THE "WOKE" ENIGMA

Politicians have a tendency of reducing complex concepts to simple catchphrases designed to mystify rather than clarify. Many of these ultimately become so-called "dog whistles," coded messages communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a candidate's political base and intended to solicit unquestioned support. The objective is to appeal to the greatest possible number of electors without alienating those in the margins. Australian political theorist Robert E. Goodin argues that this process undermines democracy, because voters often have difficulty understanding what they are voting for or against during an election. In other words, a political base may be conditioned to react a certain way to the catchphrase, without actually understanding what it stands for. Throughout the course of our political history, politicians have repeatedly employed "dog whistles" to cement a following and instill a subtle fear of their opposition. Richard Nixon invoked "law and order," "thugs" and "welfare queens" among others. Donald Trump equated Mexican immigrants with drug dealers and rapists - a characterization he continued to use to depict migrants when defending the building of his wall. In addition he incorporated "thugs" and "looters" to demonize African Americans protesting in the wake of George Floyd's killing. "Cancel culture" and "critical race theory" come to mind of "dog whistles" which were generally misunderstood but which were used, more or less effectively, in political campaigns during the past few years. A recently emerging concept, decades old but freshly anointed, is "WOKE." Even though most struggle to define what they mean when using the term, many of our current politicians appear to have little trouble uttering the word and adopting the mantra. At a basic level, the word "woke" simply refers to the past tense of "wake." It is not an acronym. Use of the concept dates back to the 1930's when African American songwriter Lead Belly used the phrase near the end of a recording of his song "Scottsboro Boys," which tells the story of nine black teenagers accused of raping two white women, suggesting: "Best stay woke, keep [your] eyes open." "Woke" became an adjective meaning "well informed or aware of racial discrimination or injustice." As such, the word was eventually added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017. It became entwined with the Black Lives Matter movement, and developed from just signaling awareness to becoming a word of action . Conservative politicians rapidly latched onto the "woke" mentality in a crusade to "deliver America from the scourge of a host of progressive ideas" they oppose. They turned "wokeness" into a pejorative synonymous with the demise of everything good and white about America. Somehow, to be pro-woke became anti-American. In 2022, a modern-day blend of McCarthyism and white grievance became the focus of the current right-wing campaign. Leading the charge is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In anticipation of his expected run for president in 2024, the governor used his January inaugural address to warn of "the woke mob," and its "woke ideology." "We fight the woke in the legislature ... the schools ... the corporations." "We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die." He authored the "Stop Woke Act," a legislative prototype that would prevent educational institutions and businesses from teaching anything that would cause anyone to "feel guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress" due to their race, color sex or national origin. DeSantis is by no means alone. Conservatives of all stripes are hitching onto the bandwagon. Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee on Military Personnel, blames military recruitment challenges on the "Left woke agenda." Newly minted Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, while delivering the Republican Party's response to the State of the Union, accused President Biden of surrendering his presidency to the "woke mob." Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, while announcing her 2024 bid for president, tweeted: "Strong and proud - not weak and woke - that's the America I see." Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) described "Wokeism" as "cultural Marxism," but projected a murky notion of what that actually meant. A Newsmax reporter recently asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: "Is President Biden woke?" And during the budget battles unfolding in Congress, GOP leaders are taking aim at, however ill-defined, "Woke spending" and "Woke waste." This newest dog whistle is obviously intended to weaponize a concept used to undermine efforts of social movements, to demonize Democrats and to unify some of the Republican base. Nevertheless, participants in focus groups have displayed difficulty defining the word even in the most general terms.This appears to be a strategy intended to cater to the most gullible, those most easily indoctrinated and too lazy to think for themselves, among us. We should not be so ambivalent debating salient issues on their merits, rather than have these manipulated catchphrases define them for us. Theo Wierdsma

"NEVER AGAIN" - AN EMPTY PROMISE

January 2023 will go down into U.S. history as the worst month for mass shootings. Well in excess of 40 incidents were recorded during a four week period. In the course of virtually every eulogy delivered during funeral services for victims of these now, unfortunately, routine events, including those for solitary murders like the recent one for Tyre Nichols in Memphis, we would hear the call: "Never Again." These simple words resonate as a dominant plea, often interpreted as a pledge, but more frequently than not followed by a resigned: "Once Again." The phrase "Never Again" was initially used by Holocaust survivors, and was particular to Jews. The outcry insisted that "never again can we allow Jews to be victims of another Holocaust." The expression, although associated with the lessons of the Holocaust, may have originated from a 1927 poem by Yitzhak Lamdan, which stated: "Never again shall Ramadan fall." Its exact meaning is debated, including whether it should be used specifically as a command to avert a second Holocaust of Jews, or whether it is a universalist injunction to prevent all forms of genocide. Meir Kahane, a far-right rabbi and his Jewish Defense League, introduced the phrase as a Jewish slogan, making it the title of his first book: "Never Again: A Program for Survival," published in 1972. It was used to fight antisemitism and justifying terrorism against perceived enemies. Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel paid homage to the term as well, as did many others. Today the phrase is widely used by politicians and activists, and it appears on many Holocaust memorials. In August 1989, Louis Farrakhan, an avowed U.S. anti-semite, arguably committed blasphemy by co-opting the expression when he delivered his eulogy for Yusef Hawkins, an African American youth killed by a white gang in Brooklyn. Since then, in response to multiple mass murders, the clarion call was repeatedly invoked by victims and observers alike. Between 1992 and 1995, 8,000 men and boys endured summary executions and torture by Serbian paramilitary forces in Srebenica, in what was considered the most extensive genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. "Never Again?" Obviously, nobody listened. Atrocities in Baathist Iraq, Cambodia, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan followed. "Never Again?" Once a rallying cry, rapidly began to sound hollow. Aside from Farrakhan and multiple others delivering eulogies for the plethora of victims of gun related deaths - more than two million since the liberation of Auschwitz and Buchenwald - some organizations still thought enough of the expression to adopt it for their specific campaigns. Case in point was the crusade developed by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, after Nikolas Cruz and his AR15 killed 17 students and faculty on February 14, 2018. The student "March for Our Lives," which brought thousand to D.C. a month later, adopted "Never Again MSD" as their motto. Shortly thereafter, the Jerusalem Post published interviews with Israeli citizens expressing concerns about what some considered cultural appropriation. Some felt that it was "very uncomfortable to watch a term you've used to talk about your family and people's own heritage and history be taken overnight." However, most doubted that the kids knew this or did it intentionally. Either way, the expression had entered the realm of universal usage. Nevertheless, although some thought that this student movement, which appeared to be gathering strength at the time, might actually be different - irrespective of its powerful rallying cry - ultimately fizzled as well.The Parkland shooting was one of 119 school shootings that year. Since then, more than 900 shootings in K-12 school settings have been recorded. These include mass casualty events like the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. "Never Again" expresses the aspiration of a civilized world. It is a powerful rallying cry, but it is no longer much more than that. The presumed necessity to proclaim it over and over again, does not really strengthen it. It diminishes its effectiveness. Politicians frequently express the same sentiment as well. However, more frequently than not, they stick to the catchphrase, raising expectations, but stopping well shy of constructive follow-up. Many no longer even dust off their stock responses to calamitous events. They, as are many of us, appear resigned to be frustrated and feeling impotent. "Never Again," as a slogan, no longer carries the same weight as it did right after the Nazi extermination camps were liberated. Theo Wierdsma