The 2022 midterm elections have proved that people hate reactions to “wokeism” more than they hate woke culture itself. The Republicans had a key path to midterm dominance — talk about the economy. All they had to do was tone down their hatred of niche groups, like drag queens or elementary school teachers with dyed hair, and they would have coasted smoothly to a majority in both the House and the Senate. However, Ron DeSantis, Peter Thiel and the “new, new right” could not help themselves and did otherwise, costing seats across the nation. Bread-and-butter issues are usually used by the opposition party, but if Republicans keep to the same script for 2024, a similar result to that of 2022 should be expected. It is imperative, however, that Democrats and all left-leaning people focus on material issues. The only way to win a culture war is to ignore it. Let Dr. Oz or Lauren Boebert scream into the void about transgender athletes, and instead of responding and easing the burden of capitalism, Democrats should focus on reducing the cost of insulin or raising the federal minimum wage.

The difficulty in stepping away from the culture war lies within the national social media addiction — the culture war exists nearly entirely online. The culture war is fought by brave soldiers such as @letsgobrandon or @libdestroyer88, who strap in their chargers and trudge through the trenches of Josh Hawley’s Twitter replies. For example, a Twitter account known as @libsoftiktok, run by Chaya Raichik, quickly garnered a massive right-wing following by feeding off the “critical race theory” frenzy perpetuated by Fox News. Raichik launched a campaign against teachers, whom she accused of indoctrinating children with a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda. Many prominent voices in the right-wing media sphere, such as Laura Ingraham, Joe Rogan and Ron DeSantis’ campaign, have amplified the popularity of the account. Language used by the account has also quickly been adopted into the online right’s vernacular — teachers and drag queens have been dubbed “groomers,” and trans people “pedophiles.”

@libsoftiktok was banned from Facebook, but its Twitter account has now surpassed 1.9 million followers. Although a large portion of their account activity is their mentions being flooded with disapproving replies, the criticism has caused the account to receive unnecessary exposure. The right always speaks of “safe spaces,” but social media has become their own safe space. People can log on and blind themselves to the dissatisfaction and insecurities in their lives by spewing hatred and anger. They find more comfort in looking down at their phones than up at the increasingly grim outlook of the world. Anonymous accounts, such as @libsoftiktok before Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post released Raichik’s identity, are given the ability to act with a level of impunity that can feel addictive — there is no substitute for that degree of social immunity. It won’t be easy to convince people to stop incessantly posting hateful content, but if big enough economic initiatives to help working people are introduced, they may start logging off, raising their gaze and putting an end to the culture war.

Nathan Sommer is a sophomore majoring in history.