Discussion about this post

User's avatar
AquaTeal's avatar

I left The Left, shortly after Trump was elected. I had gravitated leftward in my 20s because I was against the Forever Wars, and I was a 90s hippie. Around 2012, I noticed an acceleration of radical changes, which culminated with Trump's election. The Evergreen college madness, and the casual violence of triggered activists attacking anyone who questioned or disagreed with the rapidly evolving intricacies of Woke doctrine. Trans ideology, racial strife, COVID/vaccination, cancel culture, the open Southern border, fetanyl---it all came together, and then---

October 7th.

I had by now, been deprogramming from Woke since about 2017---right after the Women's March, and its attendant shit show of in-fighting that left the Women's movement fractured and broken.

I had delved into the dynamics of family dysfunction, and suspected that it had moved into social institutions and political agendas. Around that time, I began following a podcast that was being presented by a very intelligent and funny host who was also incredibly relatable. He had become disillusioned about Woke, and I made time to tune in every week.

And then---

October 7th

The events unfolded on the news in a galloping kaleidoscope of nightmarish reports. Rape, murder, kidnapping. A father saying he was actually relieved that his daughter was found dead, because she was spared an unimaginable fate at the hands of Hamas.

That's when the switch happened.

Suddenly, a cult swiftly developed that robotically repeated slogans and snippets of talking points meant to shut down any conversation that contradicted anything Ben Shapiro told them to think. The New York Times, long discredited as the propaganda arm of the Democratic party, suddenly has renewed authority, since it is supporting the views of the Ben Shapiro Cult.

It is the exact blueprint of Woke, in terms of the thought processes. There is a hijacking of words to mean something specific to their ideology.

For example:

The word "genocide " has been "decoded", for its "real" meaning, since anyone who criticizes Netanyahu is immediately labeled as a person who is filled with anti-semitic hatred. The anti-war movement has been recycled as "hate". The political right has reached its limits with Woke, and they are looking for a scapegoat. The anti-war movement is affiliated with the Left, but the Shapiro Cult has deftly utilized the language of Woke and its victim status currency to steer it into their favor. This cult has a strong adherence to the doctrine, and like their Woke counterparts, they react with extreme hysteria and convulsive violence, shouting insults and expletives at anyone who has questions or comments about their unquestioning support for the intensive bombing of women, children, the elderly and other noncombatants. People whose intelligence I truly respected such a short time ago, logical people, those who I believed were more or less The Voice Of Reason, had suddenly become Borderline personality disordered shrieking harpies, defending the mass murder of toddlers and insisting that it absolutely was NOT happening, as there were :

NO INNOCENT PEOPLE IN GAZA!

HUMAN SHIELDS!

HOSPITALS ARE COMMAND CENTERS!

TUNNELS!

FREE PALESTINE = SUPPORT TERROR!

PALLYWOOD!

SUBHUMAN ANIMALS!

THEY DON'T THINK LIKE US!

For me, it reached its peak when I got booted off of someone's substack for calling the extermination of the Palestinians a genocide.

The people whose intelligence I once respected, the people who had, rightly, seen through the delusions of Woke---

---are suddenly balls-deep in a dangerous cult of bloodlust that hysterically accuses calls for a ceasefire "anti-semitic hate".

This is terrifying, and I can't see this going anywhere good.

Expand full comment
Andrew Thomas's avatar

Irony is a very difficult art today. You really nailed it here, Caitlin. Bravo.

Expand full comment
113 more comments...

No posts