Hi Sahil Handa: I take it your central argument here is that "the woke" on college campuses aren't the majority of students. I'm not sure if most folks believe they are, but you're right about this. And I agree that there's a great deal of conformity around most of the issues centrist or dissenting faculty (and citizens outside the unive…
Hi Sahil Handa: I take it your central argument here is that "the woke" on college campuses aren't the majority of students. I'm not sure if most folks believe they are, but you're right about this. And I agree that there's a great deal of conformity around most of the issues centrist or dissenting faculty (and citizens outside the university) would find illiberal. But I'll echo James L's point that knowing this about wokeness in the university shouldn't make us feel much better. In short, groups whose ideology is anti-democratic or illiberal don't have to constitute a majority to be effective and destructive. This is true of the Bolsheviks (James L's example) and of countless other groups, movements, and ideologies, including white supremacists and Christian nationalists in the US. Another thing to keep in mind is that whole sectors of the academy have been selecting for ideologues in grad students and faculty and training undergrads as ideologues such that the woke are clustered in particular fields and disciplines. And yet these relatively small numbers of illiberal students and faculty are spreading their particular brand of cultural authoritarianism in a way that worries people who are also concerned about the authoritarianism of the right. As someone who's been on the front line of this struggle since it was just a twinkle in the eye of tenured aspiring left-wing authoritarians, my take on this is that you may not fully grasp its significance.
Hi Sahil Handa: I take it your central argument here is that "the woke" on college campuses aren't the majority of students. I'm not sure if most folks believe they are, but you're right about this. And I agree that there's a great deal of conformity around most of the issues centrist or dissenting faculty (and citizens outside the university) would find illiberal. But I'll echo James L's point that knowing this about wokeness in the university shouldn't make us feel much better. In short, groups whose ideology is anti-democratic or illiberal don't have to constitute a majority to be effective and destructive. This is true of the Bolsheviks (James L's example) and of countless other groups, movements, and ideologies, including white supremacists and Christian nationalists in the US. Another thing to keep in mind is that whole sectors of the academy have been selecting for ideologues in grad students and faculty and training undergrads as ideologues such that the woke are clustered in particular fields and disciplines. And yet these relatively small numbers of illiberal students and faculty are spreading their particular brand of cultural authoritarianism in a way that worries people who are also concerned about the authoritarianism of the right. As someone who's been on the front line of this struggle since it was just a twinkle in the eye of tenured aspiring left-wing authoritarians, my take on this is that you may not fully grasp its significance.