The US has seen an increase in ‘woke’ ideas in the past decade or so. Wokeness has especially become prominent in recent years. These ideas are mostly driven by the young demographic.
Originally, woke means that one is awake to progressive issues. However, in present society the word has lost its original meaning and is used to refer to far left policies and ideas that are ridiculous, unsustainable, and even dangerous. The absurdity of some of these ideas is leading to widespread pushback from anyone who is not a member of the far left.
The pushback to wokeness started in the US because it is where wokeness was pushed aggressively. From teaching Critical Race Theory in schools to gender-neutral bathrooms, woke ideas are so radical that people are beginning to be aware of the dangers of such policies. Now, Europe is also increasingly on guard against the increase of wokeism in its society.
In the UK, a charity of the name Winston Churchill Memorial Trust changed its name to The Churchill Fellowship, citing that Britain’s iconic Prime Minister had views on race that are unacceptable today. This move was swiftly criticized by the Boris Johnson government, with a spokesperson saying, “We need to focus on addressing the present, and not attempt to rewrite the past and get sucked into the never-ending debate about which well-known historical figures are sufficiently pure or politically correct to remain in public view.” The Prime Minister revealed his displeasure as well, saying, “It is completely absurd, misguided and wrong to airbrush his giant achievements and service to this country. The trust should think again.”
Another problematic aspect of wokeness is that it invades not only political platforms but also other traditionally non-political platforms such as sports, which was something that people from both sides of the aisle used to enjoy. We have seen athletes in the US take the knee to “protest racism.” Now, this practice has found its way into European football. Members of England’s National Football team started taking a knee before games. This prompted criticism from UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, who called it “gesture politics”.
The launching of a new British TV channel called GB News in June 2021 is seen as a move to challenge the woke worldview. Nigel Farage, an outspoken conservative, is one of the hosts on this channel. The channel looks to cater to an increasing audience who are fed up with the woke.
The French are also opening their eyes to the dangers of the woke, with the diversity minister of French President Emmanuel Macron saying to Bloomberg, “woke culture is something very dangerous, and we shouldn’t bring it to France.”
Another incident is where a French Dictionary recently introduced a gender-neutral pronoun and was called out by French lawmaker François Jolivet, who belongs to Macron’s party.
Europe should open its eyes to the dangers of woke politics. They should take the US as a good example of how wokeness can lead to bad, and even dangerous, policies. The good thing is that by looking at the US they can realize that it is possible to push back against these woke ideas and even stop them in their tracks.
