Quo Vadis GOP?

[Valmy]

I seem to recall that De Santis has visited Orban... is there a connection there as well?

Republicans, or at least the very conservative hardcore of them, are big fans of Orban in his big success of fighting the culture war.

Though I am not sure Hungary is really the shining beacon of success they seem to think it is.

[DGuller]

This strain of ignorance really annoys me.
Cuba is ran by a undemocratic authoritarian socialist regime.... It's definitely the socialist part of that equation which is the problem. And socialist totally equals anything from the centre right leftwards. So let's vote for the increasingly undemocratic authoritarian capitalist party!

The same dynamic happens with Soviet immigrants.  The unfortunate reality is that living in the Soviet Union is likely to make you personally authoritarian, which explains why the older generation of Soviet immigrants on the whole is virulently Trumpist.  Just like children growing up in an authoritarian household are more likely to become authoritarian parents, people growing up in an authoritarian society are more likely to be authoritarian in their personal life and their worldview.

[DGuller]

What surprises me is how little backlash seems to be coming from all these measures.

It doesn't surprise me, because wokism is an unsympathetic victim.  Wokism is the gift that keeps on giving for the Republicans.

[Jacob]

It doesn't surprise me, because wokism is an unsympathetic victim.

Is wokeism the victim here?

Wokism is the gift that keeps on giving for the Republicans.

Indeed. It's so useful that if it didn't already exist, the Republicans would have to invent it.

[Valmy]

What surprises me is how little backlash seems to be coming from all these measures.

It doesn't surprise me, because wokism is an unsympathetic victim.  Wokism is the gift that keeps on giving for the Republicans.

Well we can't just throw ethnic minorities and LGBT people under the bus. They are key pillars of our party.

So "wokism", whatever the fuck it is, will just continue being a gift for them.

[Admiral Yi]

That part in the bill that talks about "promoting the philosophical underpinnings of Western civilization" could and should come back to bite them in the ass.

[DGuller]

Well we can't just throw ethnic minorities and LGBT people under the bus. They are key pillars of our party.

So "wokism", whatever the fuck it is, will just continue being a gift for them.

We can protect them with persuasion rather than sledgehammer.  In fact, we'll probably protect them better that way, because we can't protect them if we help getting GOP elected.

[Oexmelin]

Wokism, that's the true enemy.

[DGuller]

It's one of the two fronts on the war on liberalism.

[The Minsky Moment]

Wokism, that's the true enemy.

Better Hitler than Blum

[Admiral Yi]

Better Hitler than Blum

As DGuller pointed out, we're allowed more than one per customer.

[DGuller]

Just because you want Hitler defeated doesn't mean that you should embrace Stalin.  Maybe at some point you'll have no choice, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't talk about what a shitty situation you wound up in, while you're still allowed.

[The Minsky Moment]

Wokism is a bogeyman, it has no institutional power.  What branch of government is under its sway?  But the hard right has the Speaker of the House by the balls, its hands on the throat of the Supreme Court, and is in striking distance of the White House.  3 strikes, democracy is out.

Wokism can barely make itself felt in the faculty lounge, but Orbanism is a real possibility in the USA in the very near future.  There is no equivalency.

[Admiral Yi]

Wokism is a bogeyman, it has no institutional power.  What branch of government is under its sway?  But the hard right has the Speaker of the House by the balls, its hands on the throat of the Supreme Court, and is in striking distance of the White House.  3 strikes, democracy is out.

Wokism can barely make itself felt in the faculty lounge, but Orbanism is a real possibility in the USA in the very near future.  There is no equivalency.

There are forms of institutional power other than the government, such as academia and journalism.

[DGuller]

Wokism is a bogeyman, it has no institutional power.  What branch of government is under its sway?

I think liberals understand that government is not the only source of power that can be projected onto the individual.  In fact, wokists do as well, which is why trying to get someone fired is their default method of setting an example on the few so that the many will get the hint.  At least with the government you have some recourse, whereas there is no appeals court for getting canceled.

But the hard right has the Speaker of the House by the balls, its hands on the throat of the Supreme Court, and is in striking distance of the White House.  3 strikes, democracy is out.

All the more reason to not give voters a legit gripe that will serve as a gateway into Fox News rabbit hole.

Wokism can barely make itself felt in the faculty lounge, but Orbanism is a real possibility in the USA in the very near future.  There is no equivalency.

There doesn't have to be an equivalency.  When you're attacked on two fronts, one of the fronts can be a whole lot more dangerous than the other, but that doesn't mean that you can just leave the other front unmanned.