Democratic Partty

Did ‘Wokeness’ cost Democrats the Election?

Did ‘Wokeness’ cost Democrats the Election?

It was 2020, during the height of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests when TV host, Trevor Noah, finished his ‘Daily Show’ comedy programme with a clip from a city whose name I forget. A local store (a Target supermarket I think) had been deliberately set on fire and a young black woman was interviewed nearby. She stridently defended the protesters’ actions saying (effectively) that it was the expression of their anger and a clamour for change by the local Black community. Noah, who is an upper-middle class, South African Black comedian, uncharacteristically signed off his segment without challenging her spiel, instead sombrely asking who were we to argue the Black Lives Matter protestor’s point of view.

The Voters are Revolting!

The Voters are Revolting!

During an episode of the BlackAdder the Third comedy series set in eighteenth-century England, Hugh Laurie as the British Prince Regent, remarks to Edmund Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) ‘I say Blackadder, I hear the peasants are revolting in France!’. Blackadder looks over at his dogsbody sidekick (played excellently by the hangdog-looking Tony Robinson) and responds, ‘By the look of Baldrick they're pretty revolting here too’. Its funny because it’s true, as to how those in power have traditionally regarded the ordinary people when they don’t behave as they should. However, this establishment bias has persisted into the present day.

The Trump supporting Green party of America

The Trump supporting Green party of America

She was polite but purposeful, ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, but I overheard you said something about the Green party in Ireland?’. Her half-smile didn’t reach her eyes, and she leaned in almost anxiously, studying me. I had been chatting (clearly too loudly) to another actor at the end of a casting workshop about how online auditions (known as self-tapes) had become the norm since we all were forced online during the Covid pandemic. My fellow actor was hearing the compelling stories of how I had found myself as the new chairperson of the Mayo Greens at the outbreak and led our monthly meetings into the virtual space of ‘can you hear us now?’ chants and back-to-front cameras. Taking advantage of the interruption, he found something incredibly interesting in the far corner of the car park which required his urgent attention, leaving me with my new and insistent conversationalist.