James Lindsay defines Woke Right as the following:
- (Reverse) Identity Politics
- Hostile behavior in political discourse (cancel culture, name calling)
- Right Wing ideology (capitalism, meritocracy, patriotism)
- Victimhood narratives (oppressed vs. oppressor)
- Rewriting history to fit the narrative
It’s essentially Right Wing in content, but Woke in structure. Linguistically, semantically, it makes sense. But it doesn’t make sense in this reality. I don’t know anyone who qualifies as Woke Right, under these terms.
Part I – Tucker Carlson
A common candidate for this label is Tucker Carlson. I’m not fond of Tucker, I only watch is content on occasion, but from what I can tell, he’s not Woke Right. Does he engage in Identity Politics? Yes, AS A REACTION to Left wing Identity Politics. Wokeness has introduced DEI, misandry, radical feminism, woke capitalism, it has normalized the hatred of young white males. Individuals who didn’t partake in the boogeyman called “The Patriarchy”, never benefited from it, and are today demonized for their identity. Acknowledging that this is going on isn’t “playing Identity Politics”. I’ve never seen Tucker Carlson advocate for laws to protect straight white males, or any nonsense like that. He has, surprisingly, engaged with this topic in very good faith. I’m not a Tucker Carlson fan, nor right wing, nor am I even American. But when he discussed the issues that young men struggle with in modern society, I felt he was speaking to me directly. I can confirm that pretty much everything that he said is correct. I have felt the struggle in my own skin.
You know why I think Tucker Carlson is called “Woke Right”? It’s not because he engages in cancel culture – hell, he recently interviewed Nick Fuentes of all people, so he certainly has no issue in this regard. Frankly, I think he deviates “too much” from the mainstream Right Wing narrative. The irony of people who use this term – such as James Lindsay and Konstantin Kisin – is these very people are engaging both in name calling and in gatekeeping. “How dare you be Right Wing, anti-woke, yet be critical of Israel? How dare you be capitalist, yet criticize big corporations?”
Part II – Carl Benjamin
Another individual who is considered Woke Right is Carl Benjamin. His demeanor is one that does put a strong focus on identity (white English people), oppression (of the majority of his country), and hostility when discussing politics.
Again, the reason, in my view, why he advocates so much for “White Ethnocentrism” is merely because of mass migration. When I hear Carl talk about whites in England, I’m not hearing “I like the white skin better than the black skin”. I’m hearing “What the fuck has happened to my country? Why are all these migrants taking our jobs, taking our benefits, using our services? This country is about to implode!”
Is it sexy to hear “white people” being the focus of the discussion? It isn’t. But I sincerely do not think Carl is a white supremacist, or ethnocentrist, or any of those “ists”. I just think he has a bit of a messaging problem. Certain topics, like race, are just too taboo in society. I understand he advocates for the improvement of quality of life for native English people, as opposed to bending over backwards to serve every need from every migrant that gets there on a boat. And I don’t think that’s selfish at all. A country should serve primarily the needs of its citizens. We only have too many establishments, too many teachers, too many police officers, too much money, and too many resources. No country on the planet has an infinite supply of these. And let’s be honest: for every 1000 migrants, maybe ONE of them will contribute to the system in a meaningful way. Maybe ONE of them will be a doctor and join the NHS. But the other 999 will be a net negative for the country. It sounds harsh to treat people like this, but we live in the real world. We need to discuss the impact of mass migration without dismissing it all as racism.
As for cancel culture, name calling, that’s where I feel Carl fails. I recently saw a video of him trash talking Piers Morgan. Piers Morgan, the guy who has criticized radical feminists on his show, LGBTQ activists, vegan activists, the guy who has the balls to criticize Left-wing wokeness. To me, Piers Morgan isn’t “the System” as Carl portrays him to be. Piers Morgan is a boomer, a bit out of touch here and there, but overall, he’s a heterodox thinker. He’s a sophisticated thinker. And I don’t think he engages in virtue signaling or euphemisms to please his audience. In my opinion, Piers Morgan is a gift for our cause – we, the anti-wokes. Do I agree with everything Morgan says? No, I think he’s very wrong, and lacks direct experience and even education on certain issues. But overall, he’s a great news reporter. He’s a great journalist, and he’s the type of guy who will bring on pretty much anyone to his show. Piers Morgan isn’t an wokie. He’s not in the same category as the DEI major who works as head of the HR department. Let’s please stop demonizing him.
Part III – Wokeness is inherently Left-wing
Wokeness is an ideology. Tucker Carlson believes in a strange mix of Right-wing ideas, but he doesn’t promote a unified ideology. Neither does Carl Benjamin. Carl is not even Right-wing in my opinion. He strikes me as a strange centrist, perhaps politically homeless, I can’t properly identify what ideology Carl identifies with.
Wokeness isn’t “White men bad”. Wokeness is “A group of people that I hate and I’m way overgeneralizing is bad”.
Wokeness isn’t “Everything is a social construct”. Wokeness is epistemic hypocrisy. It’s pseudo-intellectualism, it’s big, fancy words, written by armchair philosophers. Words and statements that are so unfalsifiable, and so unverifiable, that you can’t even refute.
Wokeness isn’t “We need to fight the Patriarchy”. Wokeness is Schadenfreude. It’s stupid, cathartic, it gives you that “I’m such a good person, such a savior” feeling. It’s not logical. It’s a bizarre worldview that promotes hatred disguised as virtue, violence disguised as progress, pseudoscience disguised as intelligence.
Wokeness is mass psychosis. This is the most problematic characteristic of Wokeness. Wokeness doesn’t just reside on Bluesky, or on Reddit, or on MSNBC. It resides in your local government, in academia, in most news stations, in literature, in science. Wokeness isn’t a specific fish or a specific type of water. Wokeness is the ocean. We’re surrounded by so much of it, that it’s become normalized. “Woke Right”, on the other hand, where does it exist? On very specific Youtube channels? On very specific Rumble channels? On niche blogs? It’s nowhere to be found. I’ve not seen anyone who qualifies as Woke Right. And even if such individuals exist, they don’t matter in the big picture.