The Long, Withdrawing Roar
1st June 2021
Severian is not optimistic.
Like the Puritans of old, they now find themselves caught in a purity spiral. Just as the Puritans could only see themselves reflected in the mirror of the community of believers, so being #Woke is worthless without the echo chamber of social media. Just as the Puritans could suspect (though never, of course, truly know) that they were among the Elect by their irresistible attraction to the outward forms of Puritanism, so the #Wokeists must continually be #Woker than everyone else in order to be saved. Which means, inevitably, that it degrades into nothing but outward show. Recycling, mask-wearing, foot-washing — pure totemism, all of them. Perform the rituals correctly, and you shall be saved.
The Right, meanwhile, has completely left the battlefield. Ignorant armies are clashing by night, all right, but they’re all factions of the Left. The Right has completely given up on outward show. The Left controls the culture, and the Left’s ever-changing rules — which, it should be obvious if I’ve explained the above correctly, make complete sense to the Left — have induced learned helplessness in the Right. We can’t play by their rules, since their rules change constantly and never follow any earth-logic… so we don’t. We just huddle in a corner, hoping not to get shocked. Again.