name into a weirdly authoritarian, bordering on totalitarian movement.
TL;DR - “Wokism” is to social justice like Scientology is to self improvement. And you need to pay attention.
Yes. I’m acutely aware of how crazy I sound when I talk about this being a cult. I talk about it a lot. Probably too much. Socially, it’s pretty frosty for me right now and I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Because nobody (in any of the political movements I have been a part of my entire life) will confront this problem.
I’ve spent years thinking that the left wing adults in the room – people who have fought the evangelical right over the same crap, and have dealt with the fringes and kept them there – would eventually step in and deal with this, and see the PsyOp for what it is. But, for some reason, you are all gobsmackingly and inexplicably quiet, presumably out of fear of cancellation, mobbings, and being all-but-burned at the stake by a faction of super-online, super-powerful people who have blogs, bots and a desire for online clout. Or, you’re just unaware and not online. I sincerely hope it’s the latter.
This seems like ‘internet shit’. I get it. You personally don’t use Twitter, you’re above all of that because you’re so busy doing the important work, with all the important people …on LinkedIn. Unlike me, who just hangs around on social media all day.
None of this changes the fact that Twitter is influential, and if you paid more attention to that stuff you think isn’t important you’d understand that a lot of our politics is down wind from it.
It also doesn’t change the fact that for a platform that only 2% of people use, that 2% are the most powerful people in the world, and the people who control narratives are addicted to it. Twitter is ground zero, and nobody seems to understand what is coming, because, we get it, you don’t watch TV and don’t use Twitter and you are so much better than us. We get it.
If you paid more attention, you’d see that ordinary non-political-nerd people are going to the right in droves. The right are filling a vacuum because you think you’re too good for social media, and the only lefties who are on social media are losing their fucking minds.
Ordinary people don’t see the nuances of the left. They only see “right” vs “left” - something that is wholly detached from any actual meaning. Ordinary people don’t see this as a business-as-usual battle between Marxists and Postmodernists, or Libertarians vs Authoritarians, or through the lens of history and political factions and messy politics. They don’t understand the left splits over anything from war to pizza toppings …and we air dirty laundry whilst doing it and we do it viciously.
All the ordinary person sees is a bunch of whiny, domineering reality-denying Twitter bullies and thunkpiece writers that send a mob to get you fired if you use words they don’t like. All whilst - with absolutely no self-awareness whatsoever - throwing around serious slurs like racist, TERF, and Nazi like it is no big deal. Frequently, it is some sort of rich person who has clothed themselves in Woke politics and uses it to send a mob after whoever they decide is the target of the day. Yet, not a single grown-up calls them out, or holds them to account for their behaviour and abuse of power, because a) those people are incredibly useful to the powerful if you want to silence critics and/or b) they’re afraid of the internet. Not a single person tells them to pull their heads in, for fear of not looking cool, having them call you Karen on Twitter, or worse, upload a clip and call you a Karen or a TERF or a Nazi and then make your life a living hell for days on end.
And this happens as the right send condolences, hugs, conversations, community, cash, and build community and capitalise on everyone’s shared bond of hating… well… you. For not sticking up for them and leaving them thinking they’ve taken crazy pills.
By not standing up to the internet bullies who claim to represent us, who appoint themselves as the face of “the left”, we not only allow give them a pass to behave abhorrently towards innocent people, but we allow them to destroy everything we have worked for and have to keep fighting for. As long as we keep trying to be the cool parent, and don’t start setting rules around how people are expected to conduct themselves in order to participate in our political parties or organisations, we are going to lose and continue to lose.
Not because of Trump or “fascism”. Not because we have bad policies. Not because of “the virus” or some fuzzy, ill-defined “hate” or disinformation or Murdoch or that people are stupid or have bad breath or whatever other spin you want to put on it to help you through your dissonance and the truth: you have dropped the ball and are perfectly okay with others suffering so long as you don’t have to feel uncomfortable.
Which is fine - you do you - but even if you don’t care about this, know that we are going to lose because we have let high school bullies and crazies and blue check Twitter fuckheads hijack our politics.
…and nobody is standing up to them.
Well, I am. I did.
Because we are going to lose if I don’t say something.
Where are you?
Where the fuck are you? You’re so quiet. You’re afraid. I get it.
You are also complicit.
You make excuses for their behaviour. You gaslight us. You call us crazy and stupid, even when we are uniquely qualified (as I am) to speak out about identifying this very real threat. You tell us to “look over there!” and deflect and split and say that Trump is the bigger enemy.
Well, he’s not right now. Sorry. He’s a symptom, and he and his base will keep winning so long as you are still yelling about Trump being Trump (and still surprised for some reason), and pretending like this is just business as usual and you can data vis sentiment your way out of this problem.
This cult is a very real threat. They piss off and alienate everyone they interact with. And those who fall afoul of it (or even dare brush up against it accidentally, as I did) are made to suffer, and you enable it, because you blame their victims, and you know better. You’re supposed know better than me. You’re supposed to know better than voters. Aren’t you supposed to be like, a leader or something?
Because it’s always everyone else.
People like me are the ones who are stupid. Or crazy. Or rude.
We are the ones who you say are ‘radicalised’ (basically this means you watch or read anything other than approved materials, books, TV shows, YouTube channels, words and thoughts and therefore must be punished, mobbed, fired, harassed, threatened, punched). Because everyone who doesn’t think everything is great and maybe ordinary people are worth listening to are the real threat.
But we are not the problem.
I didn’t change. I’m open-minded. I’m progressive. I read widely and love to engage with ideas that challenge me. My politics is based on deeply held values, my own suffering and having watched the needless suffering of others as leaders pretended it wasn’t important. I support real social justice, feminism, critiques of capitalism5, freedom of expression and fighting for a seat at the table.
My credentials are clear. I am not the problem.
Grown ups: we have to deal with the bullies or we are going to lose and keep on losing. Yes, even against Trump.
I’m out in the wilderness. Every day, I keep waiting for left-wing leaders to stand up against people who use Fair Game tactics on everyone they don’t like. Every day, I hope that the adults in the room will say “enough!”.
Instead, what do I see?
The right welcoming the ‘politically homeless’ (basically anyone who doesn’t swallow the cult’s bullshit, or gets pushed out by the bullies) with open arms, and seeing it as a viable strategy to expand their base.
And the ‘left’ being astonishingly, gobsmackingly smug. Their elitism oozing from every pore in their body. Denying the problem, gaslighting anyone who raises it, whilst sitting in self-righteousness, tweeting relentlessly about Trump, calling everyone stupid, racist, bigoted, transphobic cishet white supremacists. Afraid to speak up against the bullies for fear that they’ll come for you.
I have to be the adult now.
Pull your fucking heads in.
Me – a Marx-defending Feminist Social Democrat – being frozen out for sounding alarm bells that this seemingly niche internet stuff is going to end very badly for the left-at-large. For committing the high crime of disagreement with the ladies-who-brunch-and-don’t-see-the-problem, and for asking the same questions I have always asked and for holding the same progressive views I always held.
Only to have many on the left6 call me (and everyone ‘unapproved’ I associate with) stupid or lost or ignorant or other names, simply because I live in the real world. And I:
don’t buy their regressive and astonishingly dangerous, science-denying, anti-logic, anti-reason framework;
despite being a lifelong trans ally, question the current incarnation of gender identity and Girl Boss feminism and find it incredibly regressive and sexist;
despite being sex-positive, also question that porn and prostitution are 100% fine all of the time and don’t negatively impact women (and men) worldwide;
don’t think people should be written off over politics, and think solutions come from everywhere and anyone, not just one class of people;
will always fight for the principles of freedom of expression, freedom of movement and freedom of association (which, astonishingly, according to the cult, is a “dog whistle for the alt-right”. You know what? Fuck. Off. With. That. Hot. Nonsense. You. Fucking. What. Now.).
I hold these beliefs. That is my crime. Whatever. We can disagree. It’s cool. We can still be friends. But, when I made the mistake of disagreeing with Twitter bans, I began to see the bullying, the cancellation, the abhorrent and violent behaviour, and OH MY GOD the smugness of the Woke left.
I understand why people leave and say “fuck you”.
I am of the left. I fight for the working class. And, I have to admit, the new mainstream ‘left’ isn’t working class anymore, but more the rich culturally appropriating our struggles and trauma and wearing it as a costume. And guess what? The working class know it too.
We need to address the smugness. We need to address the bad behaviour – both subtle and overt – that forces us to not speak up against the bully faction of spoiled rich children that have taken over and are squatting in our house, claiming our hard-earned street cred and turning us into the enemy of the people.
We need to get back to our core beliefs, clean house, and stop making excuses for these people. We need to tell them that they need to find themselves a new home at the fringes. Yes, even when their limbs are flailing like a 3 year old and they’re holding their breath and turning blue and screaming in our faces that we are white supremacists and bigots and TERFs and whatever else. Let them.
Because we are the adults. I am tired of Deepfake Politics. I’ve earned my adult card and I am here to claim it.
This is not the left I joined. This is not the left most people will stay in. And it most certainly is not the left that everyday people will vote for.
Please stop calling people stupid.
Every time I suggest a lefty friend read a book or consume media from the “other side” (whatever the fuck that means) – stuff that VOTERS ARE WATCHING AND READING SO YOU SHOULD BE TOO – they reject it, but, bizarrely, they also say they refuse to read it. Or, worse, they accuse you of being ‘radicalised’ by an ooga booga, ill-defined, Alt Right boogeyman, because only stupid people think for themselves, right?
The Walk Away movement in the US is gaining ground and the left are asleep. I don’t agree with Walking Away, but I respect it. I understand it. As I have said frequently, I’m not ‘politically homeless’ – there are squatters in my house. But this online Woke faction of self-appointed sales reps makes everything SO unpleasant with their smugness, coercion, bully tactics and blatant misogyny (we know that misogyny crosses the political spectrum… but at least conservative men don’t pretend).
If you are in the ALP, or Liberal, or Labour or a Democrat and not reading the “other side” and their materials, and if you are blocking them on social media… I’m here to tell you that we’re losing. We don’t have the numbers. People are aware of the institutional capture, and see the symptoms, and they don’t like it.
I’m happy to be wrong, but we stand no chance whilst we are bullying everyone who disagrees – especially influencers with large audiences – silencing, blocking, threatening into compliance. Because everyday people are on the Internet are seeing this. And, sorry, but they don’t think women have penises and men give birth, and most don’t have the toolkit to differentiate between whatever this is and the mainstream left.
The only way “the left” could possibly win right now is to show what we used to be. Engage ideas, not shut them down. Support freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of thought – not abuse those principles in favour of one side. Talk to the people who are fed up, and try to do better, and win them back with the quality of our ideas and our policies.
Not win simply because everyone hates the other guy so much you win by default.
Until we deal with this vile faction of authoritarians and social justice puritans, who like to dictate what we read and watch, the tweets we like, what we say, who we talk to, what we think… and increasingly whether we can even go outside and run our businesses… I want it clear that this shit is not what I signed up for.
In fact, fundamentalism, totalitarianism and authoritarianism is what I have fought against my entire life, and if you agree with their behaviour and give them a pass, you, my friend are on the wrong side of history. And I will not Walk Away. I will stay and fight and be a boil in your arse until the end of time.
Totalitarian Left. Not SJW. Not “Woke”. Authoritarians. Totalitarians.
Thank you.
Cult is not intended in pejorative here. It describes a set of behaviours.