AOC and Co. Giggling Away Woke 1.0

Democratic socialism has become a phenomenon akin to synchronized hordes of cicadas. Scores of candidates across the United States are carrying on the legacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and inching closer to victory. The problem for the far-left movement is that these men and women were raised in a world of social media ubiquity and an era when wokeism was starting to seep inside America's consciousness. The solution for moving on from inane positions now that they sniff power? Giggle it away like AOC.

AOC and the Woke 1.0 Campaign

In the 1890 Oscar Wilde novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, a hidden portrait of the dashing young man metastasizes into a hideous monster for every sin he commits. More than a century later, a parallel scene is playing out for today’s democratic socialists, except their portrayals morph into blue‑haired versions of themselves, dressed in ripped jeans, Che Guevara T‑shirts, and inked with tattoos.

Appearing on ABC's This Week, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) shrugged off the nonsense uttered on social media circa 2019 and 2020 with laughter. “I have a local city councilman that has this saying: ‘Woke 1 was crazy,’” AOC said, adding that the rhetoric espoused by her and other Sanderistas would never be emulated today.

AOC had championed various positions several years ago: defunding the police, ending the construction of prisons, supporting an ultra-expensive Green New Deal, and protecting Drag Queen Story Hour. Does she still hold these positions today? Did she ever? What has been clear, based on her record in Congress, is that the “girl from the Bronx” does what is politically expedient, effectively toeing the line to climb the ranks of the Democratic Party (perhaps Chuck Schumer’s seat).

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Of course, it is not only the New York congresswoman who has wrestled with past tweets.

Wisconsin democratic socialist gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong said in November 2020 that the United States should "cancel Thanksgiving." She continued: "If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women, so be it.”

A year later, Hong ranted on social media that "police exist to uphold white supremacy," urging the defunding and eventual abolition of police. She also believes prisons should be dismantled.

Ostensibly, being around white people gives her anxiety, too. "I ate two bites of my kid’s cheeseburger at a Culver’s in black river falls [sic] and told him they ran out of ice cream. Mostly just wanted to leave bc I was on the verge of a anxiety attack…to [sic] many old white people who didn’t think we spoke english,” Hong posted on X in 2019.

In a recent interview with CNN's Kaitlin Collins, Hong, who enjoys a commanding lead over her Democratic rivals, used the standard "views can evolve" excuse. Additionally, like AOC, she told The New York Times that it was "peak woke back in the 2020s."

From New York congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier to Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, more and more democratic socialists are witnessing their past social media activity come to light. Chevalier wants to abolish the border, seize private property, and nationalize major industries. El-Sayed also supported defunding the police because of "systemic racism and police brutality."

Staring Into the Abyss

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is proof that a controversial social media history might not serve as a roadblock to power. A phalanx of voters might be forgiving and look beyond questionable ideas if they are perhaps promised free stuff. So far, many of the democratic socialist hopefuls are committing to what President Calvin Coolidge would call “legalized larceny” so they can redistribute wealth and seize private resources.

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in his 1886 book Beyond Good and Evil that centering your mind on fighting iniquities could risk adopting the very same destructive mindset. "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you," Nietzsche wrote. For the wokeologists, fighting racism has made them adopt the same racist attitudes they proclaim to oppose.

In the end, socialism, communism, democratic socialism; a totalitarian ideology by any other name would smell as rotten.