Hi Luke, we talked a bit on the Blocked and Reported page yesterday, and I read some of your essays last night, especially the ones about social media. You're dead on about all of it.
Long story short, I was a big believer in this Woke stuff from about 2013-2016, but then after Trump won, people on the Left started getting meaner and crazier, and I only grew more and more alienated. It's taken a long time to purge the "you're a piece of shit, you're not progressive enough" mentality from my head, but it's gotten much easier knowing how many other people are feeling the same way I am.
Thanks KW, and thanks for the link (really hate it when something I saw sticks in my head, but then I can’t find it, haha).
Agree re: the left. Had a moment of optimism where I thought Trump’s ascendancy could represent an opportunity for left-ish ideals, but the left has mainly used him as an excuse to be as awful and useless as they want to be. And if people really want to sit on Twitter all day wallowing in their own smugness, that’s fine, I guess, but I don’t have to watch them. I’m quite happy in my own little Substack Hobbit-hole these days.
Substack has been a huge lifeline for me. I've pretty much given up on all mainstream liberal outlets. Used to love John Oliver for example, but now I find him unbearably smug and self-righteous. Can't watch his show anymore.
I've been vaguely predicting for a few years that the Left really won't snap out of this fever until Trump dies (or is otherwise retired from politics).
Someone on a B&R thread quoted a rule of thumb at me (it has a name, can’t remember it, haha) that was something like “Political parties will always be as awful as they think they can afford to be.” Tragically, it makes a lot of sense—if there are only two restaurants in your town, and they’re both awful, neither one has any incentive to improve, at least not by much.
Add in the fact that, in a post–Citizens United world, there are potentially infinite benefits to raising money, compared to the extremely-finite benefits of winning an election, and it paints a pretty clear picture of why things are the way they are. Haha.
It'll take a lot more than just Trump dying. This shit is self-perpetuating now, and the technology that facilitates the cult dynamics and hive mind driving this phenomenon isn't going away anytime soon.
That almost exactly coincides with my own proto-woke period too (2012-2016), though of course it was called "intersectionality" then and on the surface seemed to make a lot of sense... certainly it did to me as a 29-year-old gay guy. I started de-woking in 2015-2016 after realising how many toxic people there were in the community and how being able to cloak yourself in a benevolent cause is like catnip to those kinds of disturbed individual, as it's the perfect shield.
The scary thing is seeing a lot of my peers and even former colleagues just beginning to embrace wokeness now, like they're following the same curve as you and I but on a 5-year lag. In terms of being full of people posting fervently about social justice, LinkedIn now is at the point Twitter was 6-7 years ago and Tumblr 10-12 years ago.
Hi Luke, we talked a bit on the Blocked and Reported page yesterday, and I read some of your essays last night, especially the ones about social media. You're dead on about all of it.
I believe this is the "White people hate Twitter because...." tweet you were referring to. I saw it too. https://mobile.twitter.com/byjoelanderson/status/1591118750517850114
Long story short, I was a big believer in this Woke stuff from about 2013-2016, but then after Trump won, people on the Left started getting meaner and crazier, and I only grew more and more alienated. It's taken a long time to purge the "you're a piece of shit, you're not progressive enough" mentality from my head, but it's gotten much easier knowing how many other people are feeling the same way I am.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks KW, and thanks for the link (really hate it when something I saw sticks in my head, but then I can’t find it, haha).
Agree re: the left. Had a moment of optimism where I thought Trump’s ascendancy could represent an opportunity for left-ish ideals, but the left has mainly used him as an excuse to be as awful and useless as they want to be. And if people really want to sit on Twitter all day wallowing in their own smugness, that’s fine, I guess, but I don’t have to watch them. I’m quite happy in my own little Substack Hobbit-hole these days.
Substack has been a huge lifeline for me. I've pretty much given up on all mainstream liberal outlets. Used to love John Oliver for example, but now I find him unbearably smug and self-righteous. Can't watch his show anymore.
I've been vaguely predicting for a few years that the Left really won't snap out of this fever until Trump dies (or is otherwise retired from politics).
Someone on a B&R thread quoted a rule of thumb at me (it has a name, can’t remember it, haha) that was something like “Political parties will always be as awful as they think they can afford to be.” Tragically, it makes a lot of sense—if there are only two restaurants in your town, and they’re both awful, neither one has any incentive to improve, at least not by much.
Add in the fact that, in a post–Citizens United world, there are potentially infinite benefits to raising money, compared to the extremely-finite benefits of winning an election, and it paints a pretty clear picture of why things are the way they are. Haha.
It'll take a lot more than just Trump dying. This shit is self-perpetuating now, and the technology that facilitates the cult dynamics and hive mind driving this phenomenon isn't going away anytime soon.
That almost exactly coincides with my own proto-woke period too (2012-2016), though of course it was called "intersectionality" then and on the surface seemed to make a lot of sense... certainly it did to me as a 29-year-old gay guy. I started de-woking in 2015-2016 after realising how many toxic people there were in the community and how being able to cloak yourself in a benevolent cause is like catnip to those kinds of disturbed individual, as it's the perfect shield.
The scary thing is seeing a lot of my peers and even former colleagues just beginning to embrace wokeness now, like they're following the same curve as you and I but on a 5-year lag. In terms of being full of people posting fervently about social justice, LinkedIn now is at the point Twitter was 6-7 years ago and Tumblr 10-12 years ago.
Hey, look at it this way: if they're on the same trajectory as us, that means at some point they'll start de-woking too.
If I may quote The Joker (Dark Knight version), all it takes is a little push. Or in this case a brutal blowup or cancelation attempt.
How did you know about my coven and my nude yoga class?
Duh, I read your book ;)
there's something seriously wrong with that dog's leg
I will thank you not to insult my doggo
Dangit. I need to try harder to offend and alienate people