Politics professor Eric Kaufmann talks to Toby Young about his Quillette essay The Great Awokening and the Second American Revolution. Professor Kaufmann believes America may be going through something akin to China’s Cultural Revolution in which many aspects of American society, from the constitution to the name of the country, could change.
Published on June 28, 2020
PODCAST 97: Professor Eric Kaufmann on America’s Maoist Moment
Greatly enjoyed this podcast; a pertinent and articulate discussion that complements the essay. I admit to being initially surprised by results of the survey, but after hearing about California’s recent rewording of their constitution, I have no doubts as to the validity of Professor Kaufmann’s survey as an accurate measure of the degree that the Woke dogma is being accepted (no, embraced!) as truth, by a growing number on the left. The comparison with China’s Cultural Revolution seems apt, especially the aspects involving erasure of the past and denouncement of non-believers. Redder than Red, Woker than Woke.
Amusing though, that the only change most people surveyed would resist is to change the language…too much effort to learn another language; better to just invent slogans and more Wokespeak.
I’m not so sure the active attempt to rewrite US history - and the actions used to do so - is a kind of cyber chaos. I’ve seen a lot of commentary that revolutions in our era have put violence behind. Revolutionaries throughout history have accepted violence as part of the equation - and do you see “blue state” elections serving as a vehicle of genuine structural change? If so, we’re experiencing a lot of sound of fury. I wouldn’t count on it. First, a relatively small number of violent provocateurs could start real trouble - who fired the shot at Lexington? Also people are pushing the race button in ways that are very dangerous. And if you have a lot of young people who really believe that our past is worthless a new variation on revolutionary Marxism could appear - think of a movement that is on paper democratic but with serious hard edge and an open call to “give us power, and things will change in a very serious way.” There’s no love for capitalism and private property among the shock groups today. And this society is armed to the teeth in a way that you’d only find in countries like Afghanistan or Mexico that are in a kind of protracted war.