Being 'Non-Woke' Isn't Enough: Conservatives Need Explicitly Conservative Media Content
Source: Hayden Daniel. "'A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms' Is Not A Conservative Triumph." February 27, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that conservatives shouldn't celebrate HBO's 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' as a victory just because it's not pushing woke ideology. He says being 'non-woke' isn't enough - conservatives need truly conservative content to fight back against liberal cultural dominance.
Conclusion
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, while 'non-woke,' is not the conservative triumph conservatives need to reverse cultural trends
Premises
- Being 'non-woke' is not the same as being anti-woke, and anti-woke is not necessarily conservative
- A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms contains elements conservatives should dislike, including vulgarity and cynical treatment of religion
- The show's author George R.R. Martin is an avowed leftist who was highly involved in the adaptation
- Conservatives have a tendency to claim any 'non-woke' content as their own, often to disappointing results
- Merely 'non-woke' or anti-woke content is insufficient against the leftist pop culture machine to reverse societal trends
- Conservative content used to be mainstream in American media and must be again for cultural change to occur
Assumptions
- Pop culture significantly influences societal values and political trends
- There is a clear distinction between 'non-woke,' 'anti-woke,' and 'conservative' content
- Conservatives need explicitly conservative media representation to achieve cultural goals
- Current media landscape is dominated by leftist ideology
- Cultural change requires institutional control of pop culture creation