Wokey-woke-woke
Bubble babble, babytalk, doublespeak, dogwhistles, and the decline of rational discourse in America
The internet nearly collapsed yesterday underneath the weight of all the woking. As the news of the SVB collapse spread, ‘conservatives’ began frantically casting about for a scapegoat to divert attention from the fact that the fiasco was largely due to a regulatory rollback signed by trump in 2018.
The 2018 rollback freed some banks from policies put in place in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 to try to stop these banks and the financial system from crumbling. As a result, SVB crumbled.
So gopers immediately dug up and began furiously beating on their most beloved dead culture warhorse—”wokeness”, which has replaced “socialism” as the root of all evil.
Nonsensical as it was, they all snarfed it down like dogs in a catbox, while screeching that same old song.
“Republicans are blaming the nation’s second-largest bank failure on corporate “wokeness,” not lax regulation, ill-fated business decisions or panicked customers rushing to pull out their money.”
“House Oversight Committee chairman and Kentucky Republican James Comer called Silicon Valley Bank “one of the most woke banks in their quest for the ESG-type policy and investing.” [ESG means Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance, which is about subversive stuff like reducing the carbon footprint.]
“SVB is what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology and have that take precedent over common sense business practices,” Donald Trump Jr. tweeted.” Or more likely “coked”, since he is always wired and wound-up to hysteria these days.
There is no consensus among conservatives on what the GOP means by “woke” but it’s used as a catch-all term for whatever they don’t like, including black people, independent women, LBQT folks, immigrants, renewable energy, and children after they are born.
“Wall Street Journal opinion columnist Andy Kessler speculated that one reason for the Silicon Valley Bank’s demise was its diverse board which was nearly half women and had one Black member, one LGBTQ member and two veterans.”
“I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess,” Kessler wrote, “but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.”
But that is exactly what he IS saying, isn’t it?”
Other critics include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose company was booted from the S&P 500 ESG index last year. “ESG is a scam. It has been weaponized by phony social justice warriors,” he said at the time.”
And WE ALL KNOW what a savvy businessman he is. Very much like his fellow tech bros, Musk has lost about $182 billion of his net worth since November 2021, Guinness announced last week, citing Forbes. Some estimate he lost up to $200 billion.
So we should def listen to him, right?
But ESG is seen as a threat to the oil, gas and coal industries amid a nationwide push away from fossil fuels. And it’s true that many banks no longer want to fund wildly expensive new mines and drilling projects of diminishing profitability.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2019/01/16/why-theres-no-bringing-coal-back/
Because they don’t want to end up like SVB.
.