Some on left second-guess their politics
Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, antisemitism bring some woke warriors to their breaking point
We have not witnessed an election that leaves pundits and pollsters awed by blocs of voters changing course.
However, there’s anecdotal evidence that some folks sympathetic to woke causes–BLM, LGBTQ, immigration, and any “oppressed group”–have been shocked back to reality, or seem headed that way.
Their collective epiphany stemmed from Hamas’ bloodthirsty murder of more than 1,400 Jews Oct. 7 by guns, decapitation, burning to death, and other methods.
After all, these Democrats can form the Congressional Hamas Caucus. Between raging antisemitism on campuses and streets, ignorant people ripping down posters of those kidnapped by Hamas, and Democrats siding with terrorists, how do people reconcile events with their woke tendencies?
Many American Jews have stood beside progressive comrades for causes. But now?
Black Lives Matter celebrates Hamas? Check.
Gays and lesbians celebrate Hamas? Check.
Transgenders celebrate Hamas? Check. (The LGBTQ crowd doesn’t know what worshipers of Islam would do to them: tie their hands behind their back and throw them off a rooftop.)
College students who have been indoctrinated in all woke causes celebrate Hamas? Check.
Some of these lunatic Hamas apologists are committed radicals. A Cornell University student in Ithaca, NY has been arrested for death threats directed at Jewish students. Others are ignorant of what Hamas is, did on Oct. 7, and has done in the past.
These flaming Marxists possess a worldview that is antithetical to freedom and liberty. It’s a worldview that defaults to tyranny, totalitarianism, violence, and destroying people with a different viewpoint. Their psychosis has, in the words of Christian apologist Os Guinness, established “cultural climate change.” Their ideas repeatedly fail and leave oppression in its wake.
Some of the woke are appalled by the celebration of what Hamas did. They are appalled by the raging antisemitism unfolding in the U.S. They now second-guess their political alliances.
“Real Time” host Bill Maher is a woke critic, and he addressed the surging antisemitism on his show Nov. 4:
Why does this arouse and especially among young people? I mean, young people who hated Trump because he wouldn’t condemn the people with the tiki torches talking about Jews, you’re the ones with the tiki torches now.
That's a reference to the white nationalist march in Charlottesville, VA in August 2017.
As consequences of this destructive worldview are exposed, people are waking up . . . from woke.
Thomas Sowell, renowned economist and author, argues we are witnessing the difference between the “unconstrained vision” and the “constrained vision.” The unconstrained vision believes people can be perfected, while the constrained vision believes there are universal constants to human nature. Writing for The Free Press, Konstantin Kisin observed: “Hamas’s barbarism—and the explanations and celebrations throughout the West that followed their orgy of violence—have forced an overnight exodus from the ‘unconstrained’ camp into the ‘constrained’ one.”
Photo by Drake Lee of Annenberg Media at the University of Southern California.
Some Jews now regard themselves as “politically homeless,” as The Free Press reported. Recent events of Hamas apologists driving anti-Israel passions has been an eye opener.
It’s also seen on the immigration issue in New York State, also as The Free Press reported:
While left-wing commentators like to blame ‘white nationalists,’ ‘xenophobes,’ and ‘MAGA Republicans’ for any anti-immigrant sentiment, new polling shows that as many as eight in ten New Yorkers think the arrival of the migrants is a ‘serious issue for the state.’ And some of those most opposed to the new migrants are immigrants—and their children—who came to the U.S. from south of the border years ago.
Some Black activists are done too. Oakland, CA saw homicides jump 79 percent between 2018 and 2022 after falling by 46 percent in the six years prior. In the past year, violent crime has risen by 17 percent, The Free Press reported. Black activist Seneca Scott said blacks did not want the police budget cut, but whites did.
Meanwhile, most people are familiar with the boycotts of Anheuser-Busch, Target, Disney, and other companies viewed as “going woke.” Bud Light’s U.S. brand has suffered financially since transgender influencer Dylan Nulvaney was a spokesperson. When a left-wing news site like Vox acknowledges the success of some boycotts, it’s time to take notice.
Emily Stewart wrote in August:
The energy on the right is having a chilling effect across corporate America. Activists have a figurative gun, they want to keep hunting, and CEOs know it.
To prove how manly Bud Light is, it will start a sponsorship of UFC in January.
Additionally, the covid response by Democratic governors and President Biden drove some classic liberals from their fold. For example, Bill Clinton advisor Naomi Wolf, former Levi’s executive Jennifer Sey, and Jenin Younes, who is one of the lawyers in the Missouri v Biden First Amendment case, and others, loathed the long-term school closures, mandates, and censorship of public debate about covid policy.
It’s all circumstantial. However, one wonders if the anecdotal evidence coalesces into political realignments.
Businesses are slowly realizing “going woke” is a dangerous game, and in entertainment, it’s obvious that fans don’t want politics with their sports.
Put me in the camp of hopeful, but not holding my breath.
