As our nation goes through the trauma of Covid-19, we remember one of the cultural and political effects seen in the aftermath of 9/11, namely the death of "woke."
Of course, in 2001, no one was using the term woke.
Back then it was known as "poltically correct" (PC).
Regardless, the current national crisis ensures the death of yet another variation of the same sentiment by a segment of the population with a desperate desire to control and manipulate the First Amendment.
Ask yourself the following: since the Virus has gained national attention, what stories and news items have survived the cut? One telling area that has survived "virus primacy" is religion. This has been mainly focused on how Christian churches continue to operate and provide services and how people are unhappy that they cannot go to those churches as they once did.
There have been stories about trade, the stock market, unemployment, and the direction of the economy. There is much concern about how families, primarily married people with children, will manage hosting school at home.
This dialogue is not on woke issues, but on educational fundamentals and making sure children continue their education at home.
There have been a few reports on the machinations of Iran, Russia, and China.
We also have a smattering of stories on the American military, the space program, the Olympics, Islamic Extremism (and terrorism), and the question of the elections.
What have we not seen?
There is no serious person today that is addressing what one could call woke concerns.
These include, but are not limited to, concerns about pronouns or labels-mislabeling in general, white male patriarchy, social justice warrior activism, or spending on a myriad of dubious woke monetary programs that do not help people in economic need.
One school of thought will argue that the absence of these stories proves nothing.
They will say that the crisis is unusual, and therefore the "normal" role of the media and people’s concerns have shifted.
This is an interesting pseudo-intellectual response that proves the point about importance.
If one’s issue is not essential during times of stress and turmoil, how essential is it when things are normal?
That is forgetting that woke people hate the word "normal," to begin with.
The virus has been and continues to be horrible.
Every normal person on the planet is saddened at the continuing tragedy, especially looking at places like New York City, and Italy. However, one morning we will return to the regular routine, and all the divisive coverage designed to isolate Americans from each other, forcing us at each other’s throats, might also return.
The woke movement will be one of the primary reasons for this, and they are much better adept than Russian and Chinese bot accounts.
The entire premise of the woke movement is to compartmentalize us, categorize us, victimhood us, and label us. This is George Orwell’s "1984" without the state as the main actor, but a movement made up of sad little kings on sad little hills. Kings relishing in the politics of destruction and cancel culture. They are the enemies of free thought and critical thinking, and thus the enemy of true liberal education.
This crisis reminds Americans of the true purpose of a republic.
The role at the national level is to provide for the common defense and welfare.
This means to guarantee our comprehensive national security, which not only protects us from enemies foreign and domestic (ranging from space issues, counter-terrorism, and threats from great-powers, domestic radicals, unsafe food to an unstable medical supply chain) but safeguards our economic health and the health of the American people.
At the state and local level, it is to provide for fire protection, ambulance service, law enforcement, sanitation, and ensuring the roads are safe and maintained. Once all of these things are fully complete and funded, then should we look to anything else.
Americans have unified during this crisis, Democratic governors praising President Trump, and bipartisan legislation being passed in record time. This unification needs to continue, and an objective assessment of the good, bad, and the ugly of how the crisis at all levels was handled needs to occur.
This analysis should not focus on recriminations, but on avoiding it in the future.
When this is over, ask yourself this question when the woke people attempt to restart their assault: if these woke issues were unimportant during the crisis, why are they relevant today or perhaps, ever?
Dr. Lamont Colucci has experience as a diplomat with the U.S. Dept. of State and is today an Associate Professor of Politics and Government at Ripon College. He has published two books as the sole author entitled "Crusading Realism: The Bush Doctrine and American Core Values After 9/11," and a two-volume series entitled "The National Security Doctrines of the American Presidency: How they Shape our Present and Future." He was contributing author of two books entitled "The Day That Changed Everything: Looking at the Impact of 9/11 at the End of the Decade" and "Homeland Security and Intelligence." He is also Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council, Senior Advisor in National Security for Contingent Security, Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, to the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and member of the National Task Force on National and Homeland Security. Find out more at lamontcolucci.com. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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