This article is coming from a need for review. A need for reflection on another person’s world view. What we have noticed on The Whole Magazine is a paradigm shift in what is being said about the supposed power the Right has over the media and identity politics. This writing we are taking a look at is deep and well written and is worth a read. One of the biggest things one can do is read works by those you generally disagree with.

You can find the writing we are looking for here. I have extracted parts of the piece that require some discussion.

My own initial thoughts on the writing — My interpretation.

After reading through this piece, it appears that this is someone who would identify with the middle left in current politics. The writing is focused on the Right’s alleged in progress collapse and resemblance to fascism. It illustrates a picture where the Right is desperate for control and feels threatened by ‘progress’. Progress it defines as primarily DEI, transgender ideology and other left leaning viewpoints.

It is well written and utilized great prose. This writing is more of a declaration without any examples. This is expected as it is, to my understanding, a small work relative to the much larger work the author is working on.

Below you will find a quotation I have taken from the text and my responses with be written in normal script.

On Reactionary Violence

“To understand reactionary violence, you have to understand what it reacts to. It doesn’t respond to chaos. It doesn’t respond to crime. It doesn’t even respond to corruption. It responds to inclusion. It responds to equality. It responds to justice that extends beyond the original blueprint of who power was built for.”

The author uses the term reactionary violence. This appears to be a term that was created by the author for the purpose of this work to describe an idea or political standing. It says that conservatism seeks to uphold tradition, which generally I would not agree with, and more on that later. It further states that ‘reactionary movements’ are what happen when tradition is weaponized. “When people feel entitled not just to a belief system, but to dominance over others.”

The term itself seems to be used to describe conservatives, specifically the supporters of the current administration, reversing actions and policies which only undermined core principles of American life. “The term reactionary isn’t just another political insult. It describes a person, group, or movement, that seeks not just to preserve the past, but to restore it — by any means necessary. A reactionary doesn’t want to slow progress; they want to reverse it. Their allegiance isn’t to values — it’s to hierarchy.” It would also seem that the writer believes that conservatives would like to call back to Jim Crow era policies, which couldn’t be farther from the truth.

The current administration has set in motion policies and actions to walk back the ironically racist DEI practices in a broad spectrum of public life. While this piece is likely talking about a small subset, just like any political party or side, who are extreme, it is written in a way which posits that standing against DEI and ‘woke’ policies puts you in such a category.

If this is true. Then a vast portion of the American population falls into this category. People who voted for Trump, who campaigned on all the actions he is taking now, would presently be considered “reactionary”.

Conservatives upholding tradition is sometimes overplayed. Often it is ascribed to upholding segregation and Jim Crow, which the Republican Party was against. At which point the Left will cite the always tired “Party switch” lie. What conservatives want to uphold is America’s standing in the world as the greatest nation. We are an economic superpower, a military superpower, and have a globe-spanning hegemony. Some core principles of daily life that are meant to be supported as well is a merit-based society. This is also inline with Martin Luther King Jr.’s desires for what America should be. Conservatives are some of the only people I know to openly speak out against their respective leaders about corruption. The issue is voting them out. Only recently did we see Liz Cheney voted out of her seat after the performative charade that was the January 6th committee.

“While conservatism seeks to uphold tradition, reactionary movements are what happen when tradition is weaponized—when people feel entitled not just to a belief system, but to dominance over others. They don’t lash out because they’ve been harmed. They lash out because they no longer get to do the harming without consequence. From the assassination of Abraham Lincoln to the insurrection of January 6th, reactionary violence has always followed the same pattern: progress begins → backlash grows → someone tries to erase the progress by erasing the people behind it.”

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is a prime example that truly does fit the definition the author describes. John Wilkes booth was a member of the Know Nothing party. This party grew in popularity around the 1850s. The hallmark of the party was the strict anti-immigration and anti-Roman Catholic sentiment with the increase in European immigrants in the country.

The Antislavery Know-Nothings joined the Republican Party, and the proslavery Know-Nothings joined the Democrat party when the Know-Nothings fell apart after 1856. John Wilkes booth is a good example of reactionary violence, to use a term coined in this piece. If you are keen to learn more about the Know-Nothings, check it out here.

January 6th was much less an example. And not at all comparable. January 6th is and remains one of the biggest talking points for the Left as a demonstration of how supposedly politically violent the Right is. Even though the only person harmed/killed was Ashley Babbitt, who was shot by a capitol police officer. It is also falsely claimed that officers were killed during the event, which lasted a few hours. When, in reality, these officers died days later from unrelated causes. Including strokes, heart attacks and other health issues.

There is also the issue that the videos of January 6th show a different story. What was told to be this massive attack with crazed lunatics who were seeking to spill officials blood, turned out to be a leisurely walk around the capitol building while capitol police and the national guard walked around. The outliers of these people who were causing a ruckess were detained, arrested. Here is an example of the video from the Government website. You will find similar videos, and then you will also find videos where there is a lot of nothing going on. Trump also told them to peacefully and patriotically protest.

The Left has also seen its share of violent attacks on the capitol building. November 7th. 1983 a bomb blew a hole through the north wing wall on the second floor. This was orchestrated by a far left terrorist group. Politifact wants to cite that this is different in comparison. A literal bomb detonating in the capitol building, being less of an issue than what happened on January 6th.

On History Repeats in Blood

“Reactionary violence is not an outburst. It is a deliberate strategy.
It waits. It watches. And the moment progress becomes real, it strikes.”

This is interesting as it states something that contradicts the words that are used. For something to be reactionary, it really can’t have any strategy behind it. As that would require an organized and rationale behind its operation. Something cannot be reactionary and be waiting and strategic.

What can be said though is the strategy that the Left has employed for over a few decades. Encroach on the family, try to strip parental rights away in regard to transgender ideology, allow explicit material in schools that support and suggest the aforementioned ideology is normal and healthy. The take-over of schools has been the greatest strategic employment the Left has undertaken. And conservatives are now trying to catch up. Trying to conserve the old principle, which was those discussions were reserved for the parents.

“When Black lives demanded mattering, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were born.
When queer people found safety in visibility, legislators responded with bans, threats, and moral panic.”

It reads as though the Proud Boys were in response to the Black Lives Matter organization. While this might be the case, Black Lives Matter did much more than just demand that Black lives should matter. The entire movement had turned out to be a large Ponzi scheme which resulted in the leaders of this organization making off with millions. These leaders who have brought this around purchased mansions with some of these funds. There is also the fact that the Oath Keepers are older than BLM by about four years.

“When queer people found safety in visibility, legislators responded with bans, threats, and moral panic.”

They have been visible. Even before the victory with the Supreme Court allowing same-sex marriage. Legislators are instead going after the idea that sexuality and transgender ideology is being discussed, at length, by the teachers through their desire and outside of school curriculum. They are also taking on the rampant issue of pornographic books being present in school libraries. Something that parents the nation over have taken issue with, and rightfully so. Conservatives are fine with LGB visibility. The majority. The vast majority. What they are not fine with is the sexualization of children in school environments, where children are forced to hear the preferred pronouns of their mentally ill teacher. Some teachers were even reported to have such pornographic novels and books readily available in their classrooms. Disturbing. That is what conservatives are against.

There are no credible examples of legislators threatening lesbians, gays, or bisexual individuals, or even those who are a-sexual. And those who are responsible for the panic are the liberal content creators and news agencies, spreading panic and lies by misrepresenting legislator’s intentions. I say this as a bisexual man who is under no impression that the administration seeks to affect life for lesbians, gays, and bisexual, including other sexualities. What is under minor contention is transgender ideology. Mostly at the school level, where teachers have been able to dedicate class time to discussing transgenderism. Thanks to the courageous students who recorded such events and shared them on social media so we can see what is occurring in some schools.

“Safety in visibility” is the most ridiculous liberal phrase out there. Everyone knows that people with differing sexualities exist. We all understand that these people can live their life and get married to another consenting adult. What’s more magical is that conservatives don’t have much of an issue with that. Other than these things being pushed and shown in schools, such as the pornographic books. This isn’t about “safety in visibility”, it’s about exposing children.

I could go on, but at this point it would just be an archive of parents across the country asking school boards why these books are present in the school libraries.

On Modern Echoes — From Assassinations to Insurrections

“Where reactionaries once relied on lone gunmen, they now organize in Facebook groups.
Where they once wore hoods, they now wear polos and khakis.
Where they once stood behind pulpits and presidential podiums, they now storm school boards and capitol buildings.”

This analogy falls flat, as reactionaries, by the definition of reactionary, would mean that they aren’t organized and planning things out. This is also effectively calling white people secret KKK members. The “storming” of the school board, which I believed we addressed with the former videos, is what the left hates the most. People noticing what’s going on. Would it surprise anyone that these parents who are rightfully concerned about the contents of school libraries and discussions taking place in the classrooms were put on FBI watch lists during the last administration? They were equated to domestic terrorists.

Investigations were launched onto parents who, fully within their rights, went to the school board meetings whose job is to listen to parents and make effective changes to the thing their money is paying for. There have been many other instances of the left “storming” buildings or where people live. For example, the Supreme Court Judges homes during the Roe vs. Wade appeal after the supposed leak. This is common place among the left. Where political violence is supported and encouraged through coded language by democrat members of congress.

The summation of this quote is that stereotypical upper middle class white people are likely just KKK members.

“January 6th was not a riot. It was not a protest. It was a reactionary insurrection, rooted in the fear that power was slipping away from those who always assumed it belonged to them. It wasn’t about election fraud—it was about identity.”

January 6th was not a riot nor was it an insurrection largely. Insurrections, which we have seen in other countries, are done with far more force and use of weapons than was seen on January 6th. Conservatives are far less concerned about identity than the left. Wherever the group congregates, they have to have special labels, and every gathering has to begin with people telling everyone else their pronouns.

It had nothing to do with identity but a perceived injustice in the election. Law changes across the nation which did not strengthen the election, but only made it more susceptible to election fraud. Mass mail-in ballots, which was a new development in the lead up to the 2020 election. It was about that. Nothing more. The reports and later finding that the amount of federal agents present during that protest were remarkable. These federal agents were captured on video shouting and inciting violence into the capital.

“It was about white grievance, Christian nationalism, and the fragility of a political movement that sees equity as erasure.”

It had nothing to do with white grievance or Christian nationalism. Nor was it about the fragility of a political movement, which we can see now is actually strong. Conservatives have issue with equity because it is antithetical to something that Martin Luther King Jr fought so heavily for. To not be judged by the color of one’s skin (which DEI exclusively bases things on) but instead to be judged on the content of one’s character. DEI is a complete regression from what was MLK’s vision.

A society which puts quotas on demographics for industries or companies isn’t focused on things like merit. We see this in practice.

“It came from people who said they loved freedom—just not when someone else gets it too.”

Who said that? Who has rhetoric like that? What politician has expressed an issue with someone else getting freedom? If freedom is being conflated with DEI, then that would be the issue.

“Proud Boys. Oath Keepers. Nazis with podcasts. Mass shooters radicalized on YouTube. Legislators who write laws that criminalize diversity and call it “protecting children.””

The only laws that are currently sprouting up across the country are laws that protect children from pornography in their school library and their teachers having to tell them about their mental health crisis. There are also laws that are being put into place to protect women’s spaces, which transgenderism seeks to destroy. Conservatives are some of the most supportive groups of people for Israel. There is a split between groups where the discussion is focused on how much more funding should be given to Israel. That’s about it. And what such Nazi can have a platform on major outlets?

“Bans on books, bans on pronouns, bans on facts. This isn’t about conservative policy differences—it’s about weaponized identity politics hiding behind the language of morality.”

Ironically, it’s the Left who wants to ban facts. Pronouns shouldn’t be banned. Because how else would we communicate? The standard He and She has worked perfectly fine for thousands of years. What is being banned is transgenderism invading women’s spaces and sports. No one should have the power to tell someone else what to say. The issue with transgenderism is it supports people telling others that they have to play along with a lie. A man, who claims to be a woman, can be called a woman in his friend group, but there should be zero obligation for others to play along.

Because what is actually based on FACT, is you can’t just change what your gender is, much like how you can’t just claim to be a different race, or age etc. Because there are biological facts that these are based on. Conservatives would have been mostly blasé about the transgender issue if it stopped at “some of us want to be women and addressed as such, and if you ‘mis gender’ us we get it.” But instead that has been extended to “We should be able to talk about this to your children, and you shouldn’t have the right to stop that, and men who claim to be a woman should be able to go play among women even though there are objective biological advantages.”

That’s the issue. The ban on books are those that are pornographic in nature and have no place in a school environment whatsoever. Period. Full stop. The left is by far, leaps and bounds even, far more guilty of weaponized identity politics. Why? Because that is practically all democrat candidates talk about.

“Every drag show, every DEI initiative, every classroom that teaches history honestly is seen as a threat. Not because they’re harmful—but because they make the status quo uncomfortable.”

No. They are harmful. Drag shows in bars where you have to be an adult to even get in aren’t the issue. The issue is when schools find it rational to host drag shows on school grounds where parents do not need to give permission. The left seems to think that schools can do whatever they like and show whatever they want to students. Drag shows are inherently sexual in nature. And there isn’t any threat of history classes being taught honestly. The bastardization of history is the problem. The warping and leaving out of details to fit a narrative that the left wants to create.

DEI initiatives, much like affirmative action, are damaging to society. When you remove merit from a requirement on a job application because the government puts such heavy emphasis on maintaining certain percentages of certain demographics, it can remove other more qualified candidates. Much like affirmative action in colleges places Asian Americans’s on a different grading scale because statistically, Asian American’s outperform all other demographics academically. This has been such an issue, lawsuits have been filed against colleges for unfair admission practices.

“The real danger isn’t that these movements are fringe. It’s that they are increasingly mainstream, with state legislatures, school boards, and judges echoing rhetoric that would’ve once been confined to extremist message boards. This isn’t the fringe rising. It’s the foundation rotting.”

The equivalency to normal conservative conversations being something that had to be only talked about on extremist message boards is quite funny. The foundation of this country was on these principles that we talk about today. Merit. Not sexualizing children. The foundation was rotting long before this current massive red wave swept the nation. What we see now are some democrats actually taking a measured look at what they have been preaching for so long. Because, as it turns out, it alienated most Americans.

“We were warned about what happens when governments redefine truth.
We were warned about what happens when information is controlled, language is policed, and dissent is recast as treason.”

Much like Biden’s entire administration, where stories were silenced and aided by massive social media companies. At what point has the Trump administration redefined truth? Language is not policed, unlike by the left, where pronouns and the misuse of them is one of the greatest crimes one can commit. And at what point has disagreement or dissent been met with treason charges? And the truth that is being talked about by the Trump administration is all verifiable. Again, the left hates when things are noticed.

“When you ban books to “protect freedom,” that’s doublespeak.”

The extent of “book banning” has been to pornography in schools. Those books are still available for purchase outside of them in the open market. But here we have to equate everything to some radical extremism. The left use words and dilute their meaning by misusing them.

“When you rewrite history to spare the feelings of the privileged, that’s memory holing.”

Every conservative I have spoken to has been quite historically literate. And as one can imagine, conservatives are in the business of sparing feelings. Because there are some harsh truths to life. The right is far less guilty of memory holing. Hunter Biden laptop story, Hillary Clinton and the Clinton family blatant corruption, Biden on audio being corrupt and him threatening to block funding unless a certain prosecutor is fired. The fact is, with the Left having such a strangle hold on the media for the past decade or more, since being alleviated with Musk’s purchase of Twitter, they could memory hole anything they wanted. There is a reason why media companies had to testify in front of congress. It wasn’t because they were stewards of free speech.

“When politicians punish schools for using the word “gay” or teaching about racism, that’s Newspeak.”

Schools being “punished” might be because of their teaching of Critical Race Theory. Which in practice just tells white people they are inherently racist. And it also sells victimhood to races other than white.

“State governments pulling books from libraries. Parents demanding the removal of curriculum that makes them “uncomfortable.” Schools firing teachers for teaching reality instead of whitewashed myth.”

As we saw in the above clips, the books that should be pulled from libraries were books that also made the school boards uncomfortable. Those are the books that are being pulled or should be getting pulled. Nothing more. I have yet to see any republican politician say any other books need to be removed. I would also love to hear what whitewashed myths are.

“ the very people banning Orwell and Bradbury claim to love freedom; but the truth is this: they don’t want their kids reading Orwell or Bradbury because they’d recognize their own parents in the villains. They’d realize that the “tyranny” their parents warned them about didn’t come from drag queens or DEI trainings.”

It took me less than 30 seconds to verify that 1984 by Orwell was not banned. Neither has Bradbury. When you zoom in, individual states have had tumultuous relationships with the authors. Yet, phrasing it as though there is a nationwide ban on these books is being generally dishonest. And the Left is far more comparable to Big Brother. Guilty of wrong think by not agreeing that men can be women? Wrong think and worthy of doxxing. Something that the Left is primarily guilty of.

On the Real Indoctrination

“They say we’re indoctrinating their children.
That’s projection.”

With transgender ideology, yes they are.

“The real indoctrination isn’t happening in libraries or classrooms.
It’s happening at dinner tables, pulpits, political rallies, and school board meetings—anywhere a child learns to fear difference before they’ve had a chance to understand it.”

The example of parents not relinquishing trust and faith in the school system really shows itself here. Conservatives aren’t teaching people that differences are bad. That is preposterous and if so exactly where.

“Banning books that mention queerness but allowing ones that glorify war and genocide.”

Banning books in classrooms that not only mention queerness, but are just straight up pornography, some editions of which also come as graphic novels I might add.

“Erasing Indigenous land theft from history and calling it “manifest destiny.”

Conservatives have never sought to erase history. At any point. We are some of the biggest providers of the idea that history is a teacher.

“Forcing teachers to lie by omission.

If a teacher cannot control themselves and not discuss the gender ideations or their sexuality, then they should actually be fired. It is vastly inappropriate. Some of my teachers were actually gay, and I never knew until I got out of school. That’s how it should be. Did I have a problem with having a gay teacher? No. Not in the slightest. And neither did any of my classmates nor their parents.

Replacing empathy with patriotism.

Empathy to one’s nation or countrymen and women is not a bad thing.

“Replacing education with obedience.”

And instead we should substitute it with men can be women, and you HAVE to use their pronouns; otherwise you are equivalent to Hitler.

“In the child taught that “America was founded on Christian values” but never told about the Trail of Tears or the Transatlantic Slave Trade.”

Still part of the curriculum in schools. And yes, America as well as all western countries have a basis in Christian values. Large claims without evidence.

“They’re afraid of their kids becoming independent thinkers who will look at them one day and ask,
“Why did you lie to me?””

These independent thinkers have a habit of parroting a lot of the same points without any basis. Both sides of the aisle will have people who just parrot things. Because in reality, politics is a lot to deal with.

“When you’ve lived your whole life believing that your voice matters more, that your beliefs are sacred, and that your way of life is the default—equality doesn’t feel like fairness. It feels like loss.”

No conservative is concerned about equality. Every American should be concerned about equity.

“This is why a simple phrase like “Black Lives Matter” evokes fury.
It’s not because it excludes anyone—it’s because it includes someone they were taught to see as “less.””

The boldest claim here. Effectively calling all conservatives racist. Black Lives Matter has collected money and done little to nothing with it. Except bail rioters out of jail for arson and theft. As well as allow their leaders across different chapters to purchase mansions.

“What we’re witnessing isn’t confidence. It’s collapse.”

I think we have it backwards. What is being witnessed is Americans being done with the Left’s games. Parties and movements aren’t collapsing when they win in a landslide victory. Not only the electoral college but also the popular vote. Something a Republican hasn’t done in 20 years.

“The man who’s never been told “no” now calls boundaries “cancel culture.””

A gross simplification of the real problem where the Left, being Big Brother, finds someone guilty of wrong think and seeks to ruin someone’s career.

“The parent who grew up with religious certainty now fears their child asking questions about gender.”

Even completely atheistic parents are fearful. Because for decades, except for the last twenty minutes, gender dysphoria has been a mental illness. Don’t trust me, trust my friend who I speak with at length about this while they go to college for psychology. And by the way, the psychologists who isn’t seeking a pay day agree with conservatives. It’s a mental illness and should be treated as such. Not like the way which is being done now, which is equivalent to having an open bar at an AA meeting.

“A world where children can choose their names, identities, and futures without shame?
They call it chaos.”

A gross reduction and sugar-coating of transgenderism.

“We’ve spent too long softening our language.
Calling violence “disagreement.”
Calling erasure “opinion.”
Calling bigotry “freedom.””

The Left and exclusively the left is in the business of softening language. They are the only group who changes definitions and creates new euphemisms for things. Such as, “undocumented American”, “the unhoused”, “microaggressions”, “cultural appropriation”, “dreamers”, “transgender” etc.

It is purely the Left who softens language. By creating euphemism after euphemism in the aim to cloud and dampen issues at large.

Closing Thoughts

This writing is an example of many large claims without clear examples or evidence to provide that these are most conservatives’ beliefs. There are large amounts of reductive oversimplifications and ironically softened language to what conservatives find concerning in our modern world.

Conservatives aren’t wanting to call back to Jim Crow era laws. They aren’t wanting to change things to only benefit white people. The return to a merit-based society which elevates exceptional people REGARDLESS OF RACE is what provides every American with equal opportunity. Holding firm to MLK Jr.’s dream.

We see the Left has been the ones eroding the foundations of American society by seeking to destroy the nuclear family, foment racial division because that is where their party is right now. So focused on identity politics that it has alienated most Americans. The idea that conservatism is in the midst of a collapse is a projection.

The Democrat party is in the midst of collapse because all the previous tricks didn’t work. American’s paid closer attention, and there was a massive shift in counties across the nation to the right. The Democrats are floundering with the outrage their subgroups are throwing at them because only now are these groups realizing just how little Democrats actually do for them. Liberals going to democrat political gatherings and disrupting them because they have not done anything for them even though they had the power the last four years.

And they continue with their lies about what the current administration is doing and why it’s doing it. As if they needed to give even more reason to American’s to continue their support of Trump.