Wokeistan vs. Magadonia and the Slums of Political Homelessness

Victory comes only through the normie slums.

There is a popular meme going around social media, shared by Elon Musk and others. It speaks for itself so I need not do anything more than post it here.

2012 is an important year. As the meme accurately shows, that was when “woke” started going mainstream.

The right didn’t go further right politically after 2012, but it did go irrational. Today, we will talk about the “grey vs. grey” war between the militant ideologues on the left and the irrational cultists on the right.

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Contents:

• I. The Rise of Wokeistan

• II. The Rise of Magadonia

• III. Wokeistan vs. Magadonia: The Next Phase

• IV: The Slums of Political Homelessness

• V: What The Right Must Do

I. The Rise of Wokeistan

Pundits often like to talk about “culture wars.” What they do not talk about as much are separate phases of a broader struggle that involve a series of wars. For example, the end of World War I did not mean that Europe was peaceful again as it had been before July 1914. Rather, the armistice of 1918 was merely the end of one phase of a broader conflict. Fighting continued in Europe on and off until the end of the Greek Civil War in 1949. Winston Churchill called this period Europe’s “Second Thirty Years War.” Some historians go even further and place these conflicts as part of a global Eighty Years War that lasted for most of the 20th century, beginning with World War I and ending with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Without binding ourselves too deeply to an analogy, we can say that 2012 was the end of one phase of the culture war and the start of another. That year, Barack Obama won reelection despite getting fewer popular and electoral votes as an incumbent, an extremely unusual outcome in American politics. Obama lost the traditional American center that year, but created a “new center” by running up massive margins on the “edges” of American society:

While weak in the center, Obama rolled up colossal margins at the edges: 93 to 6 among black voters (96 to 3 among black women), 76 to 22 among LGBT voters, 73 to 26 among Asians, 71 to 27 among Hispanics, 67 to 31 among unmarried women, and 63 to 31 among nonreligious whites. Racial polarization made likely Obama voters easier to identify, geographically concentrated, and disproportionately young, urban, and online. They required little persuasion; the challenge was to mobilize them. Base mobilization paid off down the ticket: Democrats won the national popular vote in House races and won multiple Senate races where they trailed or led slightly in Labor Day polls.

And thus, the “demography is destiny” thesis became mainstream. Most major Western political parties believed in it. More importantly, the institutions of social and economic life believed in it, too. Combined with the steady entrance of critical theory-educated Millennials into these institutions, it was easy for them to “go woke” and begin “cancelling” outsiders.

In fewer words, 2012 was the end of the great power phase of the culture war. The right lost. The left had conquered most sectors of society, forcing further resistance into guerilla warfare against the growing power of the new Wokeistan.

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II. The Rise of Magadonia

Between 2012 and 2015, the Republican Party might as well have been the men of the late Third Age of Middle Earth: “scattered, divided, leaderless.”

It was a pathetic state. The Republican Party won big in the 2014 midterm, an election which would prove crucial in the Supreme Court’s composition. Still, the party showed no sign of understanding its predicament, the state of the country, or indeed Western civilization itself. It rather continued playing the greatest hits of the 80s, not realizing that Reagan’s America was dead.

Little surprise then, that it was ripe for a takeover from a celebrity billionaire. More by instinct than through serious thought, Donald Trump at least understood the fundamentals of the new reality. Unfortunately, his serious character flaws (which I detailed in a 30-minute podcast here) meant he could not be an effective leader.

For all his failures, Donald Trump did set an example, one which more effective leaders could follow provided they avoided his pitfalls. This was unfortunately hard to do, however, because in the process of rallying opposition against Wokeistan, Trump created a cult of personality - Magadonia.

Unlike Wokeistan, which has a ruling ideology (even if that ideology is constantly in flux according to the latest hysteria), Magadonia is an apolitical entity. Magadonia more closely resembles North Korea, with the praise, elevation, and defense of the Dear Leader being the highest priority in the lives of those who exist within its walls.

Although the personality cult always existed on some level, it became the only feature in the movement Trump led following his loss in the 2020 election. The needs of the Dear Leader fully eclipsed the principles and observations of the 2016 campaign (which I wrote about in a book at the time). This is the clearest distinction between Trump and “post-Trump” leaders.

Unsurprisingly, normal voters want nothing to do with Magadonia, no matter how much they feel oppressed by the Wokeistani Army. Social conservatism may be on the rise as former centrists and liberals now fall right of center, but it has not been able to translate into electoral success and policy on a national scale thanks to Magadonia’s rule over the Republican Party.

III. Wokeistan vs. Magadonia: The Next Phase

Extreme wealth stratification is one of the hallmarks of cyberpunk. “Grey vs. grey morality” is another. Of this we can use the following quote:

The result of such a conflict depends on where the story lies on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. At the idealistic end, both sides will eventually realize that fighting is futile and end up putting aside their differences to learn from each other and make a new and better world. At the centre, one side usually ends up crushing the other; this brings about peace, but of a hollow, depressing kind, as a faction with noble ideals has been destroyed. At the cynical end, both sides gradually become more extremist and less sympathetic as the war drags on until eventually the stronger side utterly defeats the other, leading to harsh oppression (and/or elimination) of anyone who holds the weaker faction's views, which eventually results in the stronger side writing history books painting them as the noble heroes triumphant against the evil dissidents who threatened their ways. That, or both parties simply end up destroying each other, so no one wins in the end.

There’s no doubt that America’s politics and culture wars now resemble the cynical end.

One side is dominated by a faction that believes Western civilization is irredeemably racist, men can be women (or vice versa), and that unchosen characteristics are the most important influence on one’s destiny, denying the concept of agency. It is a depressing view of humanity. As a result, unhappy, angry people compose its ranks.

The other is dominated by an irrational personality cult that has no aspiration beyond the defense and veneration of the Dear Leader. It is boorish, uncivilized, lame, and unambiguously low IQ. Its ranks are composed by angry and stupid people, along with shameless grifters.

But there is no doubt about which is the stronger side. If the Magadonian Army is the lead player against the forces of Wokeistan in the battles of 2024, it will be utterly defeated. From the ashes of a victory as overwhelming as that of the machines against humanity in The Matrix, Wokeistan will have similar free reign to dominate all of national life and rewrite our perceptions of reality.

(Image from the “Second Renaissance Part II” in The Animatrix.)

IV. The Slums of Political Homelessness

Civilians always suffer the most in war. Likewise, normal Americans who dislike both sides find themselves at the mercy of the Wokeistan-Magadonia conflict. Their choices are limited. One party offers them candidates who want to let criminals out of jail. The other says their votes in a presidential election were invalid.

As the vehicles of American public and even private life have become dominated by these two factions and a class of apostles that spreads their dogma in cyberspace, normal people have been forced to retreat into the slums which no public or private institution represents or cares for.

The situation is faintly reminiscient of Megazone 23 (1985-9), where humanity is trapped between living a lie maintained by a supercomputer and living under the thumb of a militant government faction. They have no real say in their destiny, as the ship, and later the city they live in, are controlled by forces they cannot participate in.

Whenever given the chance, voters have tried to claw representation back from these two factions and elect normal candidates that show no allegiance to either side. But make no mistake, when forced to choose, voters opt for Wokeistan. We see this in the approval ratings of Joe Biden and Donald Trump and saw it most forcefully in the 2022 midterm election.

V. What The Right Must Do

If the political right wants to defeat Wokeistan or at least live to fight another day, it will need to go into the slums of normies. It will need to persuade those normies of two things:

1. Retaliation against Wokeistan is OK and possible.

2. The political right is a safe alternative.

In essence, it must invite the normies out of the slums of political homelessness and into its ranks.

But to do that, Magadonia must be destroyed. Donald Trump’s cult of personality must be defeated and then eradicated from the party.

In one sense, the Republican Party and political right can more easily accomplish its objectives of bringing the normies out of the politically homeless slums. Their problem is personal and not ideological, unlike the Democratic Party which is completely captured by the ruling dogma of Wokeistan.

But cowardice is a hot commodity in the party ranks these days, and as Donald Trump vows to run for office even if convicted, far too few Republican leaders and partisans are making the clear break with him that the normies need to see, essentially telling them to remain in the slums and under the thumb of Wokeistan.

The choice the political right makes next year will determine the country’s future and maybe the future of Western civilization.

(Image from Bubblegum Crisis Episode 1: “Tinsel City”)

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