Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
America at the Hands of a Cult
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America at the Hands of a Cult

Part One: A Timeline

The Summer of 2020 was both a revolution and a coup, ultimately resulting in an unshakable pact between the Woke and all major corporate and cultural institutions in this country, up to and including the President of the United States.

It isn’t a cult of one personality but of many. It’s a tawdry tale of influencers and algorithms, fast-moving technology and helicopter parents, social media, and Critical Theory. But Joe Biden is no cult leader. He’s more like a George Spahn figure, presenting a more acceptable front while the Manson family did as they pleased behind the scenes.

2020 was also a cynical ploy by the ruling class and politicians, not to mention the “well-funded cabal” to co-opt the revolution as a proxy war to keep the public compliant and afraid, just like the “children spies” in 1984.

But they had no idea what oppressive force they were about to unleash. It was like the baby alien that burst forth from John Hurt’s stomach in Ridley Scott’s Alien - slightly off-putting but seemingly harmless. But it would re-emerge from the shadows as an unstoppable force of unspeakable power.

Why was it so powerful? Because so many people went along with it. With its roots in academia, the DNA of your average counter-culture boomer, and centrist Democrat, going up against it could mean total destruction.

But of course, that’s the only way forward, as Peter Boghossian explains:

After the firings, the attacks, the riots, and the sheer terror of the Summer of 2020, American institutions, industries, and culture buckled under the pressure as “mass formation” took hold. Mattias Desmet explains:

Mass formation handed absolute power to those at the top, and with their army of zealots, they created a fascist-like alignment of unbreakable power, not unlike China's Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution.

Many will flee this fanaticism like rats off a sinking ship as the inevitable backlash hits. They’re going to pretend they didn’t go along with it, just as they tried to do in Salem Village in 1692 after the hysteria was punctured and 20 people lost their lives.

But we’re not going to let them do that. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.

To that end, I am writing a two-part story to understand better how this could have happened in just a few short years. The first part is a timeline to lay the groundwork for just how we got here.

It isn’t the whole story. But for now, it will have to do.

Part One - The Timeline

  • 2000—The Left began colonizing the internet, building what would eventually become an information monopoly - Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, etc.

  • 2006—Twitter and Facebook launch, bringing more people together than ever before in human history.

  • 2007—The iPhone launches
    —Fertility rates begin a sharp decline.
    —Pornhub launches
    —Online porn use begins to climb.
    —Depression is on the rise.

  • 2008
    —Barack Obama, the first Black President, is elected
    —Wall Street Meltdown/Bailout that sparked Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party.

  • 2010—Republicans take the house, largely due to the Tea Party movement. Obama calls it a “shellacking.”
    —The legacy media begin targeting the Tea Party as “racist.”

  • 2011--Trump challenges Obama’s birth certificate. Obama humiliates him in public at the Correspondents Dinner.

  • 2012—Barack Obama is re-elected, but now begins to discuss obstruction to his policies as racism.

  • 2013—”Yer Fave is Problematic” launches on Tumblr, creating a climate of fear and a culture of behavior policing at the hands of teenage girls. Hundreds of celebrities are called out and publicly shamed for “cultural appropriation,” among other things.

  • 2013—#oscarssowhite and #blacklives bloom on Twitter.

  • 2014—Black Lives Matter protests on the streets in the wake of police shootings, most notably, Michael Brown.
    —Cliven Bundy first becomes a hero, then overtly racist comments are exposed, mocked publicly by Obama.
    —The Freedom Caucus forms and is immediately considered a “racist” movement by the Left.

  • 2015Occupy Princeton with groups demanding the removal of the name Woodrow Wilson.

  • 2015—Thousands of students protest racism at universities like Yale, Harvard, and Smith. The word “trans” starts to appear. And as “antiracism” would name their method of policing the public, so too would “antitrans” rise in its wake.

  • 2015—Trump supporters violently attacked, called “fascists,” “Nazis,” and “racists.”

  • 2016—Donald Trump wins the presidential election, and widespread protests hit the streets and the rest of the world.

  • 2017—The #resistance forms online, demanding cultural, corporate, and political institutions stand on their side, or they will be seen as racists or fascists.

  • June 26, 2018—Robin DiAngelo publishes White Fragility, Why it’s so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.

  • Trump signs executive order to punish vandalism against federal monuments.

  • November 2018—A poll shows liberals “dumb down” their speech when talking to minorities, but Conservatives don’t.

  • August 2019 - Ibram X. Kendi publishes How to be an Antiracist.

  • March 2020 —The country is on lockdown from the COVID pandemic, and more people are trapped on the internet than at any other time in history.

  • Memorial Day, 2020— George Floyd is killed as a police officer kneels on his neck, sparking the largest protests in American history—Over 90 Confederate monuments and 167 symbols were removed in the Summer of 2020.

  • May 29, 2020—A violent riot at the White House where BLM supporters threw Molotov cocktails at police, burned the White House guardhouse, injured 60+ secret service agents, and set fire to cars and St. John’s church, causing Trump to be evacuated to the White House bunker.

  • June 1, 2020—Trump poses with the Bible at St. John’s Church, media says they used tear gas to clear protestors for a “photo op.
    —One year later, the story would turn out to be false.

  • June 2, 2020—”Blackout Tuesday” to protest the death of Breanna Taylor, everyone asked or demanded to put black squares on their Instagram.

  • June 5, 2020—Over 1,000 health professionals sign a letter saying, “Don’t shut down protests using coronavirus concerns as an excuse.”

  • June 2020—Protests are justified because they were “outside” and “wearing masks.”
    by 2023, it would be common knowledge masks offered little to no protection.

  • June 7, 2020—A poll shows a majority of Americans support deploying the military to control violent protests.
    Bari Weiss and James Bennett at NYT enlist Senator Tom Cotton who writes the op-ed, "Send in the Troops.” Twitter goes to war on them for it, and by the end of it, Weiss and Bennett will be out. Weiss would launch a Substack revolution.

  • July 4, 2020—Trump gives a speech at Mount Rushmore calling out the violence of the Summer, “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”
    —Media calls it “dark” and “fascist.”

  • October 2020 - Jodi Shaw becomes one of the few people willing to speak out against the mandated ideology of “antiracism” at Smith College.

  • December 2020—The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans makes the news.

  • 2016-2020—The number of writers, scientists, journalists, and professors either forced to resign or fired outright begins to climb. In 2020, over 90 people will have lost their jobs for going against the strident rules of the Woke.

Some of these notable firings include:

2018:

  • Karen Ames, NY Department of Education, refused to make the Black Panther salute.

  • Megyn Kelly, out at NBC after daring to question the automatic conviction of someone wearing a Halloween costume back before anyone thought it was “black face.”

  • Joseph Massey's entire career was destroyed when an unsourced article appeared online alleging abuse that never occurred, yet the website refuses to remove the article.

2019:

  • Colin Wright pushed out of Academia after insisting biological sex was real.

  • Meghan Murphy banned from Twitter for misgendering.

2020:

  • An anonymous janitor was put on leave after asking a Black Smith college student what she was doing in a closed building area.

  • David Shor, data analyst fired for Tweeting negatively about the protests.

  • David Callum, a chemistry professor at Cornell, fired for tweeting that pushing down a protester wasn’t “police brutality.”

  • Andrew Sullivan pushed out at New York Magazine for his controversial opinions on trans issues, among other things.

  • Helen Lewis, VoiceOver artist, removed from video game after writing an op-ed that a man can’t become a woman.

2021:

  • Donald Trump, President of the United States, banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube for January 6th.

  • Donald McNeil, the science journalist for the New York Times, fired for supposedly saying the “n” word for clarification on a field trip.

  • Mike Pesca, podcast host, indefinitely suspended for discussing Donald McNeil in a sympathetic light.

  • Amazon shuts down Parler, the biggest competitor to Twitter, after January 6th.

  • Paul Rossi, teacher at Grace Church High School, fired for writing critically of their “antiracist” madness.

  • Gina Carano fired from Disney for making a joke about pronouns and referencing the Holocaust in a tweet.

The Evergreen Warning:

  • 2017—Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying resign from Evergreen College after an infamous protest and subsequent witch hunt. The Evergreen model would become a dress rehearsal for the Summer of 2020.

  • 2020—Videos slowly trickle out showing what was happening on the streets, that the media would not cover, more than just “mostly peaceful protests.”

  • August 23, 2020 —Jacob Blake is shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Within minutes, a story spreads on Twitter that he was “unarmed” and there to “break up a fight.” Kyle Rittenhouse, like so many others in the city, takes up arms to protect businesses. Things get out of hand, and three people are shot, two of them die.

  • January 2021 — Jacob Blake admits he was holding a knife, the sexual assault charges against him are dropped.

  • January 6, 2021—Political protesters arrive in DC by the thousands, a violent riot breaks out, and prisoners are thrown in solitary for years without being charged. The media blames “white supremacy.”
    —Although the media would claim five police officers were killed, in reality, they died after the event. The one person killed that day was one of the protesters, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a Capitol Police Officer, who was later cleared.

  • November 2021 — Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted of murder.

  • January 6th, 2022—Vice President Kamala Harris compares January 6th to Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

  • June 9, 2022—The January 6th Show Trial begins. Bennie Thompson opens with, “I'm from a part of the country where people justify the actions of slavery, the Klu Klux Klan, and lynching. I'm reminded of that dark history as I hear voices today try and justify the actions of the insurrectionists on January 6th, 2021.”

  • September 1, 2022 —Joe Biden stands before a blood-red, fascist-like backdrop and says, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

  • 2023The January 6th political protesters are convicted of “seditious conspiracy,” joining an Islamic terrorist and Puerto Rican communists.

  • January 3, 2023The Heritage Foundation demands Congress investigate the Black Lives Matter protests, which cost $1 billion in damages and killed 25 people, including a police officer.

  • June 22, 2023—Randi Weingarten Appointed to Department of Homeland Security School Safety Advisory Council.

“Terf” Wars

Long after the Times Up and Me Too movements evaporated, and Black Lives Matter began to struggle with fundraising, as public approval for the group began to decline, the focus shifted from Black Lives to Trans Lives.

Here is a video of James Esses and Helen Joyce on the contagion.

  • August 2013—Chelsea Manning comes out as transgender.

  • April 2015—Bruce Jenner comes out as Caitlyn Jenner.

  • June 2015—Supreme Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States.

  • May 2016—Obama Administration releases directive on transgender rights to school bathrooms.

  • October 29, 2018 (NEW)—The domain name is registered that will become the website Transgender Map by Andrea James, which has instructions for young people on how to come out and what to do next, and tracks all “enemies” of the transgender movement. This Substack piece will likely be cited.

  • June 6, 2020—JK Rowling tweets, “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” A full-blown mass hysteria witch hunt erupts.

  • June 6, 2020—Rowling tweets, “‘Feminazi’, ‘TERF’, ‘bitch’, ‘witch’. Times change. Woman-hate is eternal.”

  • January, 2021 (NEW)—The Heterodorx podcast launches with Nina Paley and Corinna Cohn called the “Terf and Tranny alliance.” In January of 2023, Paley’s comic Agents of H.A.G. was dropped by Indiegogo.

  • June 6, 2023 (NEW)—19 states, all red, ban “gender-affirming care.”

  • June 2020 Abigail Shrier publishes Irreversible Damage - The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters - Amazon bans it, then unbans it, booksellers consider it hate speech, and it is banned from school libraries.

  • July 2020 - A group of writers and artists publish A Letter on Justice and Open Debate known as The Harper’s Letter. They are viciously attacked, and many claimed it was “transphobic” because JK Rowling signed it.

  • July 2020—Finland restricts hormone therapy for minors.

  • October 2020 - A Letter “Opposing J.K. Rowling's “Transphobia” signed by More Than 1,500 Publishing Professionals” is published.

  • December 2020 - Actress Ellen Page becomes Actor Elliot Page.

  • May 2021 - A teenager is sexually assaulted by a “nonbinary” or transgender male in Loudoun County, VA. Daily Wire breaks the story.

  • May 2021 - A parent sounds the alarm at the steep and sudden rise of “gender clinics” for youths and adolescents.

  • 2021 —gender clinics are a billion-dollar industry.

  • October 2021 — Dave Chappelle announces he’s “Team Turf.” A massive movement to have him canceled from Netflix erupts. They refuse.

  • February 2022 — Sweden halts hormone therapy for minors.

  • March 21, 2022 - Babylon Bee banned from Twitter for joking about Rachel Levine as “Man of the Year.”

  • March 2022 —Swimmer Riley Gaines ties with biological man/trans female Lia Thomas, but Thomas gets to hold the trophy as a photo op, becoming a high-profile trans superstar. Gaines begins speaking out, and is attacked by Media Matters, among others.

  • May 20, 2022—DOJ labels dozens of parents terrorist threats because of their confrontations at school board meetings.

  • June 1, 2022 —Matt Walsh released the documentary What is a Woman on the Daily Wire, most film critics refuse to watch it or review it.

  • July 2022 - NHS closes Tavistock “gender clinic” in the UK.

  • September 15, 2022 - WPATH "Standards of Care" releases Version 8, “An earlier draft would have required several years of transgender identity before an adolescent could begin treatment.”

  • September 28, 2022 — swimmer Riley Gaines appears in a Rand Paul political ad that directly targets unfair competition of biological men in women’s sports.

  • October 2022 - Joe Biden invites TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney to the White House as part of their ongoing efforts to use social media influencers to rally the vote.

  • November 2022 - Chloe Cole sues Kaiser Permanente for careless, catastrophic treatment when she was just 13, including a double mastectomy.

  • November, 2022 — Elon Musk officially takes over Twitter, unbans The Babylon Bee, Meghan Murphy, and others who had been banned over misgendering.

  • December, 2022 — The Twitter Files begin to drop.

  • 2022Gen-Z spends roughly 48 hours per month on TikTok.
    —Prefers “gender-neutral” pronouns
    —95% have a smartphone
    —is 20% of the population, 60 million.
    —59% believe forms should have more than one option, other than “man and woman”

  • February 9, 2023 (new)—Gender care clinician Jamie Reed writes in the Free Press, “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle—There are more than 100 pediatric gender clinics across the U.S. I worked at one. What’s happening to children is morally and medically appalling.”

  • February 14, 2023 (new)—Megan Phelps-Roper drops a podcast on the Free Press called The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, which still tops the charts on iTunes.

  • February 15, 2023—100+ celebrities and activists put pressure on the New York Times, demanding they “Stop printing biased anti-trans stories.”

  • February 16, 2023 (NEW)—Pamela Paul writes an op-ed for the New York Times, “In Defense of JK Rowling.”

  • March 24, 2023 —23 biological men/trans-identified women win National and International competitions.

  • March 25, 2023 — Kellie-Jay Keen is viciously attacked by trans activists in New Zealand.

  • March 29, 2023 - Transgender male/biological female Audrey Hale shoots and kills six at Christian Covenant. FBI, police, and now parents of the shooter and victims fight to keep her “manifesto” under wraps.

  • April 2023 — Riley Gaines is attacked by trans activists who hold her hostage for three hours and demand she pays them to release her. They screech, “trans women are women,” and hiss at her, “cry, bitch.”

  • April 16, 2023 (NEW)—Jamie Reed appears on Triggernometry to talk about the horrors of youth gender transition.

  • June 1, 2023 —Matt Walsh and the Daily Wire collaborate with Twitter to stream What is a Woman. When the Trust and Safety team sees the film they abruptly cancel the documentary and diminish its reach on the platform. Musk steps in, the top brass are vacated, and the film streams, with Musk RT’ing it to his millions of followers.

  • June 6, 2023 — Parents at Glendale School District protest against the school’s LGBTQIA curriculum as part of a wave of parents pushing back at school board meetings against “woke indoctrination” at elementary and middle schools.

  • June 8, 2023Youtube begins demonetizing high-profile users for “misgendering” people - Jordan Peterson, Candice Owens, Matt Walsh, and others under its ‘hateful conduct’ policy.

  • June 9, 2023—”A Korean women's spa, where nudity is compulsory, has been ordered by a judge to admit pre-op trans women with penises after an activist complained when the owner tried to ban them.”

  • June 14, 2023, Layla Jane sues Kaiser when she “found herself under the ‘care’ of medical professionals who chemically and surgically mutilated her body.”

  • June 14, 2023 - Trans influencer Rose Montoya joins other transgender influencers by going “Topless at the White House.”

In a rare rebuke, the Biden administration scolds Montoya, who is now banned from future visits.

  • June 21, 2023 — Abigail Shrier calls out a new Bill in California set to be signed by Gavin Newsom, AB 957, which would consider not affirming a child “abuse” that could remove parental rights.

  • 2020-2023 - The rise of preferred pronouns as the new Black Lives Matter tribal identifier, where a person can be banned for misgendering someone on social media and youtube.

  • Heartbreaking stories of destransitioners begin to find their way out.

  • June 21, 2023 — a parent confronts the Wake County School Board in North Carolina, reminding them that it’s parents who should be lead leading children, not the other way around:

June 2023—A new documentary called No Way Back was “deplatformed” from Vimeo in 2022. They were set to release it in AMC theaters, but the activists demanded AMC drop the film. Shockingly, they complied.

The activists released a chilling statement of victory:

Here is the trailer and website for No Way Back:

Coming up: Part Two - A Religious War




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Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Essays on politics and culture from Sasha Stone's Substack. A former Democrat and Leftist who escaped the bubble to get to know the other side of the country and to take a more critical look at the left. Sashastone.substack.com