sanewashing

How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement
by Fredrik Deboer
Published 4 Sep 2023

I find little to object to in these proposals, but it’s worth saying that they represent a profound mismatch between the revolutionary zeal of the people who called to defund the police and the actual policy. It also represents a good example of “sanewashing,” an internet term that refers to the process through which radical ideas are gradually watered down to be more appealing to the wider public. You will easily imagine how this played out in 2020—the call to defund the police was inescapable on left-leaning social media; decent people who were outraged about Floyd’s murder wanted to support the cause, but the concept of police abolition was too radical for them to express. So they did some sanewashing and came up with a more palatable version. At times, supporters of the more watered-down version of defunding the police would insist that no one would ever call for total abolition.

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.: identity politics Portman, Natalie, 122 post-racial America, 72–73 poverty rate, 47 power, 10, 76 from news cycle, 126 in nonprofits, 104–106 “progressive stack” indicating, 156 of unions, 180 power dynamics, 22, 24–25 presidential elections 2008, 14–15 2012, 26 2016, 27–31, 165–168, 186, 197 2020, 5–6, 11, 12, 40–41 prison abolition, 51–52 privilege, 71–72, 140, 156 professional-managerial class (PMC), 64–68 profit motive, 70–72, 108–109 progressive movements change resulting from, 7–8, 168, 195 failures of, 8 inconsequential targets of, 5 and presidential election of 2020, 5–6 progressives acceptable opinion developed among, 37 American, analyses of, 134–135 and crimes against Black people, 62 language games of, 155–156 legislation from, 79 lessons from #MeToo for, 130 liberals’ identification with, 138 material security of, 196 nonprofits biased toward, 107–108 segregation reinstituted by, 191–192 self-accusation by, 154–155 social benefits of programs of, 203–204 “progressive stack,” 156–157 Progressive Student Alliance (PSA), 22–24 protest(s) critical engagement with, 44 need for, 4, 208 opportunists at, 82 purposes of, 94–95 violent and nonviolent, 35, 81–82 and violent resistance to the state, 90 see also specific topics of protests “Protesters Debate What Demands, if Any, to Make” (New York Times), 19–20, 172 Proud Boys, 88 Psychology Today, 139 public debate, 25 publicity, 42 “put us first” politics, 178–179 qualified immunity, 50, 54 race in deference politics, 155–163 of Democratic Party members, 136 framing demands in messages about, 181–182 as leftist locus of political debate, 165 Race2 Dinner, 71–72 race (racial) politics, 45 Black people’s view of, 74–76 inconsequential issues in, 8–9 lack of progress in, 73–74 language and symbols in, 67–70, 75 liberals’ fixation on, 74, 75 profiteering from, 70–72 racial bias, among police, 57–58 racial inequality fixing, 75–76 in labor unions, 195 in liberal project, 151 nature of, 55 and racial dialogue, 73 racial justice achieving, 69–70 cultural passion for, 68 and defunding police, 51 and Floyd’s murder, 6–7 goals for, 75–76 lack of progress toward, 75 those who speak for, 53–64 white people’s support for, 62–63 racial violence anti-Asian, 33–34 against Black people, 45–51, 55–57 racism, 76 and Black upper class, 65 broader issue for, 172–173 class reductionist view of, 168–169 Clinton’s loss attributed to, 31 day-to-day realities of, 47–48 as leftist locus of political debate, 165 media discussion of, 65–66 “moral clarity” about, 36–37 moral necessity to confront, 45–46 in police departments, 38 and post-racial America, 72–73 power vs. attitude in, 76 prioritizing combating of, 176–177 proving that one is not racist, 155–163 realities influenced by, 68 right-wing authoritarian, 34 systemic, 14 as 2016 Democratic primary issue, 165–167 and white privilege, 72 and white supremacy, 72 radical left, 25, 26 D’Arcy on, 69 deliverance scenarios of, 212 demand for political violence by, 78–79 and nonprofits, 115 self-interest in, 176 and violent resistance, 90 Rao, Saira, 71–72 reality, recognizing, 212–215 Reason magazine, 167 Reed, Adolph, 169–170 Reeves, Richard, 150–151 Republican Party identity politics in, 184 political positions of, 189 power of, 50, 51 racial groups in, 188 reactionaries in, 162 Trump’s position as leader of, 30, 31 Republicans congressional, Obama dogged by, 17, 26–27 ensuring dominance of, 10 political positions of, 136, 189, 190, 214 see also the right revolutionary spirit, 42, 43 revolutions, 88–92, 193, 209–212, 215 Rice, Tamir, 46 the right conspiracy theories in, 204 elites voting for, 145 identity politics in, 183–187 power of, 10 stereotypes of, 145 riots and rioting efficacy of, 80–85 as false flag operations, 82 following Floyd murder, 82–84, 94–95 of January 6 at Capitol building, 41 justifications of, 83, 87–88 as language of the unheard, 81, 84–85 over Floyd murder, 33, 82–84 results of nonviolent protest vs., 35 and violent resistance to the state, 90 Romney, Mitt, 26 Rove, Karl, 214 Russian Revolution (1917), 92 Ryan, Paul, 190 Salon, 169 Sanders, Bernie candidacies of, 11, 172 economic populism of, 190 on labor movement, 194 movement sparked by, 14 supporters of, 152 in 2016 Democratic primaries, 6, 27–29, 165–68 in 2020 election, 40 “sanewashing,” 53 Savio, Mario, 80 Schumer, Chuck, 148 Schwarz, Jon, 104–105 Scott, Tim, 39 Seacrest, Ryan, 125 sexism broader issue for, 172–173 class reductionist view of, 168–169 in politics, 27 prioritizing combating of, 176–177 as 2016 Democratic primary issue, 165, 166 sexual misconduct amplifying accusations of, 123 growing public attention to, 32 Trump on, 31–32 in the workplace, 14 see also #MeToo movement sexual orientation, 173, 188, 198–199 Shor, David, 34–35 Silicon Valley Community Foundation, 108 Slate, Jenny, 68 Snowden, Edward, 89 social benefits of beliefs, 203–204 social dynamics, 22–23, 67 socialism and socialists centrists derided by, 134–135 messaging for, 178 and police and prison abolition, 52 return to relevance of, 29–30 and theory of class, 178 in 2008, 25 social issues, 10, 105–106, 189–191 see also specific issues social media Ansari story on, 127–128 class-reductionist rhetoric on, 172 Floyd murder conversations on, 33 “moral clarity” argument on, 37 new spirit of social control on, 43 pro-Depp movement on, 121 self-critical dominant groups on, 157–158 sexual misconduct accusations on, 32 trial by public relations on, 123–124 video of Floyd’s murder on, 6 vocabulary on, 201 social movements, 8–9, 125 socioeconomic inequality, 14 see also class-first leftism solidarity, 191–192, 196, 198–200 Spacey, Kevin, 120, 126 spirit of 2020, 11, 13–44 decline of, 39–44 explosion triggered by Floyd’s murder, 33–37 fear characterizing, 35 and Occupy Wall Street, 18–26 and police reform demands, 38–39 political history leading to, 15–33 spirit of 1960s, 44 Steele, Shelby, 160 Stewart, Jon, 26 Stop Asian Hate movement, 33, 34 Strassel, Kimberley A., 107 street protests, 46–47, 116 structurelessness, 21–24, 42–43, 112–113 Sullivan, Andrew, 17 symbols Confederate statues as, 81 fixation on, 173 left actions demands as, 20 material change vs., 7, 8 in race politics, 67–70, 75 tactics, 93–94 Táíwò, Olúfmi, 67, 155, 170, 177 taking up “space” in discourse, 159–160 taxes, 97, 109–110, 135 Taylor, Breonna, 46 Tea Party movement, 26 technocratic liberals, 25 Teixeira, Ruy, 184–185 tenant’s rights movement, 208–209 “Think Tank Diversity Action Statement,” 151 Thompson, Hunter S., 44 Till, Emmett, 33 Time’s Up, 122–123, 128, 132 transparency, 99–103 Trump, Donald, 5–6, 10 Black men voting for, 184 chaos brought by, 14 country enflamed by, 13 economic populism of, 189–190 handling of Covid-19 crisis by, 13, 32–33 persona of, 31–32 presidency of, 30, 31 as racist, 36 refusal to concede election by, 41 scandals in administration of, 32 2016 election of, 30–31 2020 election campaign, 40, 41 “Tyranny of Structureless, The” (Freeman), 21–22 Tyson, Neil deGrasse, 124–125 Umbrella Man, 82 unemployment, 18, 47 United States economic and political systems changes needed in, 93 economic insecurity in, 189 nonprofits in, 97–99 political and cultural systems of, 91 racial diversity in, 184–185 tactics for change in, 93–94 unchanging layer of government employees in, 114–115 unpopularity of political violence in, 94 United Way, 106 universities and colleges as breeding grounds of left-wing thought, 145–148 diversity czars in, 2 and education polarization, 144–151 humanities departments at, 45 language codes for, 67 money hoarding by, 108 and nonsensical language, 206–207 during Obama administration, 18 race differences in graduation, 47 and racial justice movement, 6–7 University of California, 206 University of Rhode Island (URI), 1–2, 4–5 USA Today, 84 US Crisis Monitor, 81 US intelligence agencies, 89 Vance, J.

The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump: What the Trade War Means for the World
by Philip Coggan
Published 1 Jul 2025

Simultaneous action on several fronts is a way of wrongfooting opponents and distracting the media, or ‘flooding the zone with shit’, as Steve Bannon, an adviser to Trump in his first term, describes it. But this is surely a moment for using Occam’s razor, which states that the simplest explanation is most likely to be correct. The rapid changes of policy demonstrate not that there was a cunning master plan, but that the Trump administration was making it up as it went along. The term ‘sanewashing’ has been applied to journalists who attempted to find a coherent strategy among the mess. Take the idea of a Mar-a-Lago Accord, the term used for a plan suggested by Stephen Miran, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. The name echoes the Plaza Accord of the 1980s, when the US persuaded other countries, notably Japan, to let their currencies strengthen against the dollar.

Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey Into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley
by Corey Pein
Published 23 Apr 2018

Friedman wanted to improve the image of neoreaction by using TV-ready, buzzword-laden euphemisms like “competitive governance” rather than referring directly to the Moldbuggian ideal of corporate dictatorship. In a Facebook post, he called for “a more politically correct” neoreactionary movement, with room for women and nonwhites, in what appeared to be an effort to cover toxic ideas with the veneer of tolerance and the language of campus liberalism. This “sanewashing” campaign, to borrow a phrase from Dale Carrico—an academic rhetorician in San Francisco who was both a skeptic and a close observer of the techno-utopian futurists, whom he calls Robot Cultists—was successful. Neoreactionary ideas were buffed and polished for polite company, then spread via social media to mass audiences by the apologists for a new global order that places tech executives at the top.