The Woke Right: “What’s in a name?”

If you have spent any amount of time on conservative X (formerly Twitter) you’ll likely have run across an interesting “debate” concerning the “Woke Right.” Like many political discussions these days, it’s not directly about policy or political objectives but more concerned with labels and whether or not the “woke right” even exists. James Lindsay appears to be the leading advocate of the term, providing a detailed explanation of what it is in a recent X post, and at a higher level, for those of us who prefer images, explained it as follows:

The existence of people who fit in one or the other circles seems beyond debate, which is why I find the argument odd. The position of those correctly placed in the circle on the right isn’t “don’t call us a bunch of antisemitic, misogynists, who are obsessed with race and ideological purity” but rather, “don’t call us woke.” These people seem to be more concerned with the label than with all the characteristics and beliefs that most rational people would find abhorrent.

Prior to the rise of the woke right (yes, I’m conceding that it is the correct term), many found it difficult to define “woke” and so followed a general “rule” similar to that expressed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart concerning the definition of obscenity, “I may not be able to define it but I know it when I see it.” This meme provides a perfect example:

One need only turn on Disney or HBO to understand what “woke” means. More time is spent playing woke bingo than in crafting quality stories.

The rise of the “woke right” will mean that the term “woke” as a stand-alone label will need to give way to more descriptive ones that enable us to differentiate between the left and the right versions of the term. Society evolves, and language attempts to keep pace.

Labels are necessary, they allow us to understand what we are talking about and to distinguish subsets of political groups. The terms “left” and “right” are insufficient to describe the range of beliefs that fall under these two umbrellas thus, we have the progressive left, social democrats, the center-left, the center-right, MAGA, the libertarian right, etc. While we understand that there may be some overlap between the various groups, we know that they are sufficiently different to be worthy of their own labels. Woke left and woke right are just two new labels. If Lindsay loses the battle and “woke right” fades into obscurity, then it will be necessary to come up with a new label since, once again, this group of people does exist (no, alt-right and fascist are not the correct terms).

However, I will leave the battle of labels to others as I am less concerned with tags than I am with aims. Whatever “we” finally decide to call these two groups, one thing is certain: they are authoritarian in nature. There is no room for negotiation, you are with them or against them. Again, memes provide clarity where words sometimes fail us:

Woke Left

Woke Right

If one values freedom and morality, it is impossible to look at the beliefs of “woke left” and “woke right” and decide one is better than the other. It is the classic Fascism or Communism, Stalin or Hitler choice. Pick your poison.

Many who voted for Trump (or supported him in other countries) did so in the hope that he would push back on the authoritarian abuses of the woke left and return some semblance of normality to society – just writing that seems naïve in hindsight.

The longed-for and long-awaited push back did in fact take place, anti-DEI efforts are underway, and a rational approach to the US border seems to have returned, but with those efforts came right-wing overreach including attempts to punish law firms Trump doesn’t like, calls to suspend habeas corpus, and economically damaging trade wars. Instead of ending authoritarian abuse, we find Trump indifferent to it or complicit in expanding it.

Labels must be accurate to be effective. The term “woke right” may or may not gain the support required to become an enduring label for some members of the right. If it fails, I will shrug my shoulders indifferently, knowing that some other label must take its place. My primary concerns are that authoritarian tendencies appear to be on the rise on both the left and the right, and that so many seem to have forgotten the definition of existing labels such as “conservative” and “liberal.”

These terms may still accurately describe the center-right and center-left, but are misleading when applied broadly to the Democratic Party, which has a large illiberal base (progressives) and the Republicans which are led by Trump who is most decidedly not a conservative and who on an almost daily basis reveals how truly illiberal he is.

As the illiberal members on both the left and the right work to pull society further to the extremes, we would do well to remember the words of the last great conservative leader, Ronald Reagan:

"You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well, I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down. Up to man's age-old –- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with law and order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism."
-- Ronald Reagan

Efforts to define and label subsets of the illiberal right are necessary and have my full support, provided that those involved remember that the real battle should not be about what to call them, but rather how to fight them.

Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.