As X was crowded with arguments for and against H1-B visas between Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy vs. the traditional America-first MAGA crowd (who seem to have come to a consensus, disappointing the media), a term we hadn't seen before began being bantered about on X: the "woke Right." We didn't know that was a thing, but some people are insisting it is. James Lindsey seems to have coined the term back in October, but it didn't trend until the visa debate.
Another little something you're not ready to hear.
— James Lindsay, anti-Communist (@ConceptualJames) October 1, 2024
What is the Woke Right?
There's a growing movement that is reaching breakout velocity on the "Right" that is ostensibly ultra-conservative ("far right") but that shares much more in common with the Woke Left than conservatives.
People have been craving a simple definition, so:
— James Lindsay, anti-Communist (@ConceptualJames) December 8, 2024
Woke Right, n.: Modern-day Fascists in exactly the same way the Woke Left is modern-day Communists.
Yeah, no.
"Define the 'woke Right.'"
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) December 30, 2024
liberals, libertarians, neo-cons, et al.: "right-wingers who aren't sufficiently liberal!"
traditionalists, populists, various other non-libs: "right-wingers who are too liberal!"
Seems to me the term is practically meaningless...
It is, but that hasn't stopped some from trying to define it. It's not a thing and it's not going to become a thing.
Now that Elon, Vivek and others have come across the Woke Right, it's helpful to once again lay out the basics.
— Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) December 29, 2024
The Woke Right is a section of the Right which, like the Woke Left, believes in racism for the "right" reasons, has a conspiracy about how the world is systematically…
… is systematically and institutionally against them and happily uses the tactics of mobbing, cancellation and other woke tactics to attack their opponents. They don't believe in discussing views and ideas, only in winning.
It's basically like BLM for white people.
You can read more about it here:
Recommended
Yeah, we're not reading that, but thanks for the offer.
For those wondering what the “woke right” means Kisin makes it plain
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) December 29, 2024
It’s leftists calling you racist, it always was pic.twitter.com/z47IMI2tKE
He’s just a leftist calling you a racist for caring about your family, like every leftist does
— Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) December 29, 2024
Nothing new, nothing has changed
Here's another definition from another austere political scholar:
I know the whole “woke right” thing is getting tedious, but here’s how I see it. Two opposite ends of the ideological spectrum that have bought into the same false premise: “Western Civilization is only for white people.”
— Joel Berry (@JoelWBerry) December 30, 2024
Woke Left’s solution to this false premise: get rid of… https://t.co/hnzaERf1ke pic.twitter.com/qs0rbpjM99
… Woke Left’s solution to this false premise: get rid of Western Civilization.
Woke Right’s solution to this false premise: get rid of non-white people.
Call it whatever you want—maybe “woke right” isn’t the best term with everyone pointing fingers at each other and the word “woke” having lost almost all meaning, but it is an attempt to describe something that’s really happening.
We agreed with him up to the word "tedious."
No real conservative feels that way. If people want to label me as a racist I'll just laugh at them. It has no power over me. I know who I am.
— Anne Hyatt (@estencooke) December 29, 2024
I don’t care what they call me at this point
— Dr. Leonard McCoy (@ThemBones_McCoy) December 29, 2024
Ultra-MAGA, white supremacist, Christian nationalist, woke Right …
I'm ok with that.
— MetalMaven (@MetalMaven803) December 29, 2024
Words don't hurt me.
How many ways can they call the right racists? It’s comical at this point.
— Brandy (@WonderfulBrandy) December 30, 2024
People on the left simply don’t want to give up the term woke, and have received their propaganda briefs for the next four years.
— Traveler (@vahalladude) December 29, 2024
But, woke is still communism.
Absultely nothing has changed on the right.
There is no such thing as "woke right".
— Political Nomad (@Jason_Teal) December 29, 2024
Leftists are just desperate to use the word without it referring to them.
And they're the dimwits who invented the word...😂
Someone find that chart showing how they call anyone who’s not militantly left “far right”, even centrists.
— dauntlesslogic (@dauntlesslogic) December 29, 2024
As this editor has tried before, look up "far right" on CNN's website; you get 424 results. Look up "far left," and you get 13 hits, with headlines like "'You're kidding me, right?' Amanpour challenges Le Pen on being 'far-right,'" "Far right surges in European Parliament elections but center still holds," and "What's behind Europe's swing to the far right?"
They REFUSE to put out long lists of names and actions they consider woke right. If we talk about woke left and people ask us for long lists of woke left names and actions, we can give them reams of supporting examples.
— Brad Crawford (@provoter) December 29, 2024
Until they go from the general to the specific, I call bs.
Are they getting tired of their fun word?
— White Pilled Witch (@10perfectblue) December 30, 2024
Where is this even going? I still don’t get why I should care.
— Precarious Metal (@precariousmetal) December 30, 2024
Agreed. We take "woke Right" about as seriously as "Christian nationalist."
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