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I am not afraid to say it. I am on the
“dirtbag left” and have been for years,
even before I knew that was a term.
What does that even mean? Well, it
means that I can’t stand the obsession
with political correctness and culture
wars, but at the end of the day I will
always fight for people’s rights and
equality. I prioritise policy over
political correctness and culture wars.
The former, if good, can make the
world a better place and improve
people’s lives and the latter is just a
distraction and derailment from the
important things.

This short essay was inspired by a

discussion with my friend, a fellow
“dirtbag leftist”, and she said
something like ‘I don’t get why
conservatives call wokeness socialist, if
anything, it’s capitalist’. She hit the nail
on the head there and I think it’s time
to talk about why I think wokeness is
capitalist, not socialist.

The language used to describe this

approach of walking on eggshells,
obsession with language, call out
culture, hyperfixation on window
dressing and platitudes over
substantial change that actually
materially benefits people has evolved
over the years. You remember the
term, “Social Justice Warrior”:
someone who seems to mean well, but
is overzealous about their passion for
social justice and assumes the worst of
everyone around them, assuming that
little mistakes are just people being
prejudiced and latent bigotry coming
out. Now the terminology has changed.
Not complaining, language is fluid and
living and as people we evolve, grow,
and change with the times. Today, we
call this performative wokeness and
virtue signalling.

Performative wokeness and virtue

signalling are much more of a
phenomenon in capitalists than 0%1&21*.1%/ 3$#"&4"

socialists, and you can find these

behaviours in the centre-left, centre,
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and on the right. The right will virtue
signal when it comes to religion,
talking about how they’re such good
Christians and how liberal college kids
get offended over everything, but then
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act just as or even more offended when ,+&7(88(9%.2
someone on their side is called out or :%;1&:$<%.1*.$*"&*"/&=8*22$5
something offends their sensibilities. >(5?&@"16A2$*21B&31*.1$"#&*
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My main point here is calling out
liberal performative wokeness and 7(88(9

virtue signalling and make it clear to

all that left wingers who are anti or )%*+,%-
critical of capitalism are not the same
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There is some “performative wokeness” !<(A1&K(8$1$52
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on the left too and I see it more and 16%&F%.2("*8$1$%2
more as time goes by. Now let’s talk /(&"(1B&!"/
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about what wokeness isn’t. Wokeness is 8$?%&16%&-%/$*
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not equal rights, even if conservatives 2*D2B
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important to have a discussion about *"/&!C(5*/(H

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equal rights and take into account 31A;;&T((-%.
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views from people of all backgrounds,
that’s democracy and there is no justice G%8F 31*1A2 I.$1%.2 T8(#
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until everyone is treated equally. It’s U"(9*<8%

important to care about fellow human

beings because we don’t exist in
isolation, we’re social creatures and we
interact with one another. People’s
feelings matter. People’s wellbeing
matters. Even if they are people you
don’t agree with or don’t like. As MLK
said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to
justice everywhere”.

What wokeness is to me, is an

obsession with identity and wanting to
classify them and put them in boxes, as
if they’re objects, plants, or zoo
animals. The “woke” will talk about all
sorts of identities as a distraction, just
like the rich will use charity as a smoke
screen to distract from their corruption
and rigging the system in their favour.
The working class outnumber the rich,
so the rich developed a strategy of co-
opting progressive anti-racist, feminist,
and pro-LGBT language to divide the
working class and get them fighting
amongst each other, calling each other
the enemy, when the real enemies are
our economic oppressors: the
billionaire class.

And this wokeness leads to an

obsession with appearances, making
things look progressive, but without
making any actual change, such as
superficial diversity by putting
“diverse” faces in high places to make it
look like things have changed and
hiring diversity, equity, and inclusion
officers and holding sensitivity
trainings, and talking about checking
your privilege, none of which do
substantial things to help the
multiracial working class. Wokeness
and its obsession with identity and
labels leads to box ticking and that
doesn’t lead to systemic change. More
diverse faces in higher places doesn’t
change the system and make it fair for
the many. It only enriches the few.
There’s no discussion of class issues
because the fake woke will yell that it’s
class reductionism and it’s racist,
sexist, homophobic, transphobic,
whatever to talk about class. Class
issues affect us all, regardless of labels.
We need to stop pitting people against
each other, that’s what the elites want.
That’s why wokeness is capitalist, not
socialist.

When we unite and talk about class

issues, it uplifts more people. But when
we obsess over labels and do this whole
Oppression Olympics, it distracts from
the problems of capitalism. Capitalism
doesn’t care what your skin colour or
gender is or who you love, as long as
you’re not a threat to the status quo.
But if you start to preach about
socialism, the capitalist system will
crush you and suppress what you’re
saying. Look what happens every time
a socialist makes traction in the US.
The Feds don’t like that, yet the FBI
and CIA will talk about how woke they
are, it’s a smokescreen. Don’t believe a
word.

Socialism is talking about human

rights and social issues and framing it
in a way to uplift us all. People need to
find that we’re not that different after
all and branch out and get to know all
kinds of people and open their minds.
That’s how we unite and work together
to achieve systemic change: free at the
point of use healthcare tuition free
university, medical and student loan
debt forgiveness, getting money out of
politics, combatting climate change,
improving infrastructure, fighting for
workers rights. These are the issues
that transcend identity and affect us
all. That’s socialism.
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