Similar to ‘dead internet theory’, the declaration that society has entered ‘peak woke’ or that ‘wokeness has peaked’ is a hotly debated topic. The latest in this installment is Paul Graham’s hugely viral article The Origins of Wokeness, in which he declares wokeness peaked in 2020-2021, singling out the excesses of 2020 that culminated with George Floyd’s death as a turning point:
In 2020 we saw the biggest accelerant of all, after a white police officer asphyxiated a black suspect on video. At this point the metaphorical fire became a literal one, as violent protests broke out across America. But in retrospect this turned out to be peak woke, or close to it. By every measure I’ve seen, wokeness peaked in 2020 or 2021.
I think the peak was closer to 2022 than 2020-2021. Wokeness peaked in 2021, specially with the Jan 6th protests and the aftermath, which saw a large percentage of America united against the Capitol trespassers, which made the left by comparison seem law-abiding and reasonable (nevermind the George Floyd riots just 6 months earlier). This was on the heels of other victories: Covid lockdowns and restrictions (which the left overwhelmingly supported and the right opposed), widespread protests that saw the dissolution of law and order, and Biden’s win after an opportune ballot surge. The Coup de grâce was Trump being banned from Twitter, a first for a sitting leader.
Much of 2021 saw the left ride on the coatails of these wins, as federal agents went to the ends of the earth to find anyone who had entered the Capitol, a modern analogue to the Soviet purges of lingering dissidents after the ruling party had already cemented itself. On April 20th 2021 Derek Chauvin was convicted, and then sentenced on June 25, 2021, to 22 1/2 years, ensuring he would spend the rest of his adult life in prison. What could go wrong. As far as the left was concerned, things were only getting started.
And then it all fell apart.