This was posted in 2020, after about two years of research into a new phenomenon that I saw coming out of Tumblr, Reddit and Twitter. Since then, obviously, the thinking has evolved, and the threat I was warning about has become far more obvious to a lot more people in the form of BlueMAGA etc. I am uncomfortable with the term “Wokism”, but it is 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, so long as we fix the problem and address the behaviour.
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.
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, which refers to what I believe is a virtual cult 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. Its behaviour resembles Scientology and the Unification Movement way more than it resembles Marx.
Frankly, Marx would be rolling in his grave at seeing how neoliberalism has twisted and morphed itself in his name into a weirdly authoritarian, bordering on totalitarian movement. “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 cult1. I talk about it a lot. Probably too much. Socially, it’s pretty frosty for me right now. Because nobody (in any of the political movements I have been a part of my entire life) will publicly address this.
I’ve spent years thinking that the left wing adults in the room – people who have fought the evangelical right over the very same behaviours, and have dealt with the fringes and kept them there – would 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 hope it’s the latter.
The reality is, that ordinary non-political-nerd people are going to the right in droves. Ordinary voters don’t see the nuances. They 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. They don’t understand the left splits over anything from war to pizza toppings …and we air dirty laundry whilst doing it.
They just see 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 throwing serious slurs like racist, TERF, and Nazi like it is no big deal. And, not a single grown-up calls them out, or holds them to account for their behaviour, because a) those people are incredibly useful to the powerful and b) they’re afraid of the internet. Not a single person tells them to pull their heads in, for fear of not looking cool and having them call us Karen on Twitter.
All whilst the right send hugs, conversations, community, cash, and build community and capitalise on everyone’s shared bond of hating… well… you.
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. 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”2. 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 dissonance3
We are going to lose because we have let high school bullies and crazies and blue check Twitter hijack our politics. They are stacking branches, taking over institutions, passing policy by stealth, and cancelling anyone who disagrees …and nobody is standing up to them.
Well, I am.
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 enemy4.
Well, he’s not. Sorry. Whilst you are still yelling over Trump being Trump (and still surprised for some reason), insane policies are being passed by stealth under the name of diversity and inclusion and social justice that amount to stealth authoritarianism.
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 the victims, and you know better. You know better than me. You know better than voters.
Because it’s always everyone else.
We are the ones who are stupid.
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).
But we are not the problem.
I didn’t change. I am open-minded. I am 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 watching the suffering of others. 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;
- question the concept of gender identity and find it incredibly regressive and sexist;
- 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 speech, 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. 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.