Thread: Don’t believe the “woke” hype

Don’t believe the “woke” hype

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Amy Siskind are peddling radical political change without the substance to back it up

by Rhonda "Ro" Moore
August 21, 2018 4:43 PM


Photo courtesy of wiki commons
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

There’s a subsection of the populace that’s so shocked when confronted with proof that the country doesn’t match their idyllic view. They’ve joined the “fight” to resist those calling for a reset to a bygone era. They’ve proclaimed themselves “allies” in the struggle or taken up the call for radical political change and put themselves forward as problem-solvers. They’re “awake,” “aware,” “woke” and “motivated.”

OK, maybe not a fun topic, but lately I’ve had one too many run-ins with the above buzzwords.

The first instance lead to me being called “not open to young energy” (and can I send a quick big middle finger to that person for calling me old) in the political arena, because I wasn’t all set to jump on the trendy platform of freshman House candidate, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez out of New York. The other time was when I was discussing with a friend how I’m not enamored with New Agenda founder and self-proclaimed “resistance leader” Amy Siskind, who’s pushing a book based on her internet project known as “The Weekly List.”

First of all, I’m not looking to ride the socialist train Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is driving precisely because I don’t buy it.

When you poke beneath the nice sound-bites in her impassioned speeches, there’s no substantive plan in the works to execute what will amount to a wholesale shift in federal governance.

I’ve been watching (and listening) and almost every single time she’s asked how her agenda becomes actual legislation and successfully implemented new law, Ocasio-Cortez turns the conversation to complaints against how Republicans don’t get asked those questions instead of detailing the strategy for pushing for her bills.

I want to yell at her, I already know why I’m not voting for them! Tell me why voting for you is smart!

Given that she graduated cum laude from Boston University with a degree in economics and international relations, her lack of substantive answers is unacceptable. I’m tired of people trying to sell me instead of convincing me they can actually do the job. Until that changes, she’s just the latest shiny face in a sea of tired politicos hoping voters won’t notice they have no real plan.

Don’t get me wrong. I whole-heartedly believe we need fresh ideas, new voices and truly civic-minded representatives. However, I don’t agree that just anyone deserves a seat at the table when they can’t even identify the place settings.

Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t have the luxury of time with such a steep learning curve. If she’s already tap-dancing around the hard questions, then she’s got a bright future as a political operator but it won’t be as the voice of change, because she’ll burn out once the struggle gets real.

As for Amy Siskind, she wasn’t down for the cause before Trump upset her apple cart. I’m never here for those unwilling (read: unable) to stand and explain themselves when their questionable past allegiances and statements are brought to light. Siskind supported Sarah Palin, she’s suborned the vitriol of Steve Bannon and has been all set to high-five Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

There’s nothing intersectional about her feminism, and her distaste for Trump is more rooted in discomfort with his overt anti-female stance than disagreement with his bigoted platform and agenda.

When her original hustle didn’t work, she pivoted into the anti-Trump environment and worked that angle right into a book deal. This doesn’t discount her work but it’ll certainly make me strike her name from my list of allies. May her book earn out in the first year so she can go have several seats somewhere away from me. I don’t have time for long cons and here’s hoping she’ll slither away long before the struggle’s won.

I re-watched the second season of one of my favorite shows, and I had one of those epiphanies that show writers probably have: I’m pretty sure most of these people around are Teddy from Westworld.

For those who don’t look to genre-TV shows for their life lessons, let me explain.

So Teddy is the self-deprecating gunslinger in love with the bright-eyed farm girl Dolores.

Teddy also has a past life (literally) in which he was a brutal, murdering sociopath. After awaking to the fact that he, Dolores and practically everyone he knows are all androids programmed to be playthings for human guests, Teddy—the sweet-natured, love-struck, gun-toting badass with ill-suppressed homicidal tendencies that he is—is all in for the revolt and run for freedom. He naively follows the fearless and viciously driven Dolores.

But Teddy slowly clues into how much will be asked of him and what Dolores really means when she says she’ll free them all. He can’t reconcile how uncomfortable it makes him.

When Teddy finally accepts that he doesn’t have it in him (not even after she gives him a brute force personality adjustment) to see the fight through to the end—instead of facing the difficult choices and standing firm to help steer things toward the light—Teddy punks out and eats a bullet in front of his favorite girl Dolores all apologetic-like.

I’m of the opinion that the majority of people claiming to be “woke” are the Teddy of the current sociopolitical “resistance” taking place in the U.S. And when pressed or questioned, they fold just like he did.

That’s right I said it.

AUGUST 22, 2018 ISSUE
by Rhonda "Ro" Moore



http://sdcitybeat.com/culture/a-side...E2%80%9D-hype/

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