History will only treat all of these scoundrels badly if we survive this revolution. I spend a lot of time trying to see an angle to defeat what Academia/Democrats/Media/Hollywood have built. As long as Academia keeps churning out indoctrinated victims, and transfers them into a society that continues to support the fragile/woke worldview they were taught, our country is screwed.
People don't appreciate how much damage has been done by the influence of this generation in business by converting marketing departments and HR to woke. DEI has become woven into so much of society, I don't see how it's ever extracted. Marketing departments try to promote their products in this new woke world, that subtly reinforces all of what woke stands for.
Anyway, let's hope history looks badly on the leaders of this period. I'm afraid history may view them as the new founding fathers.
And again Sasha, thank you and all of Substack (apart from that nasty little troll R Reich) writers for fighting for us.
You are exactly right. I am not nearly as optimistic about what future historians will say as Sasha is.
The Right and the Center have no idea what they are up against, or how pervasive the Far-Left's influence has become. It is everywhere, and it started with popular culture and the faculties at universities.
In the 40s through the 80s, one of the first things that the winning sides of revolutions did (and most of my observations were the Asian revolutions) was imprison/execute the academics. I never understood why.
Now I think I understand; if you want to sustain your position, you have to change the teachings.
The left, probably with no small assistance from China/Russia, didn't need to harm a hair on anyone's head. They just converted the academics and successfully injected 1-2 generations of citizens who are opposed to everything this country has worked for for 250 years. I absolutely believe we are in the middle of a revolution, but nobody sees it.
Conservatives should concentrate on radical university reform. Do it under the guise of student debt relief. Yeah. we'll forgive a shitload of student debt, but the Feds will no longer underwrite loans. Funding for Universities will plummet, and they'll have to shed the layers of admin that has been behind the DEI Bs, and jettison the 'studies' programs which are only funded by students loans and only churn out US hating racist/genderists.
Damn, I guess I really am the ranting old man that my grandfather/father were.
I'm 100% in agreement with your comments. I'd add that there is and easier fix for the student debt debacle: For any government grants of any kind to colleges and universities - require that they be co-guarantors on all of their student debt going forward. I think problem will begin to fix itself quickly. Sadly, the earliest that will likely be able to be enacted will be January 2025.
The 100 year march through out institutions is here and it will take a long amount of time to reverse. Activate with your local school boards and city councils; we just flipped ours.
We absolutely know what we are up against. Thankfully WE own much of the land outside of large metro areas and all of the guns; I say that NOT because we want to use them, but it gives pause to the other side. I have been to war for this country - you do not want war, trust me.
The most important thing we can do is exactly what Sasha is doing - look reality in the face instead of hiding behind a belief or narrative of what should be in your mind. Engage with folks from 'the other side' - you will find you aren't that much different. Personally, my view is that we need to agree that our Bill of Rights are non-negotiable as a start.
I joined Twitter a month ago. I made sure I followed as many people who I adamantly disagree with as those I agree with so that I get unfiltered bi partisan insights. It's pretty amazing. I now get my news from Substack, Real Clear Politics and Twitter and have managed to totally disconnect from left/right corporate media. My last link is the WSJ, and after 40 years of steady decline, and paying a lot of money to read two pages, I'm probably decoupling from that too.
Absolutely! Great experiment, sir. I was listening to the greatest professor I have ever had - Rush - in 2017 and he was so flustered with the media he just turned it off. I followed suit and it has been wonderful. Keep working on your family and friends to follow suit. It is all we can do.
I took American History in college in 1994. In a Red State.
Even then leftist slant was disturbing. I can’t imagine what it’s like now.
For current events to be recorded with any semblance of reality will require a complete cultural revolution. Even then, the left is so completely entrenched in academia, it will be the last institution to be wrested from their control.
I can only pray my grandchildren see the sort of reckoning Sasha is referring to.
It’s definitely not happening in my lifetime, if it ever happens at all.
Man you just keep getting better...such passion fueled with intelligence and outrage and sarcasm. I can honestly say I have never read anyone with such magnetism and brilliant use of words to cut like swords and diminish those that have already diminished themselves forever.
Great work. Love the Walter Kirn quote and the Raskin piece just illustrates what a fraud he is. Jay Bhattacharya is an amazing voice of reason. It’s really hilarious and disturbing the way the left and MSM are dehumanizing Musk, Taibbi, Weiss, and the list goes on.
I really enjoy your Substack newsletter/podcast/multimedia experience. This format is great. Obviously it wouldn’t work without the really solid content. I just really enjoy reading and listening. I think you’re on to something. It’s like a headrest for my soul….
I’ve seen the dehumanization of Musk (mostly on social media, I hardly ever pay attention to MSM), but for Taibbi too? The guy is a traditionally left wing! It’s almost unfathomable how so-called intelligent people can’t comprehend basic common sense. The indoctrination is real...
"What about rushing children into gender confusion in elementary school so parents can raise their clout on social media?"
Spot on. That is EXACTLY why all this gender BS has taken hold so effectively in schools. It could not have happened without parents who are so self-absorbed that they care more about their social media standing than they do about their children's well being. I don't know how they sleep at night.
John Cusack is on the Musk cancellation wagon, the same uneducated bigot who tweeted a vicious anti-Semitic cartoon in May, 2019. I remember the date well as the following week I applied for my first firearms license. Thank you John for broadening my experience.
There are already lawsuits being filed for performing genital surgery on minors. Class-action status can't be far behind.
But the bigger issue, from my perspective, is that the wokesters on the Left seem to believe that they can grow their movement via fear-mongering.
It is possible, temporarily, to paralyze your opponents via fear. We saw that with McCarthy 70 years ago.
But sooner or later that grows stale, and people begin to fight back - and in the meantime, you've exiled a remarkably large part of your original base and driven them into your opponents' camp.
That doesn't seem like a winning formula for building a political movement to me.
If what you say is true, we are still waiting for said original base to switch sides. I thought it had happened in the Glenn Youngkin election last year. But this latest election tells me it has not happened yet. I am devastated that the Democrats suffered so few political consequences for their embrace of such minority-held social positions.
Their voters have to still be receiving govt money via th $7T they have printed the last couple years. Here in MN, our 'surplus has grown from $1.5B to $17B and it didnt come from tax increases or business growth.
And that money will stay with the state employees and unions, not come back to our pockets. This is why the election was closer, dem voters havent felt financial pain yet.
I so hope you are right, that there are more like Sasha willing to stand up and say " Have you no sense of decency? ". Just have to hope it happens before we actually do lose all sense of decency.
Hopefully, WaPo, NYT, CNN and MSNBC will all start to crumble as the public wearies of their biased models. I've been teetering on canceling the WSJ, a newspaper I've read since the 70s, as I pay to read two pages, and even they are starting to reject my comments.
I've been saying for a year or more that Substack may be the rebirth of the fourth estate, and perhaps Rumble and podcasts replace the video 'News' programming.
With SpaceX Starlink, Musk is positioned to take over the worldwide Internet access layer, with a subscriber base potentially numbering in the billions. Once fully operational, potential revenues could approach $1 trillion a year. With future, planned laser connectivity between satellites, government firewalls, and regulation will be bypassed.
Indeed, they opened Pandora's Box in the effort to get rid of him, telling themselves all along that they would only use these powers against the Bad Orange Man, and lo and behold we find out that the devil is in the details of what they did and do.
I would bet good money that there are a few emails in the Twitter archives that tie Google, FaceBook, and all of the rest of social media into this, hence why the reaction is so vituperative.
I am 100 % with you on this one. I have disagreed with some of your past articles, but it's great that here on Substack we are allowed to disagree and debate without resorting to pettiness.
In any case, I am a classic liberal, not a progressive nor a leftist. I can see very clearly here that the Left has decided to embrace censorship in part or whole in order to achieve political power. But the rot goes beyond that. I am also a scientist and tenured professor at an R1 institution, and I can tell you that Twitter is hell for us. We are encouraged to participate by administrators, and it is essentially populated by egocentric narcissists with nonstop virtue signaling, as if academia needed to magnify egos more than it did before Twitter. Part of me hopes that Mr. Musk ends the entire enterprise because I truly believe that political discourse by Twitter is wholly unsuited for a society run by serious adults.
The good news is that Mr. Musk seems totally unfazed by the blowback, temper tantrums, and shenanigans of the Left. If they think booing at a comedy show is going to defeat him, then they truly are beyond help at this point. Likewise, if they really subscribe to the 'words are violence' philosophy, then they have tacitly approved 'word violence' against Mr. Musk. They cannot have it both ways.
Thanks to you and all the other journalists that have kept this issue of free speech and social media alive, especially since the alphabet soup of leftist media has ignored it.
Wow! Sasha, as usual you have my mind racing. One line stuck with me: “When did they stop caring?” I realize you were talking journalistic ethics. But the question underlies much of what we think of the insanity of the Left.
The answer is they didn’t stop caring. Indeed, they care much more than you or I do about so many things.
Who cares more? Ron Desantis who recklessly opened up his state and put citizens at risk, or Gretchen Whitmer and Kate Brown who locked their states down to save lives? MLK and his peaceful protests, or BLM who want to tear down a racist system? The Supreme Court that wants to allow states like Texas to deny women’s health care, or pro-Roe advocates who want universal rights across all 50 states? Elon Musk who wants deplorable people to be able to say awful things on Twitter, or Yoel Roth and the Trust and Safety Council that wanted to protect us all from hate and misinformation? A dad that let’s his kid fall off their bike and tells them to get back up, or a controlling helicopter parent that wants to keep them from falling down at all? A man who wants to teach someone to fish, or someone who sees that they are hungry NOW so we need to give him the fish ASAP? Who cares more?
I could go on endlessly. On every conceivable topic, the Left cares. Oh yes. They care more than we do. MUCH more. They care so much that we will be MADE to care too. Regardless of the topic, they cede no ground to the heartless Right on who cares more.
Further, they care with an URGENCY that we underestimate. There is no time to waste. On climate. On racism. On COVID. On trans rights. Even on teenage awkwardness during puberty. There is no time to waste on debate, free-thinking, contrary opinions, or even contrary evidence. Democracy is inefficient. Changing minds is slow. Easier to just shut them (us) the f@#k up.
So because their cause is righteous, because there is no time to waste, the ends justify the means. Rules for Radicals # 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon”. It is the root of the Left’s dehumanization of anyone that disagrees with them. Thus, we get Trump (and Musk) Derangement Syndrome. It is a feature, not a bug.
I don’t know the way back. I see it with my own daughter. She just has zero ability to entertain a contrary thought and no time to do so regardless. The digital age. Instant gratification. Zero attention spans. We see the lunacy in expediency. They do not.
Sasha, I pray that you are right that a turning and reckoning are coming. But I’m afraid that the self-righteousness and urgency are engrained and addictive. People don’t see the long-term damage being done in the name of needs that must be met NOW.
Patience and decency are no longer virtues. How do we reclaim those core values?
I have the opportunity to speak with GenZ activists fairly often. They have declared to me more than once that, "The end justifies the means!." In this instance the "means" referred to things like perpetrating violence against innocent police officers and trying to burn down my city for month after month. The young activists do not necessarily extend the same support to the J6 rioters. And, of course, they police each other and everyone else for indications of "violence" perpetrated via forbidden words. The only common thread here is the self-righteousness you describe, and the absolute conviction that they themselves are always 100% right.
I keep wondering if maybe I was as stupid and arrogant when I was 20 or so. I certainly was regarded as "extremely radical." I just don't remember trying to burn down buildings or trying to ruin anyone's life because they disagreed with me. A significant part of that memory is that there were grown ups around who were setting limits on the Revolution. As our civilization disintegrates, people of the upper socioeconomic classes are losing all sense of limits. Reality is what you face when confronted with limits, so Woke cultists choose fantasy instead.
There are obvious parallels to what transpired in the upper social strata in Rome during its decline. People ate, partied and turned their attention towards self-indulgence, ignoring the threat of attack by foreign armies. Empires do all collapse eventually, and it could be happening here.
“Reality is what you face when confronted by limits”. I love this, so true! As for the parallels with Rome, as you describe it, the elites then were complacent and distracted. It seems that way too many of the elites today are fostering, funding, and cheering the decline.
"It seems that way too many of the elites today are fostering, funding, and cheering the decline."
I have seen that also, especially locally. I am starting to wonder about how much of the Woke culture involves wealthy white peoples' family dynamics. The entitled children strutting their royal presences while the proud parents and professors look on with indulgent smiles.
The same educated, affluent white demographic also seems to contribute personnel to the DEI racket. I have noticed a preponderance of highly aggressive educated white ladies on the thought reform and policing teams. White women are treated as fair game now for all sorts of sexist, racist slurs and attributions, and white women are enthusiastically acting on the opportunity to viciously compete with each other.
I completely agree with all of your analysis about the centrality of the "caring, loving" image to Woke self-esteem. There appears to be varying degrees of sincerity among the Woke regarding "caring about marginalized people." It appears that many of the Woke are sincerely trying to rescue people they have been told to see as victims. Obviously an enormous percentage of Americans believe whatever they are told by journalists on CNN, NPR and MSNBC.
There are also a great many narcissists among the Woke. In fact, the entire cult is basically about narcissism, especially with regard to its social media presence.
For them, the "Caring" image is nothing but a self-serving performance, and they don't hesitate to exploit children to show how much they "Care." Or destroy the country if they benefit while it's happening.
The corporate Woke consist of members of the above groups, but they also have realistic incentives for advertising their devotion to the Woke cults' dogmas. It costs them nothing and has so far gotten them publicity that is regarded as favorable by the same people who believe what they are told by MSM.
The worst part is of course that both the true believers and the narcissists have successfully convinced two generations of young people that there is a national crisis of life-threatening abuse of marginalized populations. I try not to think about this too much, because it causes me to feel pessimistic and disempowered. Of course, there is a lot of truth to the latter! LOL!
Great analysis, Sandra. I am sorry to hear that it is open-season on white women now too. Of course, I’ve heard it from Sasha about her experience, but I guess I chalked that up to her becoming a “heretic” as a former Democrat with a public profile. I am saddened but not surprised to hear it is more pervasive.
I feel the same as you about what it has done to the newer generations, and I feel the same pessimism. I really hope Sasha is seeing correctly a reckoning coming. I’m in Portland, Oregon. It’s hard for me to see what might be going on.
I was just talking to a friend today about whether I might ever encounter on these sites anyone else who lives in Portland. :-) The reason why I started subscribing to these newsletters is that I am searching for diversity of thought. And sanity. Nice to meet you, neighbor!
OMG, a clear-headed person in Portland, OR. I thought I was a unicorn here, LOL! Nice to chat here, Sandra. Sorry for the delayed response, but my email is so backlogged. And Sasha is so prolific that I move on to the next post pretty quickly.
If you ever want to chat in real-life, I’m not sure how to share personal info here. I don’t think there is a direct message feature. The only thing I can think of is to arrange a meeting time and spot somewhere if you are interested. I’m actually in Norway now until Jan 6. I live near the Tanasbourne area of Beaverton. But am willing to meet you anywhere in the Portland area.
You never know how small the world is. For example, I met 2 Japanese ladies on a cruise in Oct. One of them works 5 min from my house.
I hope we get out of this mess but I'm losing faith to be honest. There's way too much against the sane, thinkers. I mean the things coming out about Covid now hardly anyone reports so the MSM followers and people on the left won't find out about it and will continue on their merry way.
History will only treat all of these scoundrels badly if we survive this revolution. I spend a lot of time trying to see an angle to defeat what Academia/Democrats/Media/Hollywood have built. As long as Academia keeps churning out indoctrinated victims, and transfers them into a society that continues to support the fragile/woke worldview they were taught, our country is screwed.
People don't appreciate how much damage has been done by the influence of this generation in business by converting marketing departments and HR to woke. DEI has become woven into so much of society, I don't see how it's ever extracted. Marketing departments try to promote their products in this new woke world, that subtly reinforces all of what woke stands for.
Anyway, let's hope history looks badly on the leaders of this period. I'm afraid history may view them as the new founding fathers.
And again Sasha, thank you and all of Substack (apart from that nasty little troll R Reich) writers for fighting for us.
You are exactly right. I am not nearly as optimistic about what future historians will say as Sasha is.
The Right and the Center have no idea what they are up against, or how pervasive the Far-Left's influence has become. It is everywhere, and it started with popular culture and the faculties at universities.
In the 40s through the 80s, one of the first things that the winning sides of revolutions did (and most of my observations were the Asian revolutions) was imprison/execute the academics. I never understood why.
Now I think I understand; if you want to sustain your position, you have to change the teachings.
The left, probably with no small assistance from China/Russia, didn't need to harm a hair on anyone's head. They just converted the academics and successfully injected 1-2 generations of citizens who are opposed to everything this country has worked for for 250 years. I absolutely believe we are in the middle of a revolution, but nobody sees it.
Conservatives should concentrate on radical university reform. Do it under the guise of student debt relief. Yeah. we'll forgive a shitload of student debt, but the Feds will no longer underwrite loans. Funding for Universities will plummet, and they'll have to shed the layers of admin that has been behind the DEI Bs, and jettison the 'studies' programs which are only funded by students loans and only churn out US hating racist/genderists.
Damn, I guess I really am the ranting old man that my grandfather/father were.
I'm 100% in agreement with your comments. I'd add that there is and easier fix for the student debt debacle: For any government grants of any kind to colleges and universities - require that they be co-guarantors on all of their student debt going forward. I think problem will begin to fix itself quickly. Sadly, the earliest that will likely be able to be enacted will be January 2025.
I could not agree more.
The 100 year march through out institutions is here and it will take a long amount of time to reverse. Activate with your local school boards and city councils; we just flipped ours.
We absolutely know what we are up against. Thankfully WE own much of the land outside of large metro areas and all of the guns; I say that NOT because we want to use them, but it gives pause to the other side. I have been to war for this country - you do not want war, trust me.
The most important thing we can do is exactly what Sasha is doing - look reality in the face instead of hiding behind a belief or narrative of what should be in your mind. Engage with folks from 'the other side' - you will find you aren't that much different. Personally, my view is that we need to agree that our Bill of Rights are non-negotiable as a start.
I joined Twitter a month ago. I made sure I followed as many people who I adamantly disagree with as those I agree with so that I get unfiltered bi partisan insights. It's pretty amazing. I now get my news from Substack, Real Clear Politics and Twitter and have managed to totally disconnect from left/right corporate media. My last link is the WSJ, and after 40 years of steady decline, and paying a lot of money to read two pages, I'm probably decoupling from that too.
Absolutely! Great experiment, sir. I was listening to the greatest professor I have ever had - Rush - in 2017 and he was so flustered with the media he just turned it off. I followed suit and it has been wonderful. Keep working on your family and friends to follow suit. It is all we can do.
I took American History in college in 1994. In a Red State.
Even then leftist slant was disturbing. I can’t imagine what it’s like now.
For current events to be recorded with any semblance of reality will require a complete cultural revolution. Even then, the left is so completely entrenched in academia, it will be the last institution to be wrested from their control.
I can only pray my grandchildren see the sort of reckoning Sasha is referring to.
It’s definitely not happening in my lifetime, if it ever happens at all.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure I’m not.
Man you just keep getting better...such passion fueled with intelligence and outrage and sarcasm. I can honestly say I have never read anyone with such magnetism and brilliant use of words to cut like swords and diminish those that have already diminished themselves forever.
Kudos to one if the best ...if not "THE BEST"
Love your thoughts and style!
Sasha-
Great work. Love the Walter Kirn quote and the Raskin piece just illustrates what a fraud he is. Jay Bhattacharya is an amazing voice of reason. It’s really hilarious and disturbing the way the left and MSM are dehumanizing Musk, Taibbi, Weiss, and the list goes on.
I really enjoy your Substack newsletter/podcast/multimedia experience. This format is great. Obviously it wouldn’t work without the really solid content. I just really enjoy reading and listening. I think you’re on to something. It’s like a headrest for my soul….
Thank you!
I’ve seen the dehumanization of Musk (mostly on social media, I hardly ever pay attention to MSM), but for Taibbi too? The guy is a traditionally left wing! It’s almost unfathomable how so-called intelligent people can’t comprehend basic common sense. The indoctrination is real...
“There will be a reckoning on those who stood by and did nothing, and the weakest among us will be called upon to explain themselves.”
I hope, with everything in me, that you are right.
"What about rushing children into gender confusion in elementary school so parents can raise their clout on social media?"
Spot on. That is EXACTLY why all this gender BS has taken hold so effectively in schools. It could not have happened without parents who are so self-absorbed that they care more about their social media standing than they do about their children's well being. I don't know how they sleep at night.
I doubt Dave Chappelle is shedding any tears about a bunch of cry baby white leftists not liking him.
I love that him and Elon fight back.
John Cusack is on the Musk cancellation wagon, the same uneducated bigot who tweeted a vicious anti-Semitic cartoon in May, 2019. I remember the date well as the following week I applied for my first firearms license. Thank you John for broadening my experience.
There are already lawsuits being filed for performing genital surgery on minors. Class-action status can't be far behind.
But the bigger issue, from my perspective, is that the wokesters on the Left seem to believe that they can grow their movement via fear-mongering.
It is possible, temporarily, to paralyze your opponents via fear. We saw that with McCarthy 70 years ago.
But sooner or later that grows stale, and people begin to fight back - and in the meantime, you've exiled a remarkably large part of your original base and driven them into your opponents' camp.
That doesn't seem like a winning formula for building a political movement to me.
If what you say is true, we are still waiting for said original base to switch sides. I thought it had happened in the Glenn Youngkin election last year. But this latest election tells me it has not happened yet. I am devastated that the Democrats suffered so few political consequences for their embrace of such minority-held social positions.
Their voters have to still be receiving govt money via th $7T they have printed the last couple years. Here in MN, our 'surplus has grown from $1.5B to $17B and it didnt come from tax increases or business growth.
And that money will stay with the state employees and unions, not come back to our pockets. This is why the election was closer, dem voters havent felt financial pain yet.
I so hope you are right, that there are more like Sasha willing to stand up and say " Have you no sense of decency? ". Just have to hope it happens before we actually do lose all sense of decency.
Hopefully, WaPo, NYT, CNN and MSNBC will all start to crumble as the public wearies of their biased models. I've been teetering on canceling the WSJ, a newspaper I've read since the 70s, as I pay to read two pages, and even they are starting to reject my comments.
I've been saying for a year or more that Substack may be the rebirth of the fourth estate, and perhaps Rumble and podcasts replace the video 'News' programming.
With SpaceX Starlink, Musk is positioned to take over the worldwide Internet access layer, with a subscriber base potentially numbering in the billions. Once fully operational, potential revenues could approach $1 trillion a year. With future, planned laser connectivity between satellites, government firewalls, and regulation will be bypassed.
In short I think a lot of people went nuts over Trump and used him as an excuse to embrace their worst impulses.
Indeed, they opened Pandora's Box in the effort to get rid of him, telling themselves all along that they would only use these powers against the Bad Orange Man, and lo and behold we find out that the devil is in the details of what they did and do.
I would bet good money that there are a few emails in the Twitter archives that tie Google, FaceBook, and all of the rest of social media into this, hence why the reaction is so vituperative.
Dear Ms. Stone,
I am 100 % with you on this one. I have disagreed with some of your past articles, but it's great that here on Substack we are allowed to disagree and debate without resorting to pettiness.
In any case, I am a classic liberal, not a progressive nor a leftist. I can see very clearly here that the Left has decided to embrace censorship in part or whole in order to achieve political power. But the rot goes beyond that. I am also a scientist and tenured professor at an R1 institution, and I can tell you that Twitter is hell for us. We are encouraged to participate by administrators, and it is essentially populated by egocentric narcissists with nonstop virtue signaling, as if academia needed to magnify egos more than it did before Twitter. Part of me hopes that Mr. Musk ends the entire enterprise because I truly believe that political discourse by Twitter is wholly unsuited for a society run by serious adults.
The good news is that Mr. Musk seems totally unfazed by the blowback, temper tantrums, and shenanigans of the Left. If they think booing at a comedy show is going to defeat him, then they truly are beyond help at this point. Likewise, if they really subscribe to the 'words are violence' philosophy, then they have tacitly approved 'word violence' against Mr. Musk. They cannot have it both ways.
Thanks to you and all the other journalists that have kept this issue of free speech and social media alive, especially since the alphabet soup of leftist media has ignored it.
Wow! Sasha, as usual you have my mind racing. One line stuck with me: “When did they stop caring?” I realize you were talking journalistic ethics. But the question underlies much of what we think of the insanity of the Left.
The answer is they didn’t stop caring. Indeed, they care much more than you or I do about so many things.
Who cares more? Ron Desantis who recklessly opened up his state and put citizens at risk, or Gretchen Whitmer and Kate Brown who locked their states down to save lives? MLK and his peaceful protests, or BLM who want to tear down a racist system? The Supreme Court that wants to allow states like Texas to deny women’s health care, or pro-Roe advocates who want universal rights across all 50 states? Elon Musk who wants deplorable people to be able to say awful things on Twitter, or Yoel Roth and the Trust and Safety Council that wanted to protect us all from hate and misinformation? A dad that let’s his kid fall off their bike and tells them to get back up, or a controlling helicopter parent that wants to keep them from falling down at all? A man who wants to teach someone to fish, or someone who sees that they are hungry NOW so we need to give him the fish ASAP? Who cares more?
I could go on endlessly. On every conceivable topic, the Left cares. Oh yes. They care more than we do. MUCH more. They care so much that we will be MADE to care too. Regardless of the topic, they cede no ground to the heartless Right on who cares more.
Further, they care with an URGENCY that we underestimate. There is no time to waste. On climate. On racism. On COVID. On trans rights. Even on teenage awkwardness during puberty. There is no time to waste on debate, free-thinking, contrary opinions, or even contrary evidence. Democracy is inefficient. Changing minds is slow. Easier to just shut them (us) the f@#k up.
So because their cause is righteous, because there is no time to waste, the ends justify the means. Rules for Radicals # 5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon”. It is the root of the Left’s dehumanization of anyone that disagrees with them. Thus, we get Trump (and Musk) Derangement Syndrome. It is a feature, not a bug.
I don’t know the way back. I see it with my own daughter. She just has zero ability to entertain a contrary thought and no time to do so regardless. The digital age. Instant gratification. Zero attention spans. We see the lunacy in expediency. They do not.
Sasha, I pray that you are right that a turning and reckoning are coming. But I’m afraid that the self-righteousness and urgency are engrained and addictive. People don’t see the long-term damage being done in the name of needs that must be met NOW.
Patience and decency are no longer virtues. How do we reclaim those core values?
I have the opportunity to speak with GenZ activists fairly often. They have declared to me more than once that, "The end justifies the means!." In this instance the "means" referred to things like perpetrating violence against innocent police officers and trying to burn down my city for month after month. The young activists do not necessarily extend the same support to the J6 rioters. And, of course, they police each other and everyone else for indications of "violence" perpetrated via forbidden words. The only common thread here is the self-righteousness you describe, and the absolute conviction that they themselves are always 100% right.
I keep wondering if maybe I was as stupid and arrogant when I was 20 or so. I certainly was regarded as "extremely radical." I just don't remember trying to burn down buildings or trying to ruin anyone's life because they disagreed with me. A significant part of that memory is that there were grown ups around who were setting limits on the Revolution. As our civilization disintegrates, people of the upper socioeconomic classes are losing all sense of limits. Reality is what you face when confronted with limits, so Woke cultists choose fantasy instead.
There are obvious parallels to what transpired in the upper social strata in Rome during its decline. People ate, partied and turned their attention towards self-indulgence, ignoring the threat of attack by foreign armies. Empires do all collapse eventually, and it could be happening here.
“Reality is what you face when confronted by limits”. I love this, so true! As for the parallels with Rome, as you describe it, the elites then were complacent and distracted. It seems that way too many of the elites today are fostering, funding, and cheering the decline.
"It seems that way too many of the elites today are fostering, funding, and cheering the decline."
I have seen that also, especially locally. I am starting to wonder about how much of the Woke culture involves wealthy white peoples' family dynamics. The entitled children strutting their royal presences while the proud parents and professors look on with indulgent smiles.
The same educated, affluent white demographic also seems to contribute personnel to the DEI racket. I have noticed a preponderance of highly aggressive educated white ladies on the thought reform and policing teams. White women are treated as fair game now for all sorts of sexist, racist slurs and attributions, and white women are enthusiastically acting on the opportunity to viciously compete with each other.
I completely agree with all of your analysis about the centrality of the "caring, loving" image to Woke self-esteem. There appears to be varying degrees of sincerity among the Woke regarding "caring about marginalized people." It appears that many of the Woke are sincerely trying to rescue people they have been told to see as victims. Obviously an enormous percentage of Americans believe whatever they are told by journalists on CNN, NPR and MSNBC.
There are also a great many narcissists among the Woke. In fact, the entire cult is basically about narcissism, especially with regard to its social media presence.
For them, the "Caring" image is nothing but a self-serving performance, and they don't hesitate to exploit children to show how much they "Care." Or destroy the country if they benefit while it's happening.
The corporate Woke consist of members of the above groups, but they also have realistic incentives for advertising their devotion to the Woke cults' dogmas. It costs them nothing and has so far gotten them publicity that is regarded as favorable by the same people who believe what they are told by MSM.
The worst part is of course that both the true believers and the narcissists have successfully convinced two generations of young people that there is a national crisis of life-threatening abuse of marginalized populations. I try not to think about this too much, because it causes me to feel pessimistic and disempowered. Of course, there is a lot of truth to the latter! LOL!
Great analysis, Sandra. I am sorry to hear that it is open-season on white women now too. Of course, I’ve heard it from Sasha about her experience, but I guess I chalked that up to her becoming a “heretic” as a former Democrat with a public profile. I am saddened but not surprised to hear it is more pervasive.
I feel the same as you about what it has done to the newer generations, and I feel the same pessimism. I really hope Sasha is seeing correctly a reckoning coming. I’m in Portland, Oregon. It’s hard for me to see what might be going on.
I was just talking to a friend today about whether I might ever encounter on these sites anyone else who lives in Portland. :-) The reason why I started subscribing to these newsletters is that I am searching for diversity of thought. And sanity. Nice to meet you, neighbor!
OMG, a clear-headed person in Portland, OR. I thought I was a unicorn here, LOL! Nice to chat here, Sandra. Sorry for the delayed response, but my email is so backlogged. And Sasha is so prolific that I move on to the next post pretty quickly.
If you ever want to chat in real-life, I’m not sure how to share personal info here. I don’t think there is a direct message feature. The only thing I can think of is to arrange a meeting time and spot somewhere if you are interested. I’m actually in Norway now until Jan 6. I live near the Tanasbourne area of Beaverton. But am willing to meet you anywhere in the Portland area.
You never know how small the world is. For example, I met 2 Japanese ladies on a cruise in Oct. One of them works 5 min from my house.
Hope you have a Happy New Year! Mike
Great post, Sasha.
Excellent commentary. Thank you.
Good stuff. Thank you. I’m still blocked on Twitter. Ugh.
I hope we get out of this mess but I'm losing faith to be honest. There's way too much against the sane, thinkers. I mean the things coming out about Covid now hardly anyone reports so the MSM followers and people on the left won't find out about it and will continue on their merry way.