Negatively Charged

"The Left has now taken 'Boy' out of 'Boy Scouts,' Republican U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Wokeness destroys everything it touches."
After years of scandal, Boy Scouts of America changes its name to Scouting America

The Boy Scouts of America (or Scouting BSA, to use the current name) has been open to both boys and girls for five years now. Apparently, Representative Clyde thinks that in exchange for being able to earn merit badges in Backpacking, Coin Collecting and Shotgun Shooting, girls should have to be referred to as boys.

No, not really. Representative Clyde simply understands that his audience on X will take up the anti-"Woke" rallying cry (or remain silent) without bothering to think about it. And if it makes them, and conservatives in general, look backwards and reactionary to the rest of the nation? The better for knowing who's in the tribe, and who isn't.

The fact that this sort of knee-jerk reactivity to what are basically trivialities is often seen as a feature in American politics, rather than a defect, speaks to the continuing fragmentation of the American polity. A Republican voter, or office holder, who called Representative Clyde out on this would be pilloried for airing the movement's dirty laundry, instead of being lauded for standing up. Especially, since it's all but certain that Democrats would seize on the criticism in an attempt to better their own political standing. And so there's no incentive for anyone who supports Representative Clyde to speak out; giving people on both sides the idea that Representative Clyde's position is more popular than is warranted. Of course, any Democrat who speaks out will simply prompt the Republicans to circle the wagons.

It all makes for a political discourse consisting mainly of cheering for one's own side and heckling the other, regardless of whether the cheering or heckling seems earned. Because, apparently, we've solved everything else, and there's nothing else that needs anyone's attention.