Erik Jimenez/Staff Writer
The rise of “woke” politics will cause the increasingly fiery conflict between left and right-wingers to escalate in the United States.
Despite starting off as a political term referring to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social and racial justice, the definition of woke has expanded. Nowadays, it essentially means that these incidents are systemic in the culture of our country and civilization. In this form of politics, just about everything about America and Western culture is sexist, racist, anti-LGBT, ableist, xenophobic, ethnocentrist, etc. and you must destroy it or be destroyed along with it.
So how is this furthering the divide in our country?
In October 2018, international initiative More in Common released a report that surveyed 8,000 people on political issues such as immigration, patriotism, racism, sexism and more. The results grouped Americans into seven political “tribes” on the political spectrum, ranging from progressive activists to the politically disengaged to devoted conservatives.
Despite having the second lowest percentage of people at 8%—right behind the devoted conservatives at 6%—the progressive activists have far more influence on our culture and society than the other groups, simply due to the presence of their ideology in our highest seats of cultural power.
It’s an impact that has caused frustration and anxiety in many conservative circles.
In the voter registration for faculty at the top 40 universities in our country, Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of 11 1/2 to 1, according to Econ Journal Watch. This is especially prevalent in the liberal arts, which require students to take classes in subjects such as cultural hegemony, feminist theology, intersectionality, Marxism, patriarchy, postmodernism, straight white male privilege and more.
Our technology center, otherwise known as Silicon Valley, is largely filled with people like this. Earlier this year, Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram banned another wave of commentators including gay right-winger Milo Yiannopoulos, conservative commentator Paul Joseph Watson, black civil rights activist and anti-Zionist Louis Farrakhan and pro-Zionist right winger Laura Loomer. All were banned for expressing essentially Conservative beliefs that hold sway over half of the U.S. population and has done so for decades. Facebook considered these views as “dangerous”.
Twitter isn’t excused from this either. Not only has politically active Republican actor James Woods been blocked from the site for his views, but Twitter also has a policy that explicitly says it will ban those who misgender another user.
Conservatives in this country only believe there are two genders. Twitter has literally created a rule whose actions will predominantly affect conservative users on its platform.
Our entertainment industry is also heavily “woke” and they punish those who step out of line.
To keep his job, actor Mario Lopez was forced to apologize for a comment he made on a podcast about how children should not be raised transgender. Lopez is not a conservative by any means, but this is an opinion held by conservatives and even many political moderates in this country. Liberal comedian Bill Maher has been criticized for recent segments on his show calling for Democrats to stop being “woke” if they wish to win the presidency in 2020.
Conservatives in the United States will refuse to live in the country that the progressive “woke” left have in mind for America. The result is a toxic combination of frustration and fear that will drive even the calmest conservative into a panic.
When conservative commentator Ann Coulter is calling Donald Trump the last Republican president due to mass immigration and demographic change, it’s time to start worrying. We must think about whether these two sides can live with each other, what side you will be on, how to stop it and maybe consider if you’re the one deepening the divide.
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Featured photo from Flickr.
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