Being normal is how you win a culture war

On 'Weird' vs 'Woke'

For the last couple of weeks, the Democratic Party in the United States has had more of a spring in its step.

However, I don’t think this is just because it did the right thing and dumped Joe Biden from its Presidential ticket. Nor do I think it is only because the party has quickly coalesced around Kamala Harris, instead of collapsing into civil war.

This is because a very important third thing also happened: Almost by accident, the party stumbled upon an incredibly effective new attack against its Republican opponents: That they are weird.

And we can already see the line being deployed to devastating effect.

For example, here’s a video supercut of the ‘weird’ attack being used, which was put together by a right-winger as evidence that those using it are “NPCs” – Trumpist internet slang for unthinking liberals. Really it just shows the power of message discipline and an effective catchphrase.

(You’ll have to click through to watch it, because of bloody Elon, but I first saw it posted by conservative commentator Dave Rubin and retweeted by Dominic Cummings – and it has since received over 21,000 retweets and 35m views¹.)

Anyway, as we can see in the video, ‘weird’ is an effective word to use, because it is both flexible and, crucially, true.

For example, JD Vance, the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate is ‘weird’, as evidenced by his retrograde cultural politics, such as his criticism of “childless cat ladies” for having “no direct stake” in America.

But equally, the same word can also be used to accurately characterise an entire swathe of policy positions: Supporting Putin over Ukraine? That’s weird. Wanting to control women’s bodies? Weird. And so on. It coats all of the issues where the Republicans are out of step with public opinion not just as wrong, or dangerous – but icky, in a usefully unspecific way².

So expect to hear the word repeated a lot between now and November.

However, its potency as an attack is only the first layer of why ‘weird’ is interesting. The birth of ‘weird’ is more notable also because it’s a sign that something important has shifted in the amorphous battle that undergirds so much of the political discourse and divide our societies, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Because this is the first time in years when the liberal/left/progressive³ side of the political spectrum has been on the front foot in the culture war.

The “Woke” Tax

It was about a decade ago that that the progressives started losing – and it all happened following a real victory, and a genuine injustice.