Woke is Over — Let’s Ensure It Doesn’t Return

Throughout the non-left media landscape, it has become a widely accepted belief that Donald Trump’s decisive win marks a pivotal moment against wokeness.

After years of asking in frustration, “Have we finally reached peak woke?” akin to children incessantly questioning their parent, “Are we there yet?”, conservative outlets are adamant that the progressive absurdities that have plagued us since roughly 2014 (or perhaps even since 1965) have been thoroughly defeated.

This clear repudiation of identity politics brings with it the hopeful prospect of no longer wasting our precious time on this planet on nonsensical debates such as: can women have penises; does racial discrimination address racism; should advancement in jobs and education be based on skin color; is the Western civilization, which has given us penicillin, Rembrandt, Bach, and the Hubble Space Telescope, to be condemned; is being excessively overweight healthy; and is donning a sombrero purchased from Amazon considered theft?

The real thieves of our time, energy, and focus are the ideological fools who pulled us into addressing these painfully obvious topics. I have spent entire afternoons pondering whether a mass movement advocating for the sterilization of children and the alteration of their healthy bodies is a reasonable notion.

‘Cancel’ canceled

So let’s agree: we all want to leave this nonsense behind.

I’m genuinely intrigued to see how this period of collective madness will be perceived once it has receded into the past. Will the edges of this era soften to the point where “cancel culture” is nostalgically recalled as somewhat quaint?

Will historians remember only that for a peculiar time, people had an unusually heightened interest in “social justice?”

Or will this chapter on wokeness be remembered alongside Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Stalin’s show trials, and Pol Pot’s killing fields as a less lethal manifestation of an entire society losing its sanity?

Regarding that retrospective analysis, there are encouraging signs. The use of preferred pronouns is quietly disappearing from email signatures. The notably self-righteous University of Michigan is terminating its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) personnel. Walmart has eliminated the term DEI altogether. Investors are taking legal action against Target for prioritizing DEI, environmental, social, and governance commitments as well as Pride Month over shareholder interests. Formerly left-leaning Silicon Valley millionaires are publicly enthusiastic about, or even vying for roles in, the Trump administration.

Podcast discussions have suddenly become more open; it may finally be safe to crack a joke.

Democratic figures in the media are wallowing in self-pity, whilst MSNBC’s audience figures continue to plunge. States with GOP leadership are prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors, and these laws have a strong possibility of being upheld by the Supreme Court. The term “retarded” is experiencing a revival.

Yet, I remain skeptical that we are celebrating too soon. This ideology has permeated all our institutions like a persistent fungus. It won’t be an easy task to remove. Ever notice how quickly athlete’s foot returns even after thorough treatment?

One election cycle won’t change the narrative. There are too many individuals with a vested interest in wokery; for example, “decolonizing the curriculum” is their profession. Numerous museum directors have been hired specifically to ensure art collections do not include works by white artists.

Won’t all go quietly

Many black female hires who hit two marks in diversity criteria yet often go unnoticed for their underqualification, like the recently ousted president of Harvard, Claudine Gay, owe their positions to this pervasive ideology and they aren’t likely to leave quietly.

The entire Democratic Party is engulfed in this mindset, and Kamala Harris nearly won the popular vote, falling short by just 1.5 percentage points.

Across both sides of the Atlantic, universities, the justice system, NGOs, the legal and medical fields, media outlets, cultural institutions, theater, publishing, and film have all been corrupted by this metaphorical zombie fungus. Imagine the special effects from “The Last of Us,” with all those creepy tendrils and fibrous masses overtaking the skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan.

This is a prolonged struggle that is far from over. Nonetheless, this shouldn’t diminish the optimistic sentiment that we, the rational individuals, seem to currently hold the advantage.

In fact, I’ve always believed that our sensible and unindoctrinated faction — regardless of being beleaguered, persecuted, and shockingly few in numbers — is destined to triumph because absurdity eventually collapses under its own contradictions. The only remaining question is how much longer we must endure this overwhelming nonsense.

At this juncture, I have a theory. Let’s consider the nature of our adversaries. Wokesters are conformists. They did not create their ridiculous ideas; they are reading from an established script.

This is why they all parrot the same phrases and adhere to the exact same set of beliefs, no matter how ludicrous: these individuals lack original thought. Yet, they perceive themselves to be at the forefront of progress.

Being “progressive” positions them in the lead. They believe that being woke signifies being modern and trendy.

No matter the intricate truth of the situation, it serves our interests to propagate the notion that wokeness is behind us. That wokeness has been overthrown. That wokeness is utterly outdated and stale. That the rest of us are moving on to addressing genuinely challenging issues that aren’t trivial. That we will no longer squander time rebutting petty amateur linguists who insist we term those who are overweight as “people living with obesity.”

That, regardless of our personal feelings about him, Trump’s victory signifies a clear Before and After. As Kamala would say, we’ve “turned the page” and “we’re not going back.”

Is that an echo?

Because when a statement is repeated often enough (a tactic the wokesters have perfected), it can be perceived as reality. Wokesters are notably impressionable. Additionally, the majority of these individuals don’t genuinely care about social justice; they care about the appearance of caring about social justice. They are concerned with the opinions of others. They prioritize fitting in.

They mimic the discourse of those around them because being a mindless imitator helps them gain favor with other mindless imitators, thus preserving their friendships and employment. Additionally, they are invested in social trends.

Therefore, they won’t use terms like “cisgender” if it risks drawing ridicule at gatherings. They won’t want to appear outdated. If we can convince them that wokeness is over, that their BLM lawn signs are out of style, and that the endless talk of “white privilege” is tedious and passé, they will abandon the entire package of patriarchy/neurodiversity/heteronormativity et al in no time.

We simply need to persuade them that wokeness is uncool. Which it always has been, though some people are slow on the uptake.

Lionel Shriver’s recent book, “Mania,” is published by the Borough Press. Reprinted with permission from Spiked.