Wokeness

“While I believe that the wokeness had pure intentions in holding people accountable for actions that nobody wanted to acknowledge, I feel that it spiraled into something we cannot contain anymore; instant gratification for calling out those we do not like”.              

Culture critic Haaniyah Angus

Collins dictionary defines wokeness as “the behaviour and attitudes of people who are sensitive to social and political injustice”.

In this sense, I used to support the woke since I have always believed in equal rights for all, social justice, and the freedom to be oneself.

Now, today’s wokeness has left me disappointed.

Currently, wokeness stands for the political agenda of the extreme left, an agenda that precludes civilized dialogue and the freedom to think differently. Its origins lie in the polarization of politics around the world, where frustration with the those in power have driven many to the extremes, and where instant gratification is the norm.

Pendulums tend to swing, and, in the case of geopolitics and social demands, the pendulum has swung from the center to both extremes.

On the right, populism has taken hold over part of the electorate and voters seek leaders who will take them to a better past.

On the left, the populism has a different face.

The fall of the Berlin wall and world communism left an ideological void. Today, that void is being filled by political correctness that demands that we all share the same views and behavior. It doesn’t tolerate anything different.

Like all ideologies, wokeness has become rigid and intolerant.

This obsession with political correctness leaves no room for the kind of compromise essential for policies to be inclusive and consensual. 

Indeed, if one analyses the current state of wokeness in the United States and Canada, it is the domain of the left that caters to minorities to the degree of accusing the majority of injustice. In the eyes of today’s woke people, white Christian heterosexuals are the enemy, especially white Christian heterosexual males.

Anyone with money or power is criticized, governments are expected to cater fully to the demands of small minorities over the needs and wishes of the majority, and dialogue is seen as evil.

If one looks at the left of the U.S. Democrat Party, the British Labour Party, or the Canadian New Democratic or Liberal parties one comes away with a disturbing vision of the world they seek. The issues that fuel their rage range from sexuality to immigration to the Middle East.

The tool that woke voters and representatives use is the promotion of fear.

Fear of ostracism among those who want to belong to the progressive class.

Fear of a loss of votes by leaders whose constituencies include woke voters.

Fear of violence from woke activists like that which we are seeing around the world on campuses and the streets of our cities targeted at Jews and Jewish institutions.

And fear of being labelled as Islamophobic, homophobic, misogynist, or any of the other phobias that seem to affect certain currents of society and that often are magnified by the mass and social medias.

The woke collective pursues a policy of antisemitism with respect to the Jewish community over Israel’s actions in Gaza. They support Hamas terrorism, refer to them as “militants”, call for global jihad and intifada, consider Iran and the Houthis in Yemen and other terrorist groups “revolutionary”, and ignore the complex realities of the Middle East, preferring their own simplistic vision of political correctness.

In the United Kingdom, the opposition Labour Party has called for the unrestricted immigration of Palestinians. They do not see the impact that multiculturalism is having on British society, Nor do they appreciate that, since over 70% of Gazans support Hamas, many of those whom they would let in support expansionist Islamism to the detriment of British values and institutions.

Their own domestic woke politicians block the police from enforcing the laws on pro-Hamas demonstrators and in fact appear to support these groups through the selective application of laws.

In Canada, the Liberal government is creating a fast-track immigration path for Gazans with relatives in Canada with little vetting. After all, the only institutions that could vet them are the Hamas run government of Gaza, in whose interests Islamist fundamentalists would be entering the country. Canada continues to issue student visas to those who occupy universities and threaten Jewish students with violence, and governments at all levels take few if any measures to arrest and deport these non-citizens immediately.

Interestingly, no Arab country wants to take in a single Palestinian from Gaza or the West bank.

What do they know that our woke politicians and pressure groups don’t know or don’t want to know?

On the issue of sexuality, I believe that everyone has the right to love whom they want and engage in consensual relationships. No parent nor government has the right to dictate to their children or citizens what their sexual identity should be. I believe that it is important for schools to address the issue of sexuality at an appropriate, age, so that children learn to accept their own and that of others.

However, I also believe that the majority oppose such measures as the decision by the Liberal government of Canada to ensure that feminine hygiene products are placed in every men’s room of every federal government building. This is taking support for woke voters from the sublime to the ridiculous.

I believe that women’s rights are sacrosanct. Yet, many in the woke community are espousing support for Islamic countries where women have few, if any, rights.

The same goes for “Queers for Palestine”, who don’t seem to realize that the groups they support, such as Hamas and many Muslim countries, would jail or kill them on sight were they to go there.

As a result, I would like to see a movement that supports social justice and equal rights for all, not just a minority.

However, the movement should seek a common sense approach to governance and not an adversarial one like the positions currently taken by “woke” politicians and pressure groups.

People opposed to the current brand of “wokeism” shouldn’t be afraid to oppose it publicly and shouldn’t yield to the demands of those who preach intolerance.

The media can play an important role through its choice of coverage and its depiction and contextualisation of stories. It should focus more on providing a complete background to a story. In the world of 24 hours news coverage, media outlets should report news as news and properly label opinions and editorials as something else.

Journalists, editorial, and opinion columns should call out wokeism when it makes no sense, or when it preaches violence or hatred towards others.

A sad example of this is the decision by the BBC early on to refuse to call Hamas a terrorist group in its reporting on the situation in Gaza for fear of being branded Islamophobic. Extremist Islamism should be opposed rather than coddled by media organizations and governments out of fear of losing audiences or votes or worse – fear violence on the part of those who promote it.

Politicians should never forget that there is a silent majority that generally opposes today’s version of wokeness and the policy of its adherents of calling out those with whom they do not agree.

And, we should not give in to those who seek instant gratification simply by calling out those we do not like.