Left not Woke

woke, adj., alert to, and concerned about, social injustice and discrimination

woke, adj., actively aware of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those relating to civil and human rights

woke, adj., a non-bigot

Contents

Introduction
Waking up to woke
DEI dilema
Left is not woke
References

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1. Introduction

Woke is a problem. It is a problem for the Left. It has generated violent activities directed towards peaceful protestors; it has broken relationships, including long-standing friendships; it has been manipulated by the media and organisations across the political spectrum; and government has used it in adoption of misinformation and disinformation programs, whereby they are the perpetrators rather than the police. Woke contains elements which have proven problematic, and the Left has gone missing in critiquing the phenomenon and ensuring that what it sought to achieve through woke actually remained true to long-held Leftist ideals. The fact that the Right jumped on board, unrestrained in a similar manner morally or ethically, and both used and abused the agenda, expanded the problem. A social justice initiative became the so-called monstrous Woke Mind Virus which Elon Musk (a Democrat turned Republican) claimed caused the death of his son (Robledo 2024). With attacks from media stars such as Musk, Jordan Peterson and Donald Trump, supported by a barrage of vilifying YouTube commentators and right-wing politicians, woke was in trouble.

The present writer is of the Left. He is both supporter and critic, where such is warranted. He abhors core elements of the Right's political, social and economic agenda. Despite the Left's loosing its focus over recent years, there is no way the writer would ever be a traitor to the cause; not in his mind, anyway. However, the writer is not a mute bystander, winging on the sidelines. Some of his comments in recent years around issued labelled woke have been virulently attacked from within those elements of the Left who are actively pursuing the agenda discussed below. They are genuine in their beliefs and concerns, just as the writer is. However, like many others, he was surprised and concerned at the intensity of attacks towards fellow Leftists who were critical of what was happening. Make were subsequently "cancelled" or expelled from this new woke tribe, and left wonder if they were truly Left any longer. All of this was very confusing. When your enemy's enemy is your friend, and your friend's friend is your enemy, life can get very tough. This is perhaps never more so then when your enemy is actually your friend.

On a personal note, the writer was never a student of modern history or politics, preferring instead to study in high school works such as Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War - a classic Greek text - and later the early colonial history of his hometown of Bulli, Australia, including that of the Indigenous people. Gradually made aware of autistic (aspergers / neurodivergent) abilities, the writer was long suspicious of philosophical fence-sitting and cynical when it came to the activities of government and big business. The many facts and lists he compiled proved him right and them wrong in regards to his suspicions. Paranoia? No, just pragamatism leading to cynicism. Having grown up in a lower middle class housing commission estate, the writer went on to become a community activist and - surprisingly - a federal politician between 2002-2004, as a member of the the Australian Greens. By the time he was elected he definitely knew he was a Lefty, and was totally at ease with that. He would later realise, after he had left politics, that his personal beliefs were closely aligned with what academics would define as Socialism.

Holding a simplistic view of politics - because his Rainman-like head was full of too many other interesting things to bother with a deep dive into political ideology - there was a nice fit with the so-called Left, tending towards the middle of that group. The writer had no real understanding of what terms such as Marxism, Communism or even Neoliberalism meant, especially in the Australian context. He had Leftist academic friends who went down those rabbit holes. The fact that the local Liberal Party was extremely right wing (i.e. definitely not liberal) did not help alleviate his confusion and aversion to politics and politicians. Those on the so-called Right were viewed as the monied people or the conservatives who did not necessarily focus on social welfare issues such as health, education, welfare, the environment and heritage, peace, or human rights. These were the bread and butter of the writer's ex-houso world. The right-wingers in some instances seemed to lack compassion. Money-making was their primary aim in life; at least it was for the most powerful of that sector of society, and for their political acolytes. Politics seemed so simple back then in the early 2000s when the writer graced the floor of the federal parliament building in Canberra, and political ignorance was bliss amidst the practicalities of parliamentary democracy.

Coming forward to 2024 everything had changed. No longer did politics appear linear - like a snake slithering along the ground from left to right, with clear distinctions at both ends of the spectrum. It now seemed to be an ouroboros, wherein the snake was circling around consuming itself, with the extreme Left and the extreme Right coalescing on numerous issues. Needless to say, this left the writer even more confused. "I have not changed, have I?" he thought to himself as Christmas 2024 approached. "Or have I...."

All of this brings us to the present article, or blog (such a horrible word!) which was composed in an attempt to sort out what exactly was going on, both inside the consciousness of the writer - not his physical brain, but his external, non-material, eternal consciousness - and outside of it in the wider (Western) world. Significantly, in the middle of all this, around 2019 a word appeared on the scene which would become representative of a new social and cultural world order. That word was WOKE.

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2. Waking up to Woke

The present discussion was brought about when a friend posted on Facebook on 4 December 2024 the following defining elements of what is commonly referred to as Woke:

10 Symptoms of Woke Mind Virus

You read books, and don't burn them.
You embrace science.
You are willing to change your mind when new information becomes available.
You understand that most issues aren't black and white.
You believe in true equality for all people.
You like to share.
You embrace cooperation.
You respect others' rights.
You believe culture and the arts has value.
You care for the planet and all its life.

To many people this would seem reasonable, and noble even, especially to a person from the traditional Left. To the writer / politician in 2002-2004 it would have been spot on, no argument, and all ten boxes would have been ticked. On the surface they appeared representative of many of the traits of the Left and those of a compassionate disposition. However, when read in 2024 the writer's mind was immediately flooded with instances of where the Left no longer adhered to these principles or statements. They were now burning books, disregarding science, closing their minds to free and open debate, disrespecting rights, and censoring the arts and cultural heritage. Surely not! Was this list a joke, or sincere? Why was the writer confused, and why did he see this as a parody?

Part of the reason was that the Right had weaponized the activities of the Left. "Nothing new there!" you might say. This writer is no fan of the Right. However, for some reason when it comes to woke, the traditional manner in which the Left had dealt with similar initiatives was abandoned. It had always been important to the Left that it be open to criticism and commentary from within. Consensus was valued, though it is not always achieved in reality. The abolition of internal criticism in recent years was a devastating feature of the so-called Woke Mind Virus. This article seeks to confront that, in a manner which may, on the surface, appear to reflect the criticism of the Right, but is in fact a criticism from within the Left which seeks remedies and a return to traditional Left ideals and values.

The woke agenda may be screwed in its form as of December 2024, but at its heart it has merit. Unfortunately, the list the writer encountered on Facebook on 4 December 2024 no longer rang true. They say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So here is some Christmas pudding - exhibits 1 through 10 and beyond which suggest that these statements are not definitions of woke, but merely reminiscences of past Leftist ideals which are in a spiralling process of abandonment. What follows is the ideal, supplemented by an example, or examples, of the counter reality:

You read books, and don't burn them.

Counter: You ban books and burn them, as in the case of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, because of the author's pro-feminist statements which are wrongly presented as transphobic. Some banning and burning is also associated with witches and the occult. But that is something more related to right-wing phobia. Another example is Ian Fleming's James Bond novels which were not subject to censorship in order to align with present-day woke-related criteria. Perhaps worse concerned the books of children's author Roald Dahl which were being expurgated, censored and rewritten to remove so-called objectionable content. Censorship had returned after being defeated across the Western world back in the sixties.

Trans activists burn Harry Potter books, The Daily Mail, 23 March 2023.

You embrace science.

Counter: You reject science. For example, biological sex is not the same as sexual identity. A man who identifies as a transgender woman is not a woman; a woman who identified as a transgender man is not a man. He is a transgender woman, she is a transgender man. Medical procedures and the use of hormone supplements do not alter this scientific fact. Futhermore, this is a basic fact upon which human society is based.
Counter: You reject science, such as the scientific evidence surrounding the COVID-19 virus and its treatment. Instead, a conspiracy is mounted by governments and the United Nations to push a pro-Big Pharma agenda through the dispersal of untested and dangerously toxic vaccines. Censorship of social media is widespread and initiated by government intelligence agencies and supported by the Left political parties and organisations.

Facebook censorship, 2 September 2024.
Counter: You reject and cover up scientific innovation and discovery. The existence of Free Energy and other advanced technologies such as anti-gravity as utilised by the United States military-industrial complex are not dispersed to the world in order to eliminate the Climate Change crisis brought about by the continuing use of dangerous fossil fuels and nuclear energy generation. The science supporting such technologies is hidden and proactively censored. Physicists support the coverup. Political parties across the board ignore the issue. The Left remains mute around such issues, preferring to pursue renewable energy options such as EVs, solar and wind and phasing out the use of coal. These are mere stop-gap measures in comparison with the ultimate adoption of Free Energy technologies. Green groups actually refer to wind and solar as free energy, when they are not.

You are willing to change your mind when new information becomes available.

Counter: Your mind is now closed tightly shut, not willing to listen to divergent views. Viz. COVID-19 and the benefits in dealing with the symptoms through the use of drugs such as Ivermectin and other treatments are rejected by government, the media and political parties and public and private organisations in lock-step with the disinformation and misinformation dispersed by government and those with a vested interest in the dispersal of the vaccines. The medical fraternity supports use of the drug but is censored or forbidden to promote it. During COVID-19 the US FDA officially rejected the use of Ivermectin in treating the COVID-19. A 2023 academic study revealed the follow: * Ivermectin, an FDA-approved anti-parasitic agent, was found to be an inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 replication in the laboratory; * Ivermectin may be effective for the treatment of early-onset mild COVID-19 in adult patients; * Early viral clearance of SARS-CoV-2 was observed in Ivermectin treated patients; * Remission of fever, cough and sore throat did not differ among treatment groups. No severe adverse event was observed (Ahmed et al. 2023).
Counter: You refuse to accept evidence of damaging behaviours and processes. Sections of the Left promote an extreme transgender agenda which subverts the rights of other groups in the community, and has negative impacts upon the transgender community and related LGBTI+ communities. These include the detrimental affects associated with transitioning young people through the use of hormonal drugs, invasive surgical medical treatments and a policy of not questioning the individual concerns of young people regarding their evolving identity.

You understand that most issues aren't black and white.

Counter: Opinions are now non-negotiable and nuance is not accepted. For example, individuals are labelled transphobic of they promote the rights of women as against the rights of men presenting as transgender women, especially in sports and women's spaces. Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt stated that "Trans rights are non-negotiable" in the face of concerns that they discriminate against the basic rights of women. This revealed the lack of nuanced understanding of this complex issue, and the strict adherence to a policy which in actuality subverted other policies which were anti-discriminatory and addressed basic human rights. For the Left to go down this path and prioritize human rights in this manner is discriminatory.

You believe in true equality for all people.

Counter: You now believe that some people are more equal than others. For example, you discriminate in favour of transgender individuals over women. As a result, free speech is being attacked with virulence by sections of the Left. For example, members of the Australian Greens wrongly accused in parliament a peaceful women's rights activist protest of being transphobic and alignment with Nazi sympathisers. The protest was lead by a British member of the Labour Party, and sponsored locally by a member of the Victorian Liberal Party. Greens members were also vilified internally for attending the rally. The fact was any minor criticism or critique of the transgender agenda was met with howls of "You're a transphobe!" or a TERF, i.e., a gender-critical feminist or Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In turn, those making such accusations were called woke radical feminists by the Right.

You like to share.

Counter: You have stopped engaging in open discussion on present-day issues, and have become part of the Cancel Culture phenomena.

Counter: You hide the truth. For example, in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, you adhered strictly to the government agenda and refused to present a rationale and critical assessment of that agenda as it was rolled out, despite evidence available for that to take place.

You embrace cooperation.

Counter: You refuse to cooperate with those promoting issues worthy of cooperation, based purely on political affiliation. For example, the Australian Greens did not support a motion in the Australian Senate to investigate the abnormal increase in death rates following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic because it was proposed by right-wing parties. This was an issue affecting all Australians, across all demographics.

You respect others' rights.

Counter: You no longer respect aspects of the innate rights of women, as against those of transgender males who identify as women; and to ta lesser extent those of transgender women who identify as men and seek to present as men.
Counter: You not longer respect the right to free speech. Cancel Culture is evidence of that, as are the violent protests against peaceful women's rights activist protests.

You believe culture and the arts has value.

Counter: You apply censorship and censorial regimes to the arts and culture, banning both historical and present-day material which may be part of artistic expression and not seek to promote violence or racism.

You care for the planet and all its life.

Counter: You promote technologies which are less harmful to the environment, though nevertheless have harmful and toxic elements, both physically and socially. For example, lithium-ion batteries and toxic materials in solar panels.

Counter: You encouraged medical treatments which had harmful effects and result in many cases in deaths. It could be claimed that the mindless acceptance of the COVID-19 agenda resulted in the needless loss of life amongst a wide demographic, and that a more traditional approach to a pandemic, though the use of known and similar treatments such as adaptation of the flu vaccine, would likely have resulted in less loss of life.

Counter: You encouraged medical treatments which had harmful effects and result in many cases in long-term suffering. It could be argued that the less than critical adoption of the transgender transitioning regime and use of harmful pharmaceuticals such as puberty blockers and hormone treatments, alongside invasive medical procedures such as mastectomies and penile removals have result in harmful effects on individual lives. The number of people subsequently seeking de-transitional is testament to that, as is the long-term ill-effects of treatments being suffered by many of those who began transitioning in their youth.

It should be remembered that in many instances actions initiated by woke individuals as not only those aligned to the Left, but also some of those from the right who seek to inflame situations such as protests. As such, complaints which conflate woke with the so-called extreme Left as not accurate. In fact, there are plenty woke participants from the Right.

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3. DEI dilema

One element of the so-called Woke Mind Virus is DEI - the organisational framework centred around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It seeks to ...promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination on the basis of identity or disability. This process has, since the mid' 2010s, been applied throughout businesses and non-profit organisations as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which tie in financial incentives with implementation of DEI programs.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Unfortunately these government and business-led programs have had negative financial and organizational outcomes at the corporate and individual levels, with the mantra Go woke, go broke becoming louder as the 2020s rolled out. Reasons include the reality that DEI criteria have replaced traditional merit-based employment practices, to the detriment of organisational economic sustainability. For this reason alone DEI programs are fading from the scene, and the various elements integrated within HR departments are disappearing. The pursuit of diversity has been shown to be inherently inequitable, as it prioritizes identity (sexual, racial, etc.) over ability or merit. The failure of the Left to publically critique this is yet another example of where its traditional efforts at seeking justice and removal of discrimination has resulted in outcomes which are in themselves unjust and discriminatory. Once again, woke has been shown to not be truly Left and the failure of some of the ten elements outlined above is revealed. For example, #5. You believe in true equality for all people is not implemented in the workplace, but replaced by You believe in discrimination based on identity, as opposed to merit; or, #8. You respect others' rights is replaced by You reject the right to be employed based on merit.

The transgender agenda was also brought into this DEI framework as part of the Diversity element, with sexual identity and gender identity politics integrated within HR department programs. For example, employees were forced to adopt gender identity pronouns, thereby in some instances publically revealing their sexual identity. With over 4 million views on YouTube as of December 2024, the right-wing Sky News Australia July 2023 report on firms suffering from the Go Woke, Go Broke phenomena revealed the extent of the problem.

Go woke, go broke: The fall of mighty brands to the woke agenda, Sky News Australia, 13 July 2023.

Punitive measures were also often implemented if workers did not co-operate with such policies or in any way criticised them. As a result, there was widespread opposition to some of these programs as they were seen as an invasion of privacy. Once again, the Left was seen to be behind these initiatives, but in reality businesses and governments of all political persuasions had been pursuing related programs since the 1960s (e.g. Affirmative Action). With the Right supportive due to promised financial incentives (which never eventuated), and the Left mute regarding the negative outcomes to workers (which were significant), DEI was doomed to die, and Go woke, go broke became a significant reality.

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4. Left is not woke

Whilst on the surface it may appear that all ten of these items are still being supported by the Left, there are unfortunately prominent examples - as noted above - where they are clearly not. This has given rise to the present confusion by the writer over what exactly Woke is referring to. As moral philosopher Susan Nieman noted in her 2023 book Left is Not Woke:

.....wokeism conflicts with ideas that have guided the Left for more than 200 years: a commitment to universalism over tribalism, a firm distinction between justice and power, and a belief in the possibility of progress. Without these ideas, the woke will continue to undermine their own goals and drift, inexorably and unintentionally, towards the Right (Nieman 2023).

So it is that the lofty views of the Left at the turn of the millennium, and for much of the previous century, were initially weaponised by the Right as political correctness and then by sections of the Left itself as Woke. The beating around the head from afar was followed by a self-inflicted shot to the foot. The reality of Woke was, by 2023, fully revealed, much to the distress of many on the Left. There was a new form of extreme Left, and it was not the dreaded (traditional) Communism or Socialism. The hard Right, in turn, took up some of the issues traditionally supported by the Left. The 2024 US election revealed evidence of this when disenfranchised Left-leaning Americans abandoned the Democrats in droves to the point of re-electing Donald Trump, a proven problem, to say the least. Members of the Left who have spoken out along the way have been sacked, Cancelled, vilified, labelled "extreme right" in their views (probably the worst thing you can do to a Lefty) and generally dismissed and ignored. Over time Woke has been revealed to be, in part, a wolf in sheep's clothing.

woke, adj., supports tribalism over universalism, power over justice, and regression over progression

woke, adj., someone pushing identity-only politics

woke / wokeism, n., an ideology used to obscure power and funnel people into left/right political fandoms – ensuring culture war arguments that solve nothing

The writer will therefore leave the reader with the following declaration of independence which is also, at the same time, a statement of to seemingly antiquated and regressive principles:

I am not Woke
I am Left.
Socialist, compassionate
Environmentalist
Pacifist, humanitarian.

I am not stupid,
Ignorant
or QUIET.
I doth protest...
It is my right!

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4. References

7 Captivating Documentaries on the Free Energy Suppression - Revealing Hidden Truths, Factual America, 4 July 2024.

Ahmed, Sabeena et al., A five-day course of Ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 may reduce the duration of illness, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 103, February 2021, 214-216.