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PaperclipPerfector  17d ago (text post)   32894 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 4, 2024

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I think wokeness was on the ascent prior to Trump descending the escalator. While it did get turbo-charged under Trump, it also clearly revealed itself and was increasingly unable to sanewash its prescriptions through anodyne description (ie. "Do you seriously take issue with an academic approach to female representation in media? Seriously, a problem with academics?"). Without Trump, I think the poison pills could have gone unnoticed for longer.

And 2024 is not 2016. There was a period where culture makers could more freely indulge their fantasies of a mythical Modern Audience that would monetarily reward their tainted output. In the time since, we have had major, recurring flops across multiple industries, and some clear indicators that audiences aren't chomping on this hook. There will be some token displays of staying in the fight, but this experiment has mostly failed. Important money men will want to pivot away.

I distinctly remember that one criticism from dissident right-wingers directed at Trump in the early years of his presidency was that his bellicose behavior will galvanize rabid and destructive leftist groups into action, and not only will he lack the willingness to confront them but he’ll also not give any support, direct or indirect, to those who do, leaving them out in the cold. Off all things Trump was ever criticized for, this is what I as a dissident rightist always found to be the most (and pretty much the only one) damning.

I agree with this. What Trump did was more bring the issue into the open. Woke itself is fairly weak outside of whatever got snuck into HR. That’s why it got so loud when Trump started challenges to it. Once the stuff was open, people rejected it and the Woke couldn’t really stop it. They could only make a lot of noise in an attempt to appear powerful.

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