Progressive Aims, Cancel Methods
a proposed clarifying nomenclature for "wokeness"
Loosely inspired by discussion under this post from Tracing Woodgrains, and also me not having any better way to describe this than calling myself a “cryptowokist”
In recent years, there has been much criticism of the “woke left” for its methods - the aggressive, bullying enforcement of its will, sometimes called cancel culture. However, while cancel culture has been typically associated with the left in recent years, it’s becoming very clear that the right intends to pick it up too. Also, a significant number of politicians and public figures are using justified complaints about cancel culture to launder criticism of not only the woke left’s methods, but also its progressive aims, with the sole justification that both are “woke”. (More reasonable figures do take more care to separate these criticisms, but even then, I’ve observed a lot of concept bleed.) This is, intentionally or accidentally, sneaking in connotations, so I propose the following clarification of terminology:
Progressive refers to left-wing positions focused on social reform, and ranges from common-sense policies like requiring body cameras on police to radical policies like police abolition. Any of these may be correct or incorrect, but they must be debated on the merits.
Cancel culture refers to the style of politics wherein anyone who disagrees with the party line is quote-tweet-boosted, bullied by thousands or millions, and forced into submission or exile from the net. This strategy can be adopted by any ideological camp, but generally is bad for discourse and decency, as well as the people who use it.
Wokism was a movement, most prominent in the 2010s, that relied on the use of cancel culture methods to gain power and enforce a mix of well-informed and terribly-informed progressive aims. It still has some power, but nowhere near as much as it used to, and seems to be on the decline.
It think that when swing voters complain about wokism, they are generally more opposed to cancel culture than progressive policy, and only oppose the more reasonable progressive policies because they got caught up in cancel culture. This was even my position for many years, as I was incredibly concerned about cancel culture; but as wokism has receded, I’ve been examining more progressive policies and I’ve found them surprisingly reasonable on the merits. I think clarifying the difference between wokism, progressivism, and cancel culture will make it easier for us to think clearly about which parts of wokism to toss and which to keep around.
With these distinctions in mind, I have two suggestions for the factions of the Democratic Party over the next few years:
To the progressives: drop the cancel culture. It’s preventing you from making reasonable strategic decisions and causing you to scream at people who could be valuable allies. Instead, learn to defend your positions with reason and calmer rhetoric - you can, because in a lot of cases, you are straightforwardly correct.
To the centrists: don’t dismiss progressive policy positions out of hand. There are reasons many progressives have come to hold the beliefs they do, and if you take the time to find and listen to the gradually growing non-woke progressive movement, I think you’ll find it worth your time.
I know this post isn't about defining Cancel Culture, which is actually pretty hard. But I think your conception of it as 'punishing those who dissent' is way too narrow. In some ways, the central feature is that the victims of cancellations often AREN'T actually interested in going against the party line; they have instead accidentally done something that is being interpreted that way. Sometimes the misinterpretation is so obviously willful that it's obvious the cancellation is just an excuse for people to feel powerful and righteous while insulting someone popular.
That aside, I think the clarification you propose is a very worthy one. I myself often agree with a lot of progressive ideas (eg I like gender neutral pronouns and think eroding the gender binary is way overdue) while feeling horrified at the online culture and discourse around them.
I like this a lot, I agree with your definitions, diagnosis, and recommendations, and enjoy your clear writing style. The one place I disagree is that I think soften swing voters are often as opposed to progressive policy as much as they are opposed to cancel culture, though it depends on the issue. Some of this can be hard to disentangle because positions on the issue can be a reflexive response to wokism as you note.
Some polling of 2024 swing voters indicate that those who broke for Trump considered inflation, immigration, and trans issues especially important in their decision. I think inflation is irrelevant to cancel culture, but the other two present a contrast. On immigration, I don't think cancel culture played a role at all, people just hate feeling that immigration is out of control. On trans issues, I think that cancel culture actually is having a big effect independent of policy. Americans have become less favorable towards rights I feel are particularly basic, like the right to use the bathroom appropriate for your gender, and I think that resistance to woke is a large contributor. https://www.prri.org/spotlight/states-have-become-more-polarized-on-transgender-civil-rights/
I think that even there, progressive policy is part of what turns people off. Sports is not nearly as obvious to me as the clear cases of protection from discrimination and bathroom access, and I think that focus on that issue as well as left-wing information on it has lost us support with people who might otherwise be more sympathetic. So in addition to backing off on cancel culture, I think it's important to focus on the more popular parts of the progressive agenda. I look forward to reading more of your posts!