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The Silent Majority Is Woke
Today I was skimming Twitter and I came across this story about Lauren Southern’s (whom I had never heard of before) parents being kicked off AirBnB for … being her parents. AirBnB had kicked her out back in 2018 or 2019, but her parents had booked a romantic getaway only to have it canceled because … well, I guess because they raised a terrible person by AirBnB’s measure.
My parents just got banned from AirBnB for being related to me.
They have never booked anything for me. They do not represent me in any way. They aren't publicly political in any way.
How is this sane in any way @Airbnb pic.twitter.com/SOF01xkJFS
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) February 7, 2023
Part of this is likely because of their attempt to stay on top of their ESG rating, so Wall Street doesn’t downcheck them.
To learn a bit more about her, I watched a video of hers on YouTube.
Her premise is that we are in the stage of wokeism where the average person goes along to get along, yes, but that even the true believers aren’t really believers anymore. They just adhere to the forms, which includes voting for Democrats because everyone around them is telling them that conservatives are evil.
I think she may have a point, but I disagree that the true believers don’t believe anymore. I think they still do, but there is almost a level of comedy that we see similar to what Solzhenitsyn wrote about in The Gulag Archipelago. Where the process is absurd, but everyone still follows it because deviation is death. When I was looking for Soviet jokes for my post on the subject, I came across this one.
A member of the party was stopped by the Cheka on the streets of Moscow. The agent said to him “Comrade, I see by your pin that you are a committed Communist. I assume you read Lenin and his writings on what a true Soviet man should be?”
“Of course I do. Vladimir Illyich is wise and we should follow his teachings.”
The Chekist then said “Well comrade, I see you are smoking, but Comrade Lenin has said that smoking is bad for the Soviet man. What do you say to that?”
The man quickly replied, “Then I shall immediately stop smoking!” He put out his cigarette and threw the pack away.
The Chekist then said ,”Good, comrade, good! But I see that bag you are carrying. It is clearly Vodka, is it not?”
“Yes,” the man replied.
“Well, Comrade Lenin just this week said that drinking is detrimental to the Soviet man, what do you think of that?”
The man immediately threw his bottle in the trash and said, “If Comrade Lenin said that drinking is bad, then I shall immediately stop drinking.”
“Good, Comrade, good!” said the Chekist, “but, I see you have a sandwich there. Is that meat I see in it?”
“Yes,” said the man warily.
“Comrade Lenin just today said that eating meat every meal is wasteful and good Soviet men should only eat meat once a day at dinner. What do you think of that?”
The man reluctantly deposited his sandwich in the trash and said, “If Comrade Lenin says it, it must be true and I will refrain from eating meat except at dinner.”
“Excellent, Comrade, excellent. You are a true Soviet man. Are you willing to lay down your life for the Soviet Union?”
The man looked at the Chekist and said “Of course! This life isn’t worth living.”
The wokeists own the media, and the own the government, and they own the education system. Not to mention the media, and Big Tech, and soon every corporation in the Chinese model. The price of disobedience is to be cut off from everything, yet no one seems to care. Certainly not McConnell, McCarthy, and McDaniel, who frittered away a chance at winning Congress. With friends like these…who needs enemies (and we have plenty of those)? Is there a silent majority, or a better question, do the “independents” really care about elections, or are they cowed either by the woke mob, or the realization that the GOP isn’t going to naturally do much different if they gain power?
Published in Politics
This is probably what has swayed many NT’s to that position and something in a truly Leninists form probably led some Republican Senators that way as well.
People use the Independent label for many reasons, including a dislike of what seems to be required of membership in any party (see, for instance, the Soviet joke in the OP). No doubt some do it just because they don’t want to be identified with a particular party, e.g., Republicans-at-heart in a blue area, Democrats-at-heart in a red area. There is a difference in this matter between the parties, however. I suspect that whatever an apparently die-hard Republican Ricochet member calls himself publicly, he most likely considers himself in fact to be an independent–or he would like to be an independent if he could ever find a Democrat to vote for. This is probably not true, however, of Democrats, who appear to cling to their party no matter what, and have an outstanding capacity to ignore its failings.
Ya but, what underpins this difference? What is it that makes the difference between the rural and the city mentality that is observable, I think. Is it real or imaginary? Is it nature or nurture? Indoctrination and propaganda seem to work to some extent. Looks as if religion and family make a difference in forming attitudes.
When I talk about a Christian culture have a salvific effect on the wider population beyond those who put critical thinking into their belief system, this is what I’m talking about.
In a Christian culture, these SAME “average” people would be going along with Christian ideals. And in some effect, passively accept them as true.
When actual Christian nationalists discuss Christian Nationalism, this is what they are trying to recreate. Not to force people into a religion, but to create the culture in which that religion can thrive and which the go-alongers join in and make a better society over-all. (See Klavan’s interview of Stephen Wolfe)
In my experience, the majority that identify as independents are predominately on the left, but use it as a “free-criticism” card. Because they are non-partisan, their criticism of the republicans is really accurate and true. More true than a conservative’s criticism of the left could possibly be, because conservatives are obviously party hacks.
It’s an ego game.
That’s not all, but that is a significant amount of them.
Probably more the latter.
It comes down to giving those who would vote conservative a reason and/or candidate to do so. The R-Senate has no agenda (purposely, an insanely irresponsible decision), the R-House has…investigations? Investigations the private sector continues to carry out in a much more efficient manner.
What if, instead, they had results? Good gravy, that’s something approaching “successes.” Okay, we can’t get anything through the Senate right now, and the R-leader in that chamber doesn’t like R-voters, or anything but conservative judges, or something. It’s alarmingly weird when you think of that situation, and dispiriting.
And it won’t get voters to vote for the same ol’ thing. You want a silent majority? You need a party that supports them, echoes their concerns, and shares their goals. That means the party actually has to have goals. It’s too big a price for the Beltway-oriented. I mean, why disrupt the good thing they’ve got going?
That’s a very unfortunate typo that you should probably correct…
That’s a hilariously awesome typo that my inner 12-year-old insists should remain as-is.
It is why I think we are headed to a shoot out. Sectarian Civil war is coming.
The main reason being both parties are absolutely effing terrible.
I think the GOP has figured out it’s more profitable to be controlled opposition; to fundraise off how bad Democrats are while doing nothing substantive to oppose them.
They just re-elected a five time loser as their chairperson.
The man wrote what he meant. Stop tone policing!!!
Lauren Southern’s parents removed from BnB! Next cancelling: Uber Eats. Let Laura Loomer be their inspiration.
(Seriously that’s crazy. Her parents have suffered enough. Why is BnB adding to their pain?)
A European friend made a comment that’s stuck with me. “The problem in America is not the fringe people. It’s the ordinary people.”
I definitely don’t think the Silent Majority is woke; but regardless of which way their lateral pelvic tilt takes them, one hopes they discover their spines.
Dude, where ya been? It’s a bit surprising these things are still on YT.
I’ve seen a couple things from her on Youtube. I imagine the videos she did about debunking the Kamloops mass graves story would be a factor in cancelling her for people who don’t think bodies need to be found in order to prove bodies are buried.
https://nypost.com/2022/05/27/kamloops-mass-grave-debunked-biggest-fake-news-in-canada/
Wokism will either take over the country or fall like a house of cards. But I do believe it is a lot more established than we conservatives give it credit. We live in a post Christian culture, and absence of real religion doesn’t mean there is no religion. A vacuum will get filled, and all humanity needs religion. Wokism has filled it.
I could almost approve if we changed the spelling a bit.
As far as rural vs city and how the thinking is different: a few decades back, if something broke and you were a city person, no doubt you sent it off to the company that made it to get it repaired.
But the rural person couldn’t afford time to take a drive into town to ship many or any items of importance off. Also he or she needed the item so life could continue. So then the thinking cap went on and an effort was made to figure out a work around.
The head of Cornell University’s mechanical engineering department once lamented that there were fewer and fewer small farm kids applying for the program. Too many families had left the country and moved into cities. The city kids who were allowed into the program did not possess the same “smarts” when it came to engineering, as for them, engineering design wasn’t a life or death matter.
I have to agree with you. Wokism has to be one of the most structured religions currently in existence, and its followers understand the importance of belonging to this up and coming cult.
Believers are told of their infinite powers: forego meat, healthy produce and instead eat bugs, so the Planet cane be saved. Walk or bike wherever you need to go, again so that you personally can assist the Planet.
Accept with enthusiasm the annual $ 5100 to $ 5500 carbon credit tax per individual should you go about living the way that everyone lived in 2019. Again: this payment will ensure the Planet’s redemption.
Above all, be a tolerant, loving and considerate human. Unless you should notice someone in a MAGA hat. Then it would be best for all if you helped arrange for that individual’s demise.
Fixing things yourself vs. hiring someone else to do it lines up neatly with the conservative vs. liberal divide. I live in a conservative small town, and we have some wonderful but very liberal neighbors. They had some windows that needed replacing, and their contractor couldn’t get to it, so they asked if I would help them because they had seen me working on my windows. The first window kept getting stuck when we tried to slide it into place, and they were getting really frustrated. A plastic piece broke when the husband tried to pound it into place with his fist. I asked them to get a candle and rubbed wax on the window frames, and it popped into place almost without effort. They were stunned and wanted to know how I knew of such a miraculous solution. Well, I have old wooden windows on my house, and they move smoothly if you wax the frames with a candle. I thought everyone knew that trick. But if you’re a woke liberal, you get used to paying and depending on the government or contractors or experts to solve all your problems. You get used to not thinking for yourself.
A few decades ago, our cities were populated by people who had grown up on farms and in small towns. But now the character of the cities has changed as many of the urban denizens are second- or third-generation city dwellers. There is truly a great divide developing in America.
This is spot-on, and gently stated.
But don’t stop…the dream police.
Talk to me about being refused service at ONE specialty cake shop.
Or how a pizza shop said no to a hypothetical catering of a gay wedding (as if a gay couple would have pizza catered to their wedding????)
No, I will never vote for any Democrat. I adhere to the Mike Rosen Principle: majorities matter. It’s not what any one member of the Democrat party stands for — it’s what the majority believes and does. The Democrats are the Party of Death and Destruction.
Now, if by “Independent” you mean free-thinker (or just “thinker” — or even just “free”), then I believe it is descriptive of most die-hard Republican Ricochet members. I am often astonished by how shallow the thinking is on the Left. Lefties rarely seem to ask themselves, “and then what?” Or, if they do, the answer is, “Utopia!!” Meaning exactly nowhere.
I think the whole point of this post is that people don’t care enought to dissent. If that’s true they definitely don’t care enough to shoot each other. I would say that’s one of a million reasons why an actual civil war ain’t gonna happen
I wish I thought you were right. I’d rather it not happen.
But when tens of millions of people are locked out of daily life, unable to engage in even banking, there will be little left for them to do.
Bryan, the vast majority of Americans are just not that interested in all things political. If Twitter was an actual representation of the population there might be a risk of some sort of fighting but thankfully it isn’t. Even the parents of the girl that AirBnB banned are not “locked out of life”. They have tons of other options for lodging i would expect. Yes corporate wokeness is a bad thing but its an extreme leap to say that means 10s of millions of people wont be able to engage in banking. Defcon 12 rhetoric is scary and all but it’s not reality that we are going to become a country of Gulatgs or go back to 1860 America.
It sounds like you think the anti-woke side will start the civil war. Problem is, in a military engagement, typically each side has a specific goal. Drive out invaders, destroy the enemy, regain or keep land etc. But in the current scenario, what will the anti-woke side be fighting for? What will be the military objective? To make leftists stop being axxholes? Or do you envision something more like terrorism?
Really good post. This part seems to be thrown in however just as an agenda item. (slam R’s I don’t like, check). The evidence seems pretty clear that the problem were the candidates, not the leadership. Remember the the primary voters nominated, for instance, a carpetbagger “celebrity” who couldn’t beat an obviously impaired stroke victim and various other weak or somewhat loony candidates.
The overall point of “woke” ideology’s successful move for the college campus to corporate life is a good one. It makes DeSantis’s fight against woke education in Florida really interesting to follow. Hopefully other states follow Florida’s example of pushing back on this.