References: The woke right stands at the door

To Claude today:

I read a Jonathan Rauch essay in which he argued that MAGA is using the same playbook as wokeness: post-modernism said you needed to pay attention to how people were using language for power, which rendered all thinkers suspect, making it difficult to use post-modernism to argue for anything. But then some thinkers came along and argued that people who had previously been oppressed had language that was automatically less suspect, and thus whatever they said, particularly if it could be logically related to past oppression, was the truth of the matter. And since this reasoning is both confusing and intimidating (who wants to be labeled an oppressor?), it made for a good rhetorical weapon. And now MAGA is using elements from this ur-woke-ism—a lack of objective reality, “truth” as just power assertions, language as reality—to justify their takeover of government, removal of democratic norms, and so on. Rauch argues that this tactic is largely intentional. For example, there’s a conversation with one prominent member of the White House and when Rauch points out that it’s a lie that the 2020 election was stolen, the official doesn’t deny that it is a lie, he just says, well, who’s winning that debate? Implying that the point is not telling the truth, but getting people to nod along with whatever you say is the truth. Add to this Trump’s Putin-esque style of blatant contempt for the truth as anything but what I the boss tell you it is. And you see a tactic that is rhetorically powerful but logically hollow. Of course the MAGA version of woke is just as hollow as the liberal version (the latter argues that the truths of people who can more readily find a way to identify with historically oppressed groups are somehow more “true” than everyone else’s; the former argues that the real oppressors are wokesters and their attacks on reality are so perfidious that one needn’t bother with niceties like “true” and “false” while defeating them; neither of these arguments is logical), and so it too is destined to fail. And those wielding this weapon (the right’s version of a post-truth reality) know people will not fall for it forever. That is why they are working to consolidate power and mess with the gears of elections so quickly. They know that this game will not work forever, and that if they want to stay in power forever, they need to rewrite the rules quickly. This makes the situation feel like a sprint. Especially as the midterms approach. A sprint to wake up and to organize not just spiritually but also with tactical care and wisdom. This has me sick to my stomach, and today, for example, I completely wasted, and now tomorrow I go back to work which sucks up all my time and power. This is the situation. What is the play wherein we catch the heart of this moment and move with it to a brighter future? And how to write it sooner rather than later?