We’re in another cycle of erstwhile social progressives publicly rebuking ideas they once embraced. This brutal honesty is laudable.
For hedge funder Bill Ackman, the soul searching began after Oct. 7. For Bill Maher, it seemed to begin at some point during the Donald Trump presidency and lockdowns, as elite hatred for the president accelerated and amplified illiberal tendencies on the left.
This trend is fueled at least in part by further leftward movement in the Democratic Party. Maher, of course, literally hosted a show called “Political Correctness” years ago, when his views were more fashionable in liberal circles. The classic “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me” explanation accounts for some of this. But not all.
At its heart, the question is whether people bothered by extreme trans ideology, border policy, critical race theory, and more oppose this extremism on a premise that undermines their broader worldviews.
Maher and Ackman are two particularly interesting case studies because it’s worth questioning whether either Bill is willing to follow his own logic to its uncomfortable conclusion. Much of what we’ve been quickly conditioned to accept is the radical fruit of moral relativism, not merely political correctness or “DEI” run amuck.
Earlier this month, Maher said on his program that “wokeness started as a great thing” and “morphed into something else.” Ackman backed Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., for president, then questioned him during a Spaces conversation on X about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Wokeness
