They saw it as an opportunity to finally drive their agenda.
An agenda whose central message is that progressive values are destroying society. This cancer that is eating away at the West, and more particularly America, is, according to them, the “woke mind virus”. This is an expression encompassing progressive values and ideas. In the US, it is represented by the progressive left wing of the Democratic Party.
The anti-woke movement, which usually brings together conservatives and far-right activists, accuses progressives of trying to impose on society policies regarding racial diversity, gender equality and identity, and environmental, social and corporate governance, a.k.a. ESG, with no thought about diversity of opinion and freedom of speech.
They argue that woke people are intolerant and that wokeism leads to cancel culture -- in other words, to intolerance and dictatorship of thought.
In addition, they say, wokeism advocates for lax immigration laws, civil disorder and defunding the police.
For the anti-woke movement, including Elon Musk, San Francisco is the cradle of this woke mind virus. San Francisco’s policy of welcome and tolerance for the homeless has caused tents and encampments for the homeless to grow all over the city, creating unsanitary conditions and stirring up the anger of the inhabitants. The anti-woke movement therefore wants to surf on this anger in the new culture war.
Score Points in the Culture War
On Apr. 4, Bob Lee, 43, died after being violently stabbed in the early morning in an upscale neighborhood of San Francisco, inhabited and frequented and by tech workers. Lee, a father of two who had lived in San Francisco for most of his professional life, had moved to Miami, Florida but was back in town on business when he was stabbed.
For the anti-woke people, and more particularly Musk and his friends, the murder of Lee was a perfect opportunity to score points in their anti-woke offensive, because this high profile murder highlighted the problems of San Francisco, which they have been denouncing for several months. For them, the progressive city has become a lawless community, filled with crime and a huge safety and security issue because of its approach towards the homeless.
They would therefore seize their megaphones - the social networks and in particular Twitter of which Musk is the owner - to denounce the elected Democrats of the city, whom they accuse of impunity and a lax attitude vis à vis criminals. It also helped that Lee was a charming and well-liked personality in the tech world.
Lee was the creator of Cash App and former chief technology officer of Jack Dorsey's payments company Block. He was serving as Chief Product Officer of crypto platform MobileCoin when he was killed. Lee also worked at Google, helping to lead the team that developed the Android platform.
In addition, Lee was an angel investor. According to his LinkedIn profile, he had invested in companies such as SpaceX and Clubhouse, among others.
"Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately. Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF?" Musk reacted on Apr. 5.
The following day, the billionaire put more pressure by claiming that San Francisco was almost dead: "Downtown SF looks like a zombie apocalypse," the billionaire said on Apr. 10. "People who’ve not been there have no idea."
For Musk as for his friends and other tech luminaries, Lee was killed by homeless people or drug addicts, who swarm in certain streets of San Francisco. It was therefore the fault of the politics of the progressive politicians of the city.
The Alleged Murderer Is a Tech Bro
By pushing this narrative, they hoped to drive the "we told you so" narrative. But less than ten days after Lee's murder, a suspect has just been apprehended by the police. He is neither homeless nor a drug addict. He is another tech entrepreneur. It is Nima Momeni, an acquaintance of Lee, according to local authorities.
Momeni, who owned a tech business in Emeryville, was arrested on suspicion of murder. He was booked into San Francisco County Jail on a murder charge.
"Thank you @SFPD for apparently solving this brutal murder of Bob Lee — a murder by someone he knew, not a random street attack," Scott Wiener, a Democratic state senator who represents San Francisco said on Twitter. "Even with a staffing shortage & challenging street conditions, SFPD is good at solving murders: Its clearance rate is 85% vs. a 50-60% national average."
SFPD stands for San Francisco Police Department.
But the anti-woke movement, who had violently criticized elected Democrats following Lee's death and presented a terrifying image of San Francisco, did not want to admit that they had tried to weaponize Lee's death to push their agenda.
"On the All In pod we were very clear by saying 'We don’t know exactly what happened yet' -- as we always are with breaking news," said tech investor Jason Calacanis, who is a friend of Musk, after the arrest.
The same Calacanis, however, said this three days after Lee's murder: "THESE ARE THE LUNATICS RUNNING SAN FRANCISCO. EVIL INCOMPETENT FOOLS & GRIFTERS WHO ACCOMPLISH NOTHING EXCEPT ENABLING RAMPANT VIOLENCE. VOTE THEM OUT."
San Francisco police figures show violent crime has dropped in the city of 808,000. In 2017, 56 homicides were recorded in the city. This number fell during the pandemic before rising to 56 in 2021 and last year.
Just before Lee's violent death, a dozen killings had been recorded in San Francisco, two more than the same period in 2022. Under pressure from tech leaders and residents, Mayor London Breed won the vote of $25 million additional funding for the police in March.
Lee's murder and the bad publicity it generated has tarnished the image of San Francisco, which is already struggling to rebound from the pandemic. Office vacancy in San Francisco is among the highest in the nation -- with space in the city the quickest to empty out, according to Savills, a commercial real estate firm.
The city’s vacancy rate grew to a record 32.7% in the first quarter of 2023, from 32.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022, Savills reports
To comprehend the extent of the problem, consider the rest of Silicon Valley, less than an hour south of San Francisco. The office vacancy rate in Silicon Valley stood at 23.1% in Q1 2023, compared with 22.7% in Q4 2022.
"We expect office availability (in San Francisco) to continue to increase in 2023 as the slowdown in the technology sector persists,” Savills said in the report.
