When I was researching American University during college applications, a recurring, almost cliché line kept coming up. This is, supposedly, “the most liberal school in America”. And coming here? Images of militant student activists, blue hair and denim jackets abound, rocked around in my head. Quickly, though, I came to understand what “most liberal” really meant.
Let’s face it. This isn’t an insurgent campus. This is a campus for soon-to-be Democratic operatives.
Clean-shaven political science majors aiming to become congressional staffers. Future lobbyists who, despite parroting progressive views on their Instagram story, are studying Arabic to “learn the enemy” (a real line I heard verbatim!) when they get a job in the war industry. And, of course, every shade of opportunist, hustler, and careerist under the sun.
Calling them yuppies (“young urban professionals”) doesn’t quite cover it. There’s something far more sinister at play here, without any real horizon except the ones presented to them palatably after they ran it by a dozen or so interest groups.
In other words: the self-described wonks, the living embodiment of politics without an imagination. The ones who speak loudly and proudly, often at the expense of marginalized people who are otherwise patiently waiting their turn to take a role in the struggle against fascism, repression and more.
They come in all different shapes and sizes. Some of them are folksy liberals who flip on an issue the minute they remember some ideal mythologized ‘white working class’ voter they’ve never talked to. Others are non-profit warriors, chasing a career in the same vague idea of ‘change’ through a sensitivity training or letter writing campaign. And many others are just plain uninterested: chained to no views, ideals, or politics beyond what can get them further in life.
It became clear from the get-go that these people have little interest in ‘the movement,’ and all too much in this-or-that congressional race. Means-tested to perfection. People who think Zohran Mamdani got elected not because of his support for working-class militancy, but rather some vagueness around his ‘messaging discipline’ or ‘cool videos’.
You can find them in any number of their natural habitats. On posters, slapped to lounge windows, promoting their student government campaign. At a single-issue club where they’re simultaneously the president, treasurer, general membership, and perfect candidate for the next job where they list all of those positions on their résumé. If you look hard enough, you’ll see them tailing at a protest, lowering their voices when the chant gets too radical for them.
When the issue is savvy, they’re in, suddenly having always been against the new bad thing in vogue. The wonk of a year ago sported a ‘Peace Now!’ pin every once in a while as a vague, non-controversial political gesture. The wonk of today, knowing that Gaza is finally an issue they can win on, will hesitantly declare their support for a “free Palestine” and sport a keffiyeh.
But when it becomes unpopular? Suddenly, those thrown to margins of society find themselves without any allies, as the wonk retreats to the new realms of respectability. You’d be lucky if you found them later hiding away in academia, writing papers nobody reads, where they can (safely) assert their support for a political cause.
Perhaps they will justify themselves. It’s a matter of ‘pragmatism,’ or, if they’re really honest, they’ll admit that their convictions are just a stepping stool for their future pursuits. Support for the ‘right thing’ can be kicked down the road for just a bit longer, when they’re in power, and run the world. Hell, maybe they’re right. Who knows?
One thing’s for certain. Beware of the wonk. It lurks in the darkest corners of your mind (and the SIS, too).
Leave a Reply