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I basically eliminated almost all interaction with social media some months ago ... and all this woke conflict stuff, it just goes away. You start noticing oth

I basically eliminated almost all interaction with social media some months ago ... and all this woke conflict stuff, it just goes away. You start noticing other things - people in general are not concerned about any of it, they're more concerned about the high prices and potential inflation spikes. They're concerned about jobs and quality of life and environmental uncertainties like drought. Many people's fears and hopes revolve around whether their kids will get a good education and have a secure future. I can't help thinking the whole woke thing has been some kind of manufactured media project, maybe with overtones of state propaganda, which had the overall goal of drawing attention away from the fundamental failings of many once-respected American institutions - media, government, academics, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if it was all purposely designed as some kind of divide-and-conquer tactic, something to distract the American public and draw attention away from ever-more-obvious gross failures of our incompetent leaders, which are across-the-board in nature and not exclusively linked to any political party. If this is a correct assessment, then you'd expect the typical 'accepted topics' of mass American political conflict - i.e. guns & abortion - to start taking center stage now, because they don't want people howling for 'better wages and less inflation' or screaming 'fix the damn infrastructure, you incompetent clowns' outside their windows.

majormajor 5y ago
Isn't the "whole woke thing" the group that's been most critical of American institutions? The police, the courts (re: rolling back voting rights regulation and laws), acceptance and hiring criterias at respected schools/universities/employers? If one wanted to come up with a propaganda project to hide decline they picked a really bad one!
escapedmoose 5y ago
I second this. Having been off of social media for two years and off of online news for one year, I’m nonetheless still amazed by people’s ability to forget that none of this “woke panic” stuff exists in the real world (certainly not where I live anyway). If you don’t seek it out, you won’t find it. Also, I think your point about it being a distraction tactic is exactly right. I remember back around the 2012-ish era, when Tumblr started getting really weird with blogs promoting some pretty insane things in the name of “social justice.” Turns out, some Russian troll farm was posing as Black activist bloggers to sow chaos. I was very active on Tumblr at the time and remember thinking how weird all those blogs felt, and when the news of the Russian campaign broke, it all made sense instantly. I get that same feeling from today’s woke/anti-woke discourse. It doesn’t feel honest. It feels like someone is playing us again.
- rayiner 5y ago
  > If you don’t seek it out, you won’t find it. Until it does. I didn’t care about any of it myself until I got an email saying my mild mannered Midwestern law school professor declared himself a “a racist” in front of the whole school: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/northwestern-universitys-interim-dean-admits-to-being-a-racist-during-digital-town-hall https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/northwestern-univers.... Then my high school declared standardized tests to be racist: https://www.newsweek.com/states-ask-high-court-halt-race-based-admissions-policy-top-school-1697367 https://www.newsweek.com/states-ask-high-court-halt-race-bas.... Then I got an email saying my third grader was learning how to “develop her identity” around her “skin tone.” A lot of the people who are in charge of telling you what to do and pulling the levels of state power to coerce you into doing stuff, and people in charge of reporting the news and socializing your kids and in many cases making public health decisions, buy into this woke stuff. And if you think the things they believe won’t affect you, just wait.
  - escapedmoose 5y ago
    I suppose only time will tell. But as someone who keeps up very closely with local news and politics in a decidedly “purple” area, I have seen no evidence of this so far.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
eyelidlessness 5y ago
> I basically eliminated almost all interaction with social media some months ago ... and all this woke conflict stuff, it just goes away. You start noticing other things - people in general are not concerned about any of it, they're more concerned about the high prices and potential inflation spikes. We clearly run in different circles. I basically eliminated my own social media usage, and pretty much what people around me are concerned about is who will get deported, how to protect people seeking abortions once they’re banned, and what new fresh hell will be visited on some person of color or marginalized faith, trans or queer person, or just someone holding a camera. Y’all worried about your finances are totally justified in that worry. But these concerns aren’t drama or trivia, they’re literally life or death for people whether you care or not.
inglor_cz 5y ago
Looking at the development, it seems to be a mostly academical project that spills over into media. Don't underestimate it. For example, hardcore German nationalism was once very popular in academic circles of Germany and Austria-Hungary (the German speaking part, of course). A normal Hans from the street, just like you, couldn't care less about what the students say and shout, and Vienna, Terst, Prague and Krakow were nice multicultural cities. At least on their surface. Until 1914. It is possible that without this toxic undercurrent that attacked the Austrian state for decades and moved it closer to imperial Germany against its own interest, the Great War wouldn't have happened.

majormajor 5y ago

Isn't the "whole woke thing" the group that's been most critical of American institutions? The police, the courts (re: rolling back voting rights regulation and laws), acceptance and hiring criterias at respected schools/universities/employers? If one wanted to come up with a propaganda project to hide decline they picked a really bad one!

escapedmoose 5y ago

I second this. Having been off of social media for two years and off of online news for one year, I’m nonetheless still amazed by people’s ability to forget that none of this “woke panic” stuff exists in the real world (certainly not where I live anyway). If you don’t seek it out, you won’t find it. Also, I think your point about it being a distraction tactic is exactly right. I remember back around the 2012-ish era, when Tumblr started getting really weird with blogs promoting some pretty insane things in the name of “social justice.” Turns out, some Russian troll farm was posing as Black activist bloggers to sow chaos. I was very active on Tumblr at the time and remember thinking how weird all those blogs felt, and when the news of the Russian campaign broke, it all made sense instantly. I get that same feeling from today’s woke/anti-woke discourse. It doesn’t feel honest. It feels like someone is playing us again.

rayiner 5y ago
> If you don’t seek it out, you won’t find it. Until it does. I didn’t care about any of it myself until I got an email saying my mild mannered Midwestern law school professor declared himself a “a racist” in front of the whole school: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/northwestern-universitys-interim-dean-admits-to-being-a-racist-during-digital-town-hall https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/northwestern-univers.... Then my high school declared standardized tests to be racist: https://www.newsweek.com/states-ask-high-court-halt-race-based-admissions-policy-top-school-1697367 https://www.newsweek.com/states-ask-high-court-halt-race-bas.... Then I got an email saying my third grader was learning how to “develop her identity” around her “skin tone.” A lot of the people who are in charge of telling you what to do and pulling the levels of state power to coerce you into doing stuff, and people in charge of reporting the news and socializing your kids and in many cases making public health decisions, buy into this woke stuff. And if you think the things they believe won’t affect you, just wait.
- escapedmoose 5y ago
  I suppose only time will tell. But as someone who keeps up very closely with local news and politics in a decidedly “purple” area, I have seen no evidence of this so far.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

eyelidlessness 5y ago

> I basically eliminated almost all interaction with social media some months ago ... and all this woke conflict stuff, it just goes away. You start noticing other things - people in general are not concerned about any of it, they're more concerned about the high prices and potential inflation spikes. We clearly run in different circles. I basically eliminated my own social media usage, and pretty much what people around me are concerned about is who will get deported, how to protect people seeking abortions once they’re banned, and what new fresh hell will be visited on some person of color or marginalized faith, trans or queer person, or just someone holding a camera. Y’all worried about your finances are totally justified in that worry. But these concerns aren’t drama or trivia, they’re literally life or death for people whether you care or not.

inglor_cz 5y ago

Looking at the development, it seems to be a mostly academical project that spills over into media. Don't underestimate it. For example, hardcore German nationalism was once very popular in academic circles of Germany and Austria-Hungary (the German speaking part, of course). A normal Hans from the street, just like you, couldn't care less about what the students say and shout, and Vienna, Terst, Prague and Krakow were nice multicultural cities. At least on their surface. Until 1914. It is possible that without this toxic undercurrent that attacked the Austrian state for decades and moved it closer to imperial Germany against its own interest, the Great War wouldn't have happened.