The Issue is Not the Issue

People say "follow the money" but that is only a specific case of a more general perspective.  People want lots of things other than money: status, mates, predictability, jobs, safety. Looking at our behavior in terms of getting those things can explain a lot. 

Wokeness arose largely because powerful people were in the way of others. They needed to be gotten rid of so that jobs and status would open up. Because they were mostly older, mostly male, and mostly white it paid to put those categories under immediate suspicion at every starting point and watch what they said like a hawk.  Cancelations were more intense in academia, media, and entertainment - exactly those places where young left-leaning people were trying to get in.  So it didn't matter if they were actually sexist, or homophobic or whatever.  Some were and some weren't but that wasn't primary.  What had to happen was a blanket reduction of people in the way, and let God sort them out. This is why there was only some protection for being female or black or gay yourself. 

Connections to the word "patriarchy" may come to mind, here. 

Even though Jews were longtime supporters and powers in the Democratic Party and the left in general, they were also often in positions of power.  Obama's speechwriters and political operatives were predominantly Jewish. That was much less true under Biden. Media, academia, entertainment had powerful older Jews gumming up the works for people who wanted those slots.

If you look at the insane and contradictory support for the Palestinians on the left from this perspective it starts to make more sense. There's no rationality to it.  The Palestinians treat women very badly, as does much of the Islamic world. Gays can be executed, and are certainly not allowed into positions of power, nor are Blacks or East Asians.  (Indonesia is a huge Muslim presence that has almost no influence in the Middle East. Too far away and the wrong color.) There is no natural alliance with the Western left. 

But those Jews have to be gotten rid of somehow, so the alligator eventually came for them too. Being good liberals who had written many books or contributed large sums no longer mattered.  The kids want those jobs in those industries.