Woke

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.