"Blue America's media institutions, facing economic decline, reacted with a 'techlash' against the internet and by embracing 'wokeness.' Balaji argues this was a strategic decision. He points to data showing the New York Times began heavily using terms like 'white privilege' and 'toxic masculinity' around 2013, which coincided with a rise in their stock price after a long slump. Woke language generated traffic."
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/myl\/MillerNYT_WordFrequencyGraphs.jpeg
"Blue America's media institutions, facing economic decline, reacted with a 'techlash' against the internet and by embracing 'wokeness.' Balaji argues this was a strategic decision. He points to data showing the New York Times began heavily using terms like 'white privilege' and 'toxic masculinity' around 2013, which coincided with a rise in their stock price after a long slump. Woke language generated traffic."
https://www.podchemy.com/notes/100-balaji-srinivasan-the-collapse-of-the-west-40563333634
Personally I think identity politics were used to distract away from the Occupy Wall Street movement.