Free speech is at a “candor or woke” crossroads. A pluralist nation of 21 million Asians, 44 million Blacks, 61 million Hispanics, and 198 million whites needs frank, open, and sincere speech (candor) to solve its problems. It doesn’t need social-issue sensitivity (woke) banning evangelical Christians from posting pro-marriage comments on Facebook – not when 64% of Americans want candor in the public forum and think woke/cancel culture is harming the nation (source: Harvard CAPS Harris).
The “woke” problem is knee-jerk opposition to ALL white-informed constructs, such as the constitution. The woke mob sees “white privilege” in the Bill of Rights, and in cultural norms like nuclear families and organized religion. These should not be bum-rushed into extinction by academics, anchors, and actors, who fall over each other to prove they are innocent of racism; such as Hank Azaria’s recent apology “to every single Indian person in this country” for his voice-over of an Indian (Apu) on The Simpsons.
To be sure, there’s a certain patois when Indians (or southerners) speak English. Mocking it is a form of satire, moving John Cleese to call out Azaria on Twitter:
Not wishing to be left behind by Hank Azaria, I would like to apologize on behalf of Monty Python for all the many sketches we did making fun of white English people. We’re sorry for any distress we may have caused.
Cleese’s tweet is a form of sarcasm that (along with satire) is central to speaking English. Yet, his proper Cambridge accent elicits woke cries of “white privilege” – along with charges of “racism” today for a skit with Eric Idle in blackface from 50 years ago. Non-woke Americans must push back: can’t you snowflakes take a joke. If not, then Sharia pay-back (see Charlie Hebdo in Paris) will eventually replace laughter.
When will American consumers and voters realize “woke” is a synonym for weakness and “cancel culture“ is a form of authoritarianism? If Hank Azaria were strong, he’d defend his right to free speech and make a living. And, but for a few wealthy authoritarians (black baseball players), 10,000 black employees in Atlanta‘s baseball park wouldn’t have had the their all-star-game-day wages cancelled (source: Every Black Life Matters).
When candor leaves the public forum, we the people become we the chumps. The reason 64% of Americans oppose “cancel culture” is they see through what Joe Biden says and Rashida Tlaib tweets:
- Joe Biden (D-DE) responded to a black radio host with “you got more questions? Well, I’m telling you, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” That’s not even true when 20% of America’s black men voted for President Trump in 2020?
- Tlaib (D-MI) tweeted policing in the USA “is intentionally racist [and] government-funded murder,” prescribing “no more policing, incarceration, and militarization [because] it cannot be reformed.” Who’s she trying to help, when only 18% of Americans support defunding the police (source: USA/Today polling)?
The great lie is that social-issue sensitivity protects minorities. Not true, when the minority within the minority get cancelled. To wit, America’s “woke” press ignores black GOP talking points of 360,000 un-born black lives aborted annually, Harvard’s “woke” overseers won’t admit too many qualified Asians, and the ”woke” Women’s March on Washington refused pro-life organizations. A recent report from the Manhattan Institute (MI) is a wake-up call for more candor in the public forum.
Every year, more young black men die in car accidents (23 per 100,000 deaths) than from shots fired by the police (4 per 100,000 deaths). This is a fact, but MI reports only 19% of Biden voters agree this is true, compared to 47% of black Trump voters and 85% of white Trump voters. This factual knowledge gap exposes the absurdity of Pelosi crafting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act with only her ”woke” caucus; thereby cancelling fact-knowing Republicans.
Back to Cleese. Despite getting 63,000 likes on Twitter, the “woke” responses say it all: read the f*cking room, John…your mistake was hitting the enter key…better ways to stay relevant but maybe it’s best if you don’t…plenty of men your age haven’t lost touch like this…how much easier saying nothing would have been. Calls for Cleese to just go away, rather than bring candor to a sensitive social issue. Now, that’s weak!