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This list is stacked with truth. Clarification: what are some examples of self-critical wokeness? We’ve KINDA seen it with some recent post-election coverage (VERY lightly), but did you have some books in mind?

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No books, but I notice a lot of essays on Substack for example of people who are woke, but self-reflective about its implications

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Gotcha. I was wondering if this could include books like Musa Al-Gharbi’s We’ve Never Been Woke or Freddie DeBoer’s How the Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement. I wouldn’t call either of them “woke” but I do see them as more sophisticated/reflective in their critiques than obviously figures like Dave Rubin or Gad Saad or James Lindsay.

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

"Pushback against the medicalization of everyday life "

Yet the new glp1 obesity drugs are in continued high demand and showing no signs of slowing down.

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

What I’m taking away: the only thing more deeply rooted than contrarian reactionary posturing is witchcraft aesthetics. It really humbles you

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

I thought Amish people seemed cooler and even aspirational back in 2008! I must be ahead of the times.

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I've always loved them too. In a way, my love of Mormons created the "Default Friend" persona.

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Is it an explicit or implicit Mormon connection with the concept of the default friend? Is it that they are friendly as a default, or almost as a commandment?

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This one for instance: “People will be excited about Gavin Newsom” maybe there’s a popularity survey? I’m not saying you’re wrong just that I see a lot of these as arguable in either direction. Even the ones you said you got wrong

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You’re right. Like his favorability is low but he’s also highly memed

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So which one counts? It’s too broad to count

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Or this one: Renewed interest in Marshall McLuhan. I seem to remember peaks of interest periodically over the last 25 years.

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

One of the most respected people in my professional sphere is on year two of an application-only seminar series with the McLuhan institute.

Not sure how you “quantify” that, but people with professional influence in creative industries are paying attention.

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Quantifying things like that isn't too difficult - it's counting citations or Google Trends searches. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=Marshall%20McLuhan&hl=en-US

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Thank you! McLuhan is becoming what Lasch and Paglia were 2018-2022

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Also I gotta ask Andrew about this seminar series!!!

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

This is it: https://kleinkleinklein.com/understanding-media-seminar

Would definitely sign-up if you ran something similar! It filled up fast.

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OH hey! He's a very cool guy.

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This one might be right: Trend toward miniature houses.

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That one is verifiably wrong, they’re favorable but very few ppl actually live in them

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Sure but “trend towards” just means more people live in them than when you made the prediction.

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True, can find interest growth but no good # on whether ppl actually live in them. I would also imagine no bc you need $$ for the land to put them on

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It’s a good humility check either way, it’s possible they’re all bull shit & who cares - as long as ppl don’t think I take it too seriously

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How do you quantify most of these.

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Many of them are measurable through analytics, checking headlines, etc.

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Some of them seem pretty straightforward but most don’t - but maybe you ran the numbers?

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What’s an example of one you disagree with or seems unquantifiable?

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I say "checking headlines" bc so many of these are just predictions about what conversations we're going to be having

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

Don't you think the "woke" vs. "anti-woke" divide is decreasing?

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Maybe it is, should I count that one as a win?

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Nov 9Liked by Katherine Dee

I think after this election, with woke calling out a different kind of woke, it has lost all relevance. I mean it's all like "Are you the Kamala lost because US hates women" woke or "Both are war criminals" woke? You should definitely count it as a win.

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Good point, tbh.

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