Episode 601: Woke 1 vs "The Catharsis of Winning" (w/ F.D. Signifier)

Prolific video essayist FD Signifier returns to Bad Faith Pod for a comprehensive analysis of the controversy surrounding left electeds' abandonment of 2020 era policy commitments and principles coined "Woke 1" by New York City Council member Chi Ossé, and made viral by AOC on the Sunday news last weekend. While members of the Platner left have argued that rejecting "woke one" simply means abandoning the excesses of cancel culture and identitarian jargon like "Latinx," several DSA candidates or electeds, from Francesca Hong and William Lawrence to AOC and Zohran Mamdani himself, have explicitly rejected firm BLM-era policy commitments like defund the police. And some, like Lawrence and AOC, even explicitly rejected their DSA affiliation in part or in whole. This brings a question we've been asking for about a year now front and center: Is it worth it to "win" if you have to sacrifice your principles to get there? If Zohran can do such a 180 on defund, how much confidence do we have with respect to his solidarity with Palestine? Why call yourself "socialist" if you're unwilling to stand behind the DSA platform, or if you're going to become an NPYD booster? And how did the left media ecosystem let this happen? Does "winning" within the Democratic party, in fact, help the left? Find Bad Faith on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts. Or subscribe to our RSS feed. Follow Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod). Subscribe at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast for an additional Monday episode every week. Watch all episodes at Bad Faith YouTube, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands). Produced by (@armandaviram)