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raffraffraff | on: Show HN: Freenet, a peer-to-peer platform for decentralized apps
If his definition of woke mind virus is "identitarianism", then it's agree that it's fucking awful. But I wouldn't call it "woke mind virus".

Identitarianism is a cancer, that has been fed via social media algorithms. We seem to have invented a machine for rewarding all of the wrong incentives. Who would have thought that phenomena like audience capture & polarised thought bubbles would be in the palm of the hand, directing thoughts and forming unbreakable opinions on an array of issues that otherwise wouldn't even be on the radar?

I don't think that this is a left, right or in between thing. Identitarianism had infected the entire political spectrum.

BTW: Perhaps I'm wrong but I don't take the Wikipedia definition of "identitarian movement" and identitarianism. I'm thinking entirely about identity politics. "If you're associated with person X you must be Y", or "If you believe A you must be a B". Highly policed thought bubbles. Ostracism. Cancelling.

As a result, today, with technology that can enable mass communication of thought, there are important conversations that can no longer happen in society.

tardedmeme | parent | next
Usage of the phrase "woke mind virus" is itself a symptom of identitarianism. Only identitarians use the phrase.
dyauspitr | parent | next
As your average progressive, I agree that I don’t like identarianism. When you have 8-15 years old putting a lot of effort into defining themselves as a “non binary, trans feminist pansexual” it gutturally feels wrong. These kids should not be wasting their time and energy on asinine pursuits like this at that age over performing well academically and over developing their physical prowess. I preferred the 00s where it was generally considered taboo to talk/ask about ethnicity/religion/sexuality.

Unfortunately with that perspective, I end in in the same camp as unabashed bigots and real Nazis.

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sanity | parent
[flagged]
angoragoats | root | parent
This is blatantly false.

* You made the mailing list post on 22 Jan 2023.

* Elon Musk first used the phrase (on Twitter, at least) on 19 Dec 2021. [0]

* As of May 2022 at the latest, he was regularly using it in tweets, including ones with tens and hundreds of thousands of likes. [1][2][3]

* By the end of 2022, "woke mind virus" was well-known enough that other users were cracking jokes about it. [4][5]

[0] https://xcancel.com/elonmusk/status/1472371245744373760#m

[1] https://xcancel.com/elonmusk/status/1516600269899026432#m

[2] https://xcancel.com/elonmusk/status/1526975113597489154#m

[3] https://xcancel.com/elonmusk/status/1527356085090545664#m

[4] https://xcancel.com/ditzkoff/status/1602283284947427329#m

[5] https://xcancel.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/160521361079977984...

sanity | root | parent
Apparently you follow him a lot more closely than I do, nonetheless I stand by my point even if I might use different words today.
angoragoats | root | parent
I don't follow him at all, and in fact I try to stay as far away from anything involving him as possible. But your claim didn't pass the smell test, so I looked it up. You might consider doing the same before making easily-disprovable claims in the future; at least in this thread it seems to be a recurring problem for you.
sanity | root | parent
Fair enough, I misremembered the timeline. My broader point was about identitarianism and ideological conformity, regardless of what terminology I used at the time.