Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A Political Reawakening?...A mass emergence from the woke slumber.
The Free Press ^ | October 23, 2023 | By Bari Weiss Oliver Wiseman

Posted on 10/23/2023 7:50:18 AM PDT by Red Badger

Call it a realignment, call it a political awakening, call it a vibe shift. Something has changed since the attacks on Israel.

Here’s an example of what we mean: a friend, appalled at the equivocation and apologia in the West after the brutal Hamas killings, told one of us that he used to consider himself a “conscientious objector” in the culture wars. “Not anymore,” he said. October 7 changed that.

Liberal friends were suddenly talking about buying guns. Progressive friends were texting about topics like border security and immigration. In a whisper, one even admitted to watching Fox News.

For a sense of what this real-time political transformation can look like, watch this clip of venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya on the podcast he co-hosts, All In. Palihapitiya, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, explains that he is rapidly revising his view of Trump’s time in office: “As a Democrat who has been left homeless, who is now definitely in the center but probably leaning increasingly right, I am left yet again with an appreciation, despite the messenger, of the message of the Trump administration because what those guys did was pretty incredible in hindsight.”

Chamath continued:

So much of the work that happened in that administration turns out to have been right. And that’s what is so frustrating for me. The work on the border wall? We didn’t like the messenger, so we killed the message. Turned out it was right. Issuing long-term debt to refinance when rates were at zero? We didn’t like the messenger, so we killed the message. A structural peace in the Middle East? We didn’t like the messenger, so we killed the message. When are we gonna stop shooting ourselves in the foot? And when are we going to actually see and take the time to look past who is saying things and actually listen to them word for word?

If it’s clear that the last two weeks have been a wake-up call, the next question is: Why?

Part of the answer is the sheer depravity of Hamas’s terrorism. That depravity has made the justification and celebration of their acts by those who police pronouns that much starker. The contradictions and moral bankruptcy of a worldview that spends years worrying about microaggressions and tone policing, but can’t decide what side it is on after the beheading of babies, aren’t exactly difficult to spot.

To put it another way: when Black Lives Matter organizations are lionizing Islamist terrorists by posting a paraglider logo, you’d be a fool not to reassess things.

As Konstantin Kisin writes in his powerful essay today in The Free Press: “The events of the last week have shattered the illusion that wokeness is about protecting victims and standing up for persecuted minorities. This ideology is and has always been about the one thing many of us have told you it is about for years: power. And after the last two weeks, there can be no doubt about how these people will use any power they seize: they will seek to destroy, in any way they can, those who disagree.”

The other aspect of it, we think, is the sense of how thin the line is between civilization and barbarism. And how the West, which so many take for granted, is more vulnerable than we ever imagined.

We’re curious: Have you noticed something similar in conversations with friends in recent days? We love the fact that this community of half a million is so politically diverse. And we wonder, has the war in Israel and the reaction to it caused you to change your mind about anything? Or maybe something else has forced you to reconsider your opinions? If so, tell us about it in the comments.


TOPICS: Government; History; Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: 20231007; bariweiss; guns; oliverwiseman; terrorism; thewall; trump; wholeness; woke
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last
To: Ge0ffrey

They’re starting to have re-Gretas.


21 posted on 10/23/2023 8:23:52 AM PDT by Ge0ffrey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Leftists may be in a pickle right now, but when the time comes next year, they’ll close ranks and march in goosestepping unison to defeat what they perceive to be the greatest evil of all: MAGA Republicans


22 posted on 10/23/2023 8:25:52 AM PDT by Dan in Wichita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
The left has been pounding the idea that Diversity is our strength because they know that in reality, those who don't agree can be labeled bigots and can be publicly ostracized. They also know that diversity creates a division, if not spoken, at least felt, and they expolit that division to imply chaos.

But when we compare places that are stable with those that are not, we find that overcoming diversity is the real strength. When we subjugate our differences ( our diversity) and emphasize our shared values i.e work ethic, morality, or values), we are more likely to peacefully coexist.

23 posted on 10/23/2023 8:33:00 AM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wildcard_redneck

“Your ATM is safe, your banks are safe, there’s enough cash in the financial system and there is an infinite amount of cash at the Federal Reserve.”

Neel Kashkari, President of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve


24 posted on 10/23/2023 8:33:59 AM PDT by packagingguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin; Red Badger

25 posted on 10/23/2023 8:37:44 AM PDT by ExTxMarine (Grace is getting what you don’t deserve! Mercy is NOT getting what you actually deserve!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Tench_Coxe

“But in the case of the former, they’ll be back to their old selves once they perceive the danger has passed.”

Sad but true.

Here’s the way Kipling put it in his “Gods of the Copybook Headings”..

“As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man-—
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began:-—
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return! “


26 posted on 10/23/2023 8:50:31 AM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they control you. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza

It is my firm belief that all Asians will eventually vote heavily Republican.

They work hard and succeed because of it, they have no interest in being victims and sitting on welfare, they do what it takes to win in life and will naturally gravitate to our side more and more.

There is nothing in the Democratic Party for anyone not black or gay or who wants more than a government handout.


27 posted on 10/23/2023 8:53:45 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: x

“It was very clear before the last week or two that wokeness was about power.”

ALL politics is about power - the ultimate elixir!


28 posted on 10/23/2023 8:56:28 AM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they control you. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: TiGuy22
Trump will ride in on a while horse.

Only to find a country in ruin. A smashed economy, 33 trillion in debt with increasing inflation. 30 million unscreened illegal aliens waiting to strike.

A military unable to project power. A deep police state playing for globalist poppet masters. Hot wars around the globe.

They will leave Trump with nothing but ash.

29 posted on 10/23/2023 9:34:13 AM PDT by usurper (AI was born with a birth defect.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

“We didn’t like the messenger, so we killed the message. “

This is how the left ruins things.


30 posted on 10/23/2023 9:35:34 AM PDT by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Until the scumbags are forcefull removed from every public office and bureaucracy they infest it doesn’t matter who is elected. First things first is to stop the invasion. There is no recovery with the millions and millions this child sniffing chomo is importing and the democrats know it.


31 posted on 10/23/2023 10:55:07 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin

I have a few libtards I have to deal with. They don’t want to hear of Biden’s child sniffing daughter molesting ways. And when pointing out how horrible the economy really is all they can say is “BUT TRUMP.” They actually think the world walking all over Biden and America is because he has such universal respect from the rest of the world. They don’t respect Biden. They love Biden, because he is weak and easily purchased.


32 posted on 10/23/2023 11:06:23 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: 4Runner

Why would an illegal immigrant show any respect for a country that doesn’t respect itself? They are garbage people coming for free stuff knowing full well they are breaking the law. Why show any respect by simple things like throwing garbage in a garbage can or not trashing the FREE luxury hotels the taxpayers are giving them?

I remember in college we had a huge influx of Hmong, Laosian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese refugees (REAL refugees who were being exterminated by the commies). After They were respectful, clean, and industrious. There were English courses in all the churches and adult education programs for them and the classes were always packed. Now, the democrats demand the illegals completely destroy America for the democrat party benefit.


33 posted on 10/23/2023 11:10:38 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: TexasFreeper2009

They are not western people and do not identify with western culture. Indian Americans have the highest levels of education and wealth after Jewish Americans yet vote Democrat at a rate of 65-70%. I live in a state where Indian Americans are about 8% of the electorate and have higher turnouts (relative to share of the population) versus Hispanic Americans. It’s not about capitalism, “hard work,” etc, it’s about cultural affinity, outgroup/in group, etc. There are cultural barriers especially for Hindus and Muslims to say nothing of race/culture that prevent affinity with Indian Americans for the Republican Party. We need to minimize all non-western immigration no matter how “bougie”/white collar some of these immigrants are. Race/culture/religion and the pull of the tribe cannot be ignored no matter how successful a racial or religious minority is.


34 posted on 10/23/2023 5:41:40 PM PDT by Clemenza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Clemenza

We will have to agree to disagree, I have no issue with anyone from any race or country who comes to this country legally, loves America, works hard, follows the law and makes all their dreams come true. Because while they are making those dreams come true they are improving the country for everyone.


35 posted on 10/24/2023 5:23:41 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: aquila48

Did not Mao-tse-Tung say that “power comes from the barrel of a gun”?


36 posted on 10/24/2023 11:06:08 PM PDT by Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi ( Gen. 12:3: a warning to all antisemites)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi

“Did not Mao-tse-Tung say that “power comes from the barrel of a gun”?”

Yes he did, but he didn’t tell the whole story - power comes from the WILL to use that gun, or whatever you have at your disposal. Without the WILL to use it the gun is useless.

So “will” comes first in the pursuit of power. Means are also nececessay, but as the old saying goes “where there is a will, there is a way”. It’s absolutely true.

That’s why, even though conservatives are armed to the teeth, the unarmed leftists are wiping the floor with us in this culture war. We have the means but not the will or conviction to use them. They have the will and conviction... and find many ways to impose it.


37 posted on 10/25/2023 8:49:46 AM PDT by aquila48 (Do not let them make you "care" ! Guilting you is how they control you. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-37 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson