I Really Kind Of Want A Pair Of Nick's Handmade Boots

Yes, of course right-wing insanity about “woke” is unhinged, but so what? Why does that fact compel us to pretend that nobody sincerely supports the social justice political project? I find it so strange that people like Beauchamp still default to the “hey, this woke stuff is just a small fringe, who cares?”

Or maybe not strange. Social justice politics is a set of policy positions and moral precepts, like any other political movement, but it’s also a set of discursive tools, and one of its central tools has always been a vociferous rejection of criticism, typically enforced through bringing intense social and professional shunning to bear. Whether the danger is real or perceived, a lot of people remain terribly afraid of appearing to defy this consensus. A lot of mainstream liberals have nursed private doubts about the social justice project for years, but they’ve also seen the potential costs of doing so publicly, so they’re in the rear with the gear. Therefore it’s convenient to do as Beauchamp does and assert the irrelevancy of those politics rather than to affirmatively critique or defend them.

Well: social justice politics aren’t going anywhere. As I said, there’s a policy agenda associated with that movement; some of the specifics I very much support, some I very much oppose. The moral commitments of equality and defense of minority groups I very much support, at least at the level of moral abstraction. And there’s a really ugly counter-movement afoot that I’m entirely opposed to. What I’d like is a social justice movement that drops some of its ridiculous excesses and reflexive illiberalism. That wouldn’t be my own project, and I’m not going to get that, but it would be nice. But there’s no way to get there if we refuse to engage, under the theory that social justice politics just aren’t important or any other. Also, you know, I personally feel in a very visceral and deep place in my heart that being condescended to is so much worse than open antagonism. And I just feel like we’re in this place where people are still terribly afraid of getting canceled and recently spent a year talking about how justice was on the march and nothing would ever be the same and think it’s normal that defense manufacturers refer to “Black bodies” in their marketing materials and at the same time treat social justice politics as the cute little political movement of adolescents. It’s time to get past that. You respect people by taking their politics seriously. So let’s take them seriously.