Today, I want to talk about the reaction around a recent Politico article, that described in detail Andrew Yang's appearances on right-leaning podcasts and shows like The Rubin Report and The Ben Shapiro Show back in 2019, during his run for the Presidential primary, as well as some of his supposedly controversial comments. Now, some people on the pro-establishment parts of the so-called Left are using that as evidence that Yang is somehow 'not progressive', by which they probably mean 'right wing'. As many of you would know, I followed Yang's campaign closely, and my view is that that characterization is totally unfair.
In reality, Yang did nothing controversial at all. His comments against identity politics, for example, were generally well received. They were certainly not a racist dogwhistle or anything like that. His outreach to people across the political spectrum was considered one of his greatest assets. Furthermore, Yang was, and still is, one of the most popular rising stars among people on the Left. He is considered one of the best choices for 2024 among people who identify as progressive. And they still choose him, knowing all of the facts presented in the article.
What I'm worried about is that the pro-woke crowd is now out to smear anyone who does not entirely subscribe to woke culture and its demands as 'not progressive' at the very least, or even outrightly 'right wing'. In other words, the woke will set the terms for qualifying as 'progressive' going forward, and those who don't obey will be banished. We saw the beginnings of that last year, during the drama surrounding the Harper's free speech letter, where the woke openly doubted the progressive credentials of even figures like Noam Chomsky, for simply supporting free speech and opposing cancel culture. Meanwhile, woke leaders were all out to discredit any concerns about cancel culture and the erosion of free speech, even from well meaning people who otherwise supported racial justice. Make no mistake, this is not about social justice, it's a clear neo-Gramscian 'war of position' move. The smearing of Yang is clearly a continuation of that work.
I've said in the past, and I will say it again now, that I believe being skeptical of wokeism is actually being the real woke, because wokeism is pushed by elite establishments. Wokeism is divisive and unconstructive, and would certainly not lead us towards ending racism, sexism, homophobia or bigotry any time soon. It's not that I'm not concerned about actually racist people hiding behind anti-woke. I am certainly very concerned about that, and I have repeatedly spoken out on that. I think we should all combat that kind of deception. But the reason why I'm anti-woke is because I'm anti-racist, I want to end bigotry, I want a world of equal opportunity, and the worldview, methods and real world results of wokeism is leading us away from that. Identity politics has had the effect of increasing rather than decreasing racism. I seriously worry that it could even undo many years of progress if it is allowed to continue down its current path. That's why I cannot support any of it in good conscience. And there's nothing 'right wing' about this position at all.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like we're living in a movie, where the world is on the verge of a major crisis, but the problematic guys have the biggest megaphone, and they have somehow convinced many people that they are the good guys. They have turned a large chunk of the population against the real good guys too. Somehow, the good guys have to fight back and save the world. The only question is, how.
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