The marriage between the neoconservatives and the "woke" left
As wokism, progressive self-righteousness, spreads to Europe from the United States, Elon Musk has just had his knuckles rapped by woke activists around the world for making a peace proposal.
Published on 04-10-2022
[...] “In October, Musk proposed a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, which earned him denunciation as a pro-Putin puppet by the Twitter mob.”
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky himself accused Musk of supporting Russia. Never mind that Musk's company SpaceX donated Starlink to the Ukrainian war effort at a cost of 80 million dollars. American neoconservative David Frum tweeted, without evidence, that ‘Russian sources’ had used Elon to float a ‘trial balloon’ for peace out of fear of losing Crimea. Dozens of blue checks on Twitter followed suit, ordering Musk to mind his own business.”
“What matters in this story is not that Musk was reprimanded, but rather that a hive mind on Twitter is using the same intolerant cancel culture (erasing well-known personalities) tactics it uses to muzzle debate on domestic policy in order to influence America's position on Ukraine. They do this by demonizing dissent, defaming opponents, and shutting down as ideologically unacceptable any path to peace, or even to de-escalation.” [...]
“The woke Twitter mob and an unlikely marriage”
“We have seen it before: the ‘woke mobs’ on Twitter are used to demonizing and defaming their political opponents, questioning the motives of anyone who challenges their goals or tactics, and stifling all dissent, even within their own ranks, by declaring debate on certain subjects closed.”
“The I Stand With Ukraine version of the Twitter mob is unique in that it brings together two once-antagonistic forces – the woke left and the neoconservative right. It turns out that they share many detestable ideological and personality traits, and have a similar approach to political engagement. It is a new political marriage.” [...]
“Since the neoconservatives left the Republican Party en masse after the arrival of Trump and renounced their conservative views on domestic policy to become commentators on the progressive channel MSNBC, the left has discovered a new love for interventionist foreign policy, as long as it serves ‘democracy’ and opposes ‘autocracy’ – an increasingly malleable term that the woke and the neoconservatives alike use to describe not only Putin but also democratically elected leaders such as Viktor Orban in Hungary, Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Donald Trump in the United States.”
“Having voted for Obama because he promised to break with neoconservative foreign policy, the left is now joining the neoconservatives in opposing Obama's moderate foreign policy on Ukraine.” [...]
“Neoconservatives on the left, progressives on the right – the tide is turning”
“David Frum set the neoconservative standard for this cancel culture tactic when he labelled the small number of right-wing pundits opposed to the Iraq war ‘unpatriotic conservatives’ at the start of that strategic disaster. Today, anyone who suggests that NATO expansion is a contributing factor to the Ukraine crisis, or that the sanctions imposed on Russia are not working and are backfiring on a Europe that will spend the winter without heating, or even that America's priority must be to avoid a world war with a nuclear-armed Russia, is denounced as a Putin stooge.” [...]
“This is absurd, and a real debate would expose some of the illusions of this thinking (...) according to which Putin is a madman who will kill indiscriminately to achieve his goals, but who can also bluff about using nuclear weapons, and that if he is not stopped in Ukraine he will go on to conquer all of Europe. But this debate is forbidden.”
“As long as this woke-neocon alliance defines the terms of the debate, we will keep witnessing a one-way rise towards a greater and more dangerous escalation of this conflict.”
“Maximalist demands at the expense of peace”
“There will be no peaceful resolution to this conflict if America does not take part in peace negotiations. Instead, we defer to the Ukrainians and their maximalist demands. (...) A regional war turned into the First World War because all sides made maximalist demands on the assumption that the others were bluffing. It can happen again, especially if the media, social networks and the foreign policy elite join forces and use woke cancellation tactics to prevent any discussion of alternatives. For now, we are on the path of escalation, and the destination ahead is a wokeWorld War III.”
“David Sacks is a venture capitalist and co-host of the All-In podcast in the United States. [...]”
Read the full original article here:
https://www.newsweek.com
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The headline, standfirst and translation are by the BAM! editorial team.
Photo source: BAM! Vick
Quotations from English-language sources are translated back here from the French.
