Sickos and Cranks 2: Rod of (Culture) War Ragnarök
From his Hungarian sojourn, Dreher lambasts the "woke" sciences and mourns the loss of the true spirit... of ice hockey?
[Editor’s note: I hope this Substack email finds you doing okay. Crazy that I haven’t sent anything out in a month. It’s been a blur. I have been finding it hard to get stuff done recently—either out of a personal deficit or a combination of external factors. But I will be honest, I am very focused now on this part of my life, career, and development, so I will not be neglecting it anymore. Thank you for bearing with me. -Hanson]
Welcome, to the first true return of Sickos and Cranks, a series where we investigate what the fuck is going on with political people we don’t agree with, a.k.a., Sickos and Cranks!
For those familiar with the online media sphere—especially the mainstream media sphere—you may have heard of an oyster-fascinated writer named Rod Dreher. He is a fascinating case of a man who truly cannot find happiness or comfort, except in the company of young grad students in Hungary. The political project espoused by Dreher, a twice-converted now-Orthodox Christian, is approximate to Victor orban’s Hungary, but less dependent on the corrupt EU. Truly a mastermind.
Dreher dropped an absolute banger this week entitled “Can Weimar America Save Itself?” in the ever-loathsome American Conservative. He derides the “claptrap” of the American Chemistry Society publishing a journal article that seeks to question underlying patriarchal, heteronormative & transphobic, and white supremacist structures built into academia at large and STEM specifically. Aside from personal anecdotal experience from those I am close to, basically all data collected on the topic will back up the paper’s assertion. Non-males, non-whites, and poor students, workers, professors, and researchers are consistently devalued, underpaid, harassed, ostracized, maligned when speaking out, and can even be blacklisted from their careers due to pressure from those in positions of power.
Now, it’s understandable why Rod would hate this class and what it seeks to deal with. Like many conservatives, the grievances they espouse seem to be simply reactionary. Later in the piece, Dreher links to LibsOfTikTok, another piece of scum who is pushing out this hateful ideology. The right’s new crusade against trans-rights, clearly blueprinted by the gay panic of the 90s, seemingly will not stop — even after a decisive loss in the midterms while championing this strategy.
Now, I fucking hate the term “Overton Window.” Some motherfuckers saw a Vox video of this word in 2012 and have not shut up about it since. But, in this case, I think there may be a case for the term’s applicability. The more the right shaves off of the “Normal Coalition,” the more they can push the culture backwards. Even as they campaign against trans rights, they expand their complaints further, calling out anything not explicitly pro-straight. They’ve set their targeting device and are refusing to give up.
Just two days after this piece, Rod releases another hot, wet stinker: this one defending Flyers Defense Ivan Provorov’s decision not to skate with his team during a Pride warm-up fundraiser. He derides my favorite club, the Washington Capitals as “wokesters” and asks “what does this crap have to do with hockey?” Well, Rod, I would honestly be surprised to see if you know what does have to do with hockey. But, I’m sure, as a plain of verdant knowledge, yourself, you will know that the NHL has actually been decent in terms of representation for LGBT identities for several years now (their handling of sexual abuse scandals, however, is arguably their worst fuck-up since the Kucherov salary cap bullshit that let the Lightning win the cup twice in a row — Mickey Mouse COVID rings it doesn’t count!!!!!!!!).
Okay, Rod, go fuck youself, for you are both Sicko and Crank at once.
see you all soon
-H