A lot of people were extremely angry about the accolades, the best sellers, the awards and especially jobs that went to people who in their view were only meant to be subjects of journalism not its authors. The genesis is closer to 2008 though
bsky.app/profile/juda...There was a similar flowering of Black American public intellectuals culminating in the 2016-2024 period, and I'd argue the anti-Woke backlash was in many ways a reaction to the threat this posed to the outclassed white punditocracy, for whom meritocracy and DEI hire was a way to disqualify them.
