Rex Kerr
1 min readApr 13, 2023

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The problem with being "anti-woke" is that "anti-woke" now represents an extreme absolutist ideology that has become prominent on the political right.

So it's better to adopt a different brand. I am an anti-illiberalist in practice, for instance. (My ideological commitment to this is fairly weak, but pragmatically it seems warranted given the nature of the primary contemporary challenges to liberalism.) I wouldn't mind saying so. Wait, I just did say so. So, there you go!

I do mind, at this point (though not a couple years ago) characterizing myself anti-woke, however, because the extreme absolutist ideology on the right has co-opted the label to too great an extent.

I advise you to think more deeply about TaraElla's points here, and also, if you haven't already, read some of her other stories about the "anti-woke" yet still postmodern and illiberal right.

It's not that occasionally supporting the right is not okay--as John McLaughlin used to say (but about someone on the left), they occasionally stumble uncontrollably into the truth. However, supporting the illiberal postmodern and now "anti-woke" part of the right is not okay.

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Rex Kerr
Rex Kerr

Written by Rex Kerr

One who rejoices when everything is made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Sayer of things that may be wrong, but not so bad that they're not even wrong.

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