The Woke Right

There is an unsettling irony unfolding in the culture wars. The fiercest critics of woke ideology—those who once proudly championed reason, liberal values, and individualism—have begun to mirror the methods they claim to despise. The phenomenon is neither subtle nor trivial; it signals a broader failure of intellectual and moral consistency on the right.

Consider the fundamental critiques originally levelled against the woke Left:

• Narrative over facts: Feelings supplant evidence, anecdotes trump data, and emotional resonance eclipses rational analysis.

• Omnipresent oppression: Reality interpreted exclusively through hierarchies of power, oppression, and victimhood.

• Identity epistemology: Truth is defined by one's membership in marginalized groups, making personal identity central to knowledge claims.

• Enforced conformity: Heresy-hunting and purity spirals create environments hostile to independent thought or debate.

• Illiberal censorship: Silencing opponents through coercive tactics like public shaming, career destruction, and institutional capture.

• Dogmatic rejection of liberalism: Viewing free speech, Enlightenment rationalism, and individual rights as suspect, if not complicit in oppression.

The term "Woke Right," originally coined by James Lindsay and later popularized by Konstantin Kisin, highlights an uncomfortable symmetry:

• Narrative over reason: Conspiracy theories and instinct-driven claims replace rational critique.

• Grievance culture: Claiming victimhood status, with society viewed as rigged against conservatives and traditionalists.

• Identity politics: Rallying around collective identities—religious, ethnic, or nationalistic—in place of individualism.

• Historical revisionism: Mythologizing a lost golden age to fuel resentment and justify reactionary goals.

• Speech policing: Branding critics as traitors, weaklings, or degenerates, and enforcing orthodoxy through intimidation.

• Anti-liberal rhetoric: Rejecting core Enlightenment values and liberal democracy in favor of authoritarian or collectivist solutions.

Andrew Doyle and others have noted the striking parallelism. Both woke Left and Right propagate a similar underlying pathology: abandoning empirical reason and liberal principles in favor of dogmatic group allegiance and collective grievance.

This intellectual convergence suggests a shared psychological pattern: humans naturally gravitate toward tribal identities, narrative simplicity, and ideological purity—unless vigorously checked by liberal institutions and Enlightenment habits of mind. This regression isn't restricted by political labels; it appears wherever reason and tolerance wane.

The key insight here is Pinker-esque: liberalism and rationalism aren't natural states—they require deliberate cultural effort and disciplined commitment. Both ends of the ideological spectrum can slip into similar illiberal mindsets if vigilance is relaxed.

But what should we call this emergent movement on the right, if not "Woke Right"? Perhaps:

• Reactionary Identitarianism

• Grievance Conservatism

• Authoritarian Populism

• Counter-Enlightenment Right

Whatever label we choose, the critical point remains: the methods of woke activism—censorship, emotional appeals over empirical inquiry, tribalism, and purity spirals—are intellectually corrosive wherever they manifest. Fighting wokeism by adopting its methods is akin to battling religious dogmatism by establishing an Inquisition.

The rational response, therefore, is clear and uncompromising: defend liberal principles, uphold rigorous standards of evidence and debate, and resist tribalism on all fronts. The culture war will not be won by mirroring the enemy, but by reaffirming and strengthening the very ideals under threat.

Otherwise, the right risks becoming precisely what it set out to oppose.