Unraveling the Contradictions
Anticipating some of your questions
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If you made it through “The MH370 Era,” you might have some questions for me. I’m sure some of these include lots of expletives, but you don’t really want answers to those. I’ve put together this document to compile responses to common questions that I can answer. I realize people might have a hard time trusting an anonymous writer, and perhaps I can’t mitigate that entirely. That said, I’m going to do my best by being transparent about what I stand for. I want to clearly communicate my beliefs, goals, and motivations, so that potential supporters can be informed about what they’re investing in. My platform might seem rife with contradictions—I’m an anti-woke liberal, and a blue-state secessionist who’s been posing as a MAGA writer for a few weeks. Allow me to explain it all as plainly as I can.
Table of Contents:
What do I believe in?
I think my beliefs might seem insane or contradictory, simply because they’re not voiced very often in our political discourse. To summarize it briefly: I mostly support center-left policies, and I despise social justice extremism. My policy preferences are not all that different from what most Obama voters believed in 2008.
But I don’t view sensible, incremental reform as a virtue in itself. On different issues, I’ll support incremental or radical reforms based on what I believe the problem demands. I don’t support Bernie Sanders-style socialism or abolishing the police, because I haven’t seen evidence that either approach would make our society better. Whereas I do support blue-state secession, because I think right-wing fascism has put us in a unique jeopardy that makes it impossible to preserve the status quo.
Just making those general statements won’t convince you, I get it. But I’m trying to explain that I don’t think uniform centrism or radicalism is a particularly smart approach, even though these are seemingly the only options we have in politics. If you want to understand why I lean towards radicalism vs. centrism on specific issues, I recommend the following resources: I made the best case I could for blue-state secession in “The MH370 Era”, and here are critiques of socialism and abolishing the police that I find compelling. Hopefully, this explains some of the seeming contradictions in my ideology. At the end of this piece, I’ll include a more detailed addendum explaining where I agree with the left versus the anti-woke movement.
Why was I pretending to be MAGA?
For the past few weeks, I’ve been engaging with MAGA accounts on Twitter and publishing content seemingly supportive of a Trump presidency. I did this as part of a long-term plan to create a social media breakthrough for myself. This is the thought process that led me here:
When I started out, I initially tried pitching myself to liberal audiences, including left-leaning communities on Reddit and center-left writers. Sadly, I crashed and burned harder than Flight 370 (gallows humor is all you have in a crisis, you guys). I wasn’t shocked that many liberals hated my anti-woke critiques, since it’s sort of been drummed into us that “critiquing social justice = MAGA = bad.” Even I had to overcome a lot of internalized guilt as I learned to question social justice radicalism, but that’s a story for a different piece.
I was more disappointed by the knee-jerk reactions I experienced when I brought up secession. Most people immediately started thinking about the problems secession would cause, assumed we’d be completely helpless to deal with those problems, and vaguely suggested we should “try harder” to win within the current system. Of course, all the people screaming “try harder” never offered a specific, plausible strategy for how we could do that and be successful. But status quo bias is one hell of a drug.
So, this is what I figured out. When you’re introducing ideas that are essentially unheard of, you should expect people to initially react with fear, confusion, and hostility. In other words, I couldn’t rely on supporters to elevate my profile right away. Instead, I needed to find some other way to gain a foothold in the national political discourse. Because if I could get people talking about these ideas, on a mass scale, I might have a chance.
I have a feeling that I’m something of a slow burn. When you first hear what I believe in, the initial reaction might not be fireworks (at least not the good kind). But if people have time to get used to my ideas, to turn them over in their minds, I have faith some will start to come around.
So, MAGA. I needed someone high-profile to boost my work and give me the chance to really introduce myself to a broader audience. I knew no liberal would, because people on the left generally don’t help you unless you endorse everything they believe. Whereas right-wingers’ “own the libs” philosophy means they will amplify anyone who could piss off their enemy—conservatives are nice that way.
Am I a ruthless opportunist? Duh, you guys. I work in politics. Why should you trust me? Because at this point, I’ve pissed off every single political activist in this country, so you can rest assured there’s no one I’m trying to please. But am I a nefarious agent working for leaders outside this country, you might ask? Leftists love assuming that anyone with an unorthodox viewpoint is a foreign agent—it makes them much easier to demonize. But no, I promise Vladimir Putin has better things to do than paying some writer to pump out 1000+ word essays in obscurity. Your average Russian troll probably has more much clout than me on social media. Which, I mean, whatever. It’s fine! I’m not salty, you’re salty.
Anyway, I’m in this because I believe in what I’m fighting for, and that’s it. My pinned essay on this website is the first piece I ever published, back in July 2023—“Hey Liberals, Let’s Secede (And Get Less Sensitive).” In other words, these principles are not something I adopted on the fly; this is who I’ve always been. I want to stand up to right-wing authoritarianism and social justice extremism at the same time, and I certainly don’t see anyone else doing it. If that means something to you, I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove my character.
How much of my previous writing do I stand by?
Since I’ve played fast and loose with my ideological identification, you might wonder how much of my previous writing reflected my true beliefs. The answer is almost all of it. This platform means a lot to me, and I would never want to degrade that by lying about my principles or policy beliefs.
Here’s how I’d break it down. I wrote ten pieces from July 2023 - May 2024, starting from “Hey Liberals, Let’s Secede (And Get Less Sensitive)” to “Feminism Is for Women.” All of these pieces perfectly reflect my views, and I stand by every word. Starting from there, I began making my tone a little more aggressive to fit in better with right-wing Twitter.
From June - July 2024, I wrote three pieces—one about Israel, one about COVID, and one about leftists weaponizing empathy. The COVID piece was 100% honest, and I stand by every word. The other two pieces were accurate statements of my policy beliefs and principles, but I cloaked those arguments in blanket demonizations of the left that I don’t believe in. I think that most liberal voters and elected officials are good people, which is why I continue voting for Democrats, but I really couldn’t admit that at the time.
My four most recent pieces—about Kamala Harris, Chaya Raichik, the “woke plantation,” and the “satanist left”—reflected a full heel turn into MAGA-dom. I strongly implied that I endorsed Donald Trump for re-election, without actually saying “Trump 2024” or “MAGA,” because I have to find some way to sleep at night. I don’t endorse the Trump campaign or MAGA in any way, and I don’t stand by any of the pro-Trump rhetoric in those pieces. Again, I really didn’t lie about specific policies or principles that I support, but the implicit MAGA framing is certainly not something I believe in.
For the record, I’m linking to all the pieces where I blurred the lines the most about my beliefs, because I refuse to shy away from the steps I took to fight for a place in this discourse. I made unsavory choices, and I own every single one.
Do I stand by all my previous tweets?
The short answer—no, not really.
Longer answer—Twitter is a cesspool, and I really prioritized quantity over quality when posting. My goal was to just generate as much engagement as I could, so that tweets promoting my writing might do better in the algorithm. Full disclosure—I have no idea how the algorithm works and was mostly taking guesses about what to do. I tried to engage minimally with any posts that disparaged Harris/Walz, and I tried to avoid engaging at all with openly misogynist/racist/homophobic posts.
Basically, if you see any comments/retweets from me of MAGA content, it was my attempt to respond to the least offensive stuff I could find. I have no idea how much of it was fake news/out of context, and I didn’t really care. I do try to avoid lying about my own principles & policy beliefs, so my statements about those things should hold up. But all of it was cloaked in hokey, inflammatory language that I thought would do better for likes and RTs. My Twitter presence isn’t something I’m proud of, but I tried to advance my goals as best I could while avoiding most of the awful stuff, which is pretty much the best you can do on that site.
Why am I doing this now, so close to the election?
I realize many people wouldn’t want to have this discussion at all so close to the election—I don’t want Donald Trump to win either, and I recognize the risk of rocking the boat in any way. I’ll start by saying that this isn’t the timing I wanted. As I mentioned above, I first tried to go viral in July 2023 with my pinned piece, “Hey Liberals, Let’s Secede (And Get Less Sensitive)”. Beyond that, I’ve been working on and offline for the past three years to get these ideas to catch fire. I’ve spent those years trying and failing, so this is effectively my last-ditch attempt.
I ultimately decided to launch these ideas now, in spite of the risk, because I don’t believe there will ever be an ideal time to do it. Let’s game out the future possibilities here. If Kamala Harris wins, no one will want to hear about secession in the immediate aftermath. Everyone will be too happy, even if none of the structural issues at play have changed. If she does win, I’m sure she’ll face the same obstacles that Obama and Biden did in the White House. But by the time that cycle repeats itself and people become disillusioned, it’ll already be too close to the next election season.
If Donald Trump wins, I don’t think anyone will want to hear about secession at all. I really want to emphasize this point. I’m not hoping this country will fall into crisis or that Trump will win, because I could never root for carnage to further my political goals. And pragmatically, an environment of chaos and destruction would hurt me far more than it helps. If people are responding to immediate attacks on our rights and safety, they’ll have no time to think about big plans for the future. Secession would come across as wishful thinking at best, and there would certainly be no interest in any critique of social justice.
Ultimately, I’m fighting for this movement because I believe it can’t wait. From the GOP’s structural advantages in our political system to extremism corrupting our own people, we have urgent structural problems we need to address. Speaking out now is a risk, but it would sabotage our side more to focus obsessively on short-term battles and ignore the bigger picture. It’s impossible for me to have good timing, so I’m going to be as responsible as I can in dealing with this shitty timing instead. If I ever appear before a mainstream audience, I’ll be doing so primarily as an independent voter advocating for the Harris-Walz ticket. In the meantime, I intend to build support among base audiences through more niche forums.
And this brings me to my last point. It’s both slightly depressing and a relief to know that no one cares about radical bloggers. People like me exist on both sides, and we don’t impact election results. Ask swing voters in the Rust Belt how many of them have heard of Michael Anton and “The Flight 93 Election.” Normie voters will not care about me unless I genuinely try to insert myself into the campaign narrative, and I won’t be doing that except to advocate against Trump.
Who is my target audience?
My target audience would be anyone with center-left views who thinks wokeness has gone too far, but also views right-wing extremism as a crisis requiring radical, structural reforms. This demographic is not represented at all right now in our political landscape, and it should be. From conversations I’ve had in my own life, I know there are more people out there who feel this way. But people are terrified to speak up, because you can be socially and professionally ruined on the left if you challenge consensus beliefs. My goal is to end that culture of silence. I want to let people who share my values know they’re not alone. I hope my example might convince others to come forward and join this movement.
When do I intend to go public with my identity?
My primary reason for staying anonymous is that I would become unemployable in my industry if I came forward. Once I reveal who I am, I’m going to burn every bridge I’ve ever built, and I can live with that. But I don’t want to live with destitution, so I won’t come forward unless I have enough financial support/a big enough platform to pursue this full-time. I want to be clear that I would like to go public with my identity. I can’t lead this movement or accomplish much from behind a computer screen, and I want to do everything I can to build support for my platform. I promise that I will come forward as soon as it’s feasible for me to do so.
How can you support me?
So, you guys, this is where I just beg. I desperately need help to make this movement into a real political force, and I think my previous actions have demonstrated that I have no pride or shame. If you’re reading this and have any political connections on the left, please get in touch with me to talk about building an organization to fight for these principles. If you have no connections, but would be interested in taking an active role in working on this, I’d love to hear from you just the same.
I can be reached at aster@fearbedamned.com and via DMs on Twitter, where my handle is asterrising. I will likely have to shut down soon if I can’t get some support from this; if you believe fighting wokeness and right-wing extremism is a vision worth investing in, I would be truly grateful for your help.
Addendum:
I realize this has already been a long piece. But I hope to earn potential supporters’ trust by clearly stating my convictions. “Wokeness” is a vague term encompassing many grievances. So, I want to make sure supporters understand exactly what I mean when I describe myself as anti-woke, because hiding behind platitudes is what a grifter does. I’m not a partisan zealot, so I don’t need my supporters to agree with me 100%. But by discussing my political views in depth, I hope you have an idea of what I would prioritize as a leader and an advocate.
Which liberal positions do I agree with?
I’ve always voted for Democratic candidates and will continue doing so in the future, because I agree with them more than I don’t. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but here are some of the issues where I largely agree with Democrats:
Economic issues: I support a strong social safety net, including expanding health care access, increasing the child tax credit, paid parental leave, universal childcare and pre-K, and free community college.
Climate crisis: I believe the climate crisis is the most urgent problem of our time. I support aggressive government action to mitigate this threat, including investment in geoengineering, embracing nuclear energy, and exercising international leadership to lower carbon emissions, among others.
Many elected Democrats don’t necessarily support the same climate policies as I do, but they want to do something rather than nothing, so I’ll take it.
Reproductive rights: I support abortion rights until the point of viability (with exceptions if the life of the woman or fetus is threatened), access to contraception, and education on sexual health and family planning for high school students.
Gun safety: I strongly support the 2nd amendment, but I believe in universal background checks, requiring a license before gun purchase, banning bump stocks, and passing a national “red flag” law.
Police reform: I despise the extremism of BLM, but I acknowledge that police misconduct is a real problem. I support ending qualified immunity, limiting the power of police unions, and promoting community policing.
Voting rights: I support Democratic politicians’ efforts to make it easier to vote, including no-excuse absentee voting, same-day voter registration, increasing polling locations, and extending early voting.
Ukraine + NATO: I don’t agree with Democrats on every foreign policy issue (especially Israel), but I strongly support continuing our contributions to NATO and providing aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Which anti-woke positions do I agree with?
It’s worth noting that many of my objections to social justice are about cultural dynamics in left-leaning communities/institutions, not government policy. This is one reason I find it easy to support Democratic candidates. However, I still believe wokeness is an urgent issue. When I refer to “cultural dynamics,” these include losing your job if you voice certain beliefs, young people being radicalized on social media, and biased journalists misleading the public. All of this really matters for the future of our society, but it just doesn’t have much to do with elections.
Another factor is that most elected Democrats are centrist, so they usually disavow social justice activists’ policy demands. Below, I’ll discuss my anti-woke beliefs, while emphasizing where I specifically disagree with the Democratic Party, as compared to far-left activists.
“Cultural” anti-woke beliefs:
Race/BLM: I hate the Black Lives Matter movement for their endorsement of violent riots, along with defunding and abolishing the police. I also despise the cultural attitudes they’ve championed: claiming that no one can discuss social issues without “lived experience”; their visceral contempt for “privileged” groups, including their rampant harassment of White women; and the deranged argument that racism explains all group differences (erasing any role for cultural dysfunction or other social phenomena).
Western civilization: I strongly oppose “decolonial” ideology that depicts Western civilization and Western values as uniquely evil. Western enlightenment values, including individual liberty, free markets, religious tolerance, and a secular state, have created more social progress than any rival culture or belief system. I believe preserving these values is vital, which includes expecting that all new immigrants will assimilate and adopt these principles.
Free speech: My support for free speech goes beyond the protections offered by the First Amendment. We can’t have a thriving discourse if people are worried they’ll lose their livelihood over their political beliefs. I don’t think anyone should lose their job for opinions expressed outside of work unless it involves threatening/endorsing violence, or using slurs based on race, sex, etc.
Anti-woke policy positions:
COVID: Broadly, I believe that Ron DeSantis did a far more effective job of governing during COVID than most blue-state governors (until his later embrace of vaccine skepticism). There was no evidence-based justification for lockdowns, mask mandates, prolonged school closures, masking kids, or vaccine mandates (though I fully support the efficacy of COVID vaccines for adults). It still matters deeply to me how a generation of children have been stunted, small businesses shuttered, Americans’ personal freedoms restricted, and our social fabric ripped apart in ways that can still be felt today.
I have limited disagreement with Democrats now, since they’re no longer enforcing COVID policies. However, I do support a full investigation and reckoning over the policy failures of that time.
Immigration: I support expanding legal immigration and simplifying the ridiculously convoluted bureaucratic process currently in place. However, I also support a far more aggressive approach to tackling illegal immigration. This includes ending the “catch and release” loophole, stricter asylum standards, and increasing deportations of illegal immigrants, including all who commit crimes. I oppose any extension of welfare programs to illegal immigrants, and endorse significantly higher penalties for employers who hire them.
Israel: I fully support Israel’s right to wage war with Hamas until the terrorist group is defeated and the hostages are free. The IDF has taken unprecedented steps to minimize civilian casualties, and Israel cannot be held responsible for the tragic deaths caused by Hamas’ human shield strategy. Deliberately attacking civilians, as Hamas does, is inexcusable. But every country has the right to target its enemies with military force, even if that means risking civilian casualties. I believe the U.S. should continue weapons sales to Israel, because we have a vested national security interest in supporting their fight against Islamic terror.
While VP Harris hasn’t fully disavowed Israel, it’s obvious she intends to be less supportive than Joe Biden, and that does genuinely disturb me. It’s a sad feature of the two-party system that you inevitably have to sacrifice some of your policy interests to choose the least bad option.
Transgender ideology: The Democrats’ most abysmal issue, without a doubt, is the transgender movement. I believe puberty blockers and hormones are a form of child abuse, stunting kids for life with no evidence of mental health benefits (I’ve linked to a summary of the UK’s Cass Review here—please, please read it). I also fiercely oppose any policies allowing males into women’s intimate spaces (bathrooms, locker rooms, dormitories), athletic competitions, and women’s shelters. I’ve written extensively about why these issues are integral to women’s rights, so I won’t go into further detail here. I truly hope backlash will force Democrats to moderate on this issue soon—for now, it’s another sacrifice I’m forced to make under the two-party system.
Many accuse gender-critical feminists of wanting to exterminate transgender people, so I’ll be clear. I view trans ideology as similar to other destructive cults, including Scientology and the Westboro Baptist Church. Like these other groups, trans-identifying people have every right to tolerance and protection under the law. But that doesn’t mean their values should be allowed to shape protections for women or children’s healthcare.
Can I define “woke”?
Lol, yes. This “gotcha” question from radical leftists has always amused me, because their value system is not that hard to define. I take a stab at it in Part 2 of “Hey Liberals, Let’s Secede (And Get Less Sensitive).” I also address the issue in this essay about “empathy freaks,” a phrase I view as more accurate and all-encompassing than “woke”. This particular essay is cloaked in cringe-worthy MAGA language, which is a shame; I genuinely believe “empathy freak” is a superior alternative to “woke,” and I would have preferred to give the term a better showcase. Still, I stand by the core argument in that piece about social justice extremism.
Anyway, tangent aside, here’s a brief definition of woke ideology. “Wokeness” is a set of far-left ideological views on social justice. This belief system prioritizes empathy for marginalized groups over all other moral and ethical concerns, and defines “empathy” as unconditional validation of an individual’s behavior. Ergo, riots are good, because if “the marginalized” want to loot small businesses, no other moral considerations matter, and we cannot question them. Etc.
What’s the importance of my pinned essay (“Hey Liberals, Let’s Secede (And Get Less Sensitive)”)?
“Hey Liberals, Let’s Secede (And Get Less Sensitive)” is the first essay I ever published. I still keep it pinned on my website, because it’s the clearest description of what I’m fighting for with Fear Be Damned. If a potential subscriber could read one thing and understand what I’m trying to accomplish, this is it.
“Hey Liberals” is a two-part essay. The first part makes a brief case for secession, which I expand upon in “The MH370 Era.” The second part discusses the MIRRORS framework, a set of principles that I propose as an alternative to wokeness on the left. I want to end social justice extremism by proposing a better path forward, one that allows us to fight for progressive values without falling into madness. The MIRRORS framework is the foundation of that effort. It reflects a vision of progressive politics that tempers our passion about injustice with respect for key values, including moral accountability, judging people as individuals, and risk tolerance.
I realize this essay has been really long, so thank you for staying with me. Now you know what I stand for and what I want to achieve. If you want to join me in fighting extremism on the left and right, I hope you’ll consider reaching out (again, my email is aster@fearbedamned.com) or subscribing below.