“Racism” and “misogyny” are two of the most oft-hurled discursive weapons. They’re laughably false so much of the time that when I hear them, I no longer experience any nervous system reaction at all. At most, I have a mild curiosity as to who told the truth about something.
Lately, I’ve been noticing the extent to which these accusations represent genuine projection: the accuser is, himself or herself, a misogynist or racist. Two recent examples come to mind.
Anti-Racism is White Supremacy
Saira Rao is a bestselling author and major anti-racist activist who runs non-sexual BDSM sessions for white women wherein they pay for the privilege of serving dinner to Rao and her partner while being berated and verbally abused. She is a widely sought after speaker whose insight into anti-racism is respected on the Left.
She tweeted this recently:
Amusingly, Community Notes tagged her with a bit of common sense:
It’s so stupid that it’s funny, but don’t let that detract from the point.
Saira Rao’s view of white women is that we are not just godlike, but truly, we are Gods. White women are so omnipotent, so masterful over all creation, that one of us could stop Middle East conflict — not with a peace summit, negotiating a settlement, or forging a brilliant compromise like making interplanetary travel possible and building a paradise on Mars on which the Muslims can set up sharia law and have their Muslim paradise, infidel-free.
No. Nothing so effortful is required to get massive results. Not for us white ladies. We are so powerful that just one of us could end it all without any of that effort. A conflict that began during Bible times and continues today could end if a white woman would take a few seconds while scrolling on the toilet to simply post on Instagram, just once.
I have read a good deal about white supremacy, and I recall nothing that believed white women to be even 1% as godlike as Saira Rao believes white woman to be.
She represents the pinnacle of white supremacy, a belief in the godlike nature of white people that any KKK grand dragon could only dream of inculcating.
Woke Feminism as Misogyny
Substack has a Twitter clone (a part of their website that looks and behaves much like Twitter, allowing short posts) called Substack Notes. Some days I’m barely there at all; other days, usually days with lots of boring DEI meetings at work during which I can’t get anything done anyway, I am active there. There’s a user on Substack Notes whose constant repetition of Woke copypasta is so severe that it reminds me of the period in my life that got me diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This person is compelled to repeat Woke copypasta in the same way I was compelled to check that my door was locked, over and over, only moreso — and she thinks she’s communicating real and substantive ideas, whereas I knew I was mentally sick.
This woman went after my friend Josh awhile back, accusing him of all manner of depravity, all of which was laughable (men like Josh, gold star homosexuals who are gayer than picnic baskets, tend not to use sex to lead women astray). She figured out that he and I are close friends in real life, and immediately concluded that he was responsible for all of my right-of-center views. Josh, the misogynist, had infected me and caused me to parrot all of his views as my own—had fooled me into thinking I believed everything he believed. Thanks to Josh, I had internalized misogyny.
Think about that for a minute. I’m nobody’s idea of a genius, but I’m reasonably intelligent. I can do fairly advanced mathematics, including using code to create statistical models. I can train machine learning algorithms to solve complex problems. I used to be poor enough to miss meals, and I worked my way into a good job and the middle class.
And yet, to a Woke true believer, my not being Woke leads to only one conclusion: I am a mindless zombie, a bumbling fool with a blank ladybrain just waiting on someone with a penis to show up and tell me what to do, and think. That I may have influenced some of Josh’s views literally never occurred to her. That Josh and I may have become good friends because we independently came to the same conclusions about some issues and then found we had views, experiences, and other things in common, also never occurred to her.
The Woke algorithm is so mind-numbingly trite that it’s not even hard to chart:
I have experienced a moderate amount of sexism in my life, and a small amount of genuine misogyny. None of the misogyny I have experienced was as severe as what I’ve experienced from the Woke, as none of it presumed I was a Stepford Woman waiting on a man to tell me what to think. All of it assigned me at least some agency.
Conclusion: Water is Wet
Neither of these examples are surprising, and the “OMG the Wokies are the real racists/sexists/misogynists/transphobes” conclusion, while true, is neither new nor particularly insightful. Water is wet, who knew?
But these things are so omnipresent now that I think there’s some value in taking a minute to point at them, if only to prevent them from becoming white noise that never gets consciously recognized. To notice them. To see them, to name them, to see reality and call it what it is. To bear witness.
Thank you for bearing witness with me.
About Me and My Substack: I’m a data scientist whose great love is mathematics, but I also enjoy writing. My posts are mostly cultural takes from a broadly anti-Woke perspective—yes, I’m one of those annoying classical liberals who would’ve been considered on the left until ten seconds ago. Lately I’ve regained a childhood love of reading and started publishing book reviews. My most widely useful essay may be this one, about how to resist the demon of self-termination.
Paid subscribers get access to occasional creative writing posts and sole access to two series: one on my journey to educate myself on US history (first entry not paywalled and is here) and one on my tips for how to not suck at math (first five entries not paywalled, links at the top of part 5, here).
I used to be poor, so this Substack has a standing policy: if you want a paid subscription but cannot afford one, email me at hollymathnerd at gmail dot com and I’ll give you a freebie.
That "men like Josh" parenthetical cracked me up. Hopefully the shortened version can be used in the future with a link back to your post. Part of the "Holly Substack canon."
Another excellent read, Holly, thank you. You broke up a boring afternoon for me. We all know a few people who really badly need to read your sensible thoughts.