Is Wokeness ‘Kryptonite for Democrats’?
Republicans sure seem to think so. They are not alone.
I asked Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at Brookings and the author of the new book “The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth,” about the lack of pushback, and he suggested a series of factors:
· “The younger generation (wrongly) perceives free speech as hazardous to minority rights.”
· “The purist side has had more passion, focus and organization than the pluralist side.”
· “Universities are consumeristic these days and very image-conscious, and so they have trouble withstanding pressure from their ‘customers,’ e.g., activist students.”
· “The use of social pressure to manipulate opinion is a powerful and sophisticated form of information warfare. Anyone can be dogpiled in minutes for any reason, or no reason.”
· “Activists have figured out that they can have disproportionate influence by claiming to be physically endangered and psychologically traumatized by speech that offends them.”