Today, wokeness is defined as the behavior of people who are sensitive to social/political injustices, including, but not limited to. sexism, racism and LGBTQ+ rights. Especially in recent years, widespread activism about these issues have become much more common. However, this has caused conservatives, in particular, to accuse woke people of going too far, and create new terms like the “woke mind virus” to describe them. These perceived injustices and wokeness have led to anti-wokeness that has simultaneously ensued. American conservatives like Ben Shapiro, Denis Prager and many, many others have given rise to a side of social media that ridicules what they call “the woke mob.”
An example of such criticism can be found at the Black Lives Matter protests, specifically in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd that year in May. The protesters’ objective of opposing police brutality was not the issue: the main critique of BLM was the aftermath of the protests. Some of the protests included arson, vandalism and looting businesses, and this resulted in two billion dollars of damages nationwide from May 26th to June 8th. It was the most costly period of civil unrest in U.S. history.
“They smashed in the windows, smashed every glass piece we have, took a ton of product, defaced the property,” Elliot Broaster, a Philadelphia business owner said after his store was looted by protesters on May 31, 2020.
Anti-woke media about this is evident. In an Instagram reel by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, posted in late 2024, he insists on referring to BLM as riots, not protests. This was targeted at the aforementioned violent aspect of BLM.
Still, key information is being left out. It is easy to think that BLM was taken too far but, between May 25th and June 4th, 89% of BLM demonstrations were non-violent. By the end of the summer, that metric had increased to 96%. In most cases, the violence was not caused by the general protesters, but by extremists who took advantage of the chaos to spur more of it.
Another criticism of wokeness has to do with LGBTQ+ rights, specifically trans women, and their desire to be treated as biological women.
An example of this is Lia Thomas, a biological male who transitioned to a female in college. She competed as a woman in the 2022 NCAA Division 1 championship where she won the 500 yard freestyle and tied for fifth place in the 200 yard freestyle with University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines. PragerU is a conservative non-profit advocacy group. In a PragerU episode from March 2024, Gaines talked about how when she and Thomas tied in the 200 freestyle, the NCAA official insisted that since there was only one trophy for fifth, Thomas would get it in person while Gaines would receive hers in the mail later on. When asked for a reason, the official told Gaines: “We’ve been advised that when photos are being taken, it’s crucial that Lia is holding the trophy.” Gaines says that NCAA’s insistence on giving Thomas the trophy was unjustly prioritizing Thomas’s desire to be treated as a woman over her rights, and biological reality. Thomas’s incentive to be fully treated as a woman was furthered in 2024 when she made a legal case against World Aquatics regarding their restrictions on transgender athletes competing in elite women’s races, including the Olympics.
Gaines has taken to social media to speak about how she feels that Thomas “stole” the 500, and that it was belittling for Thomas to get the 200 trophy for no logical reason. However, some medical organizations advocate for trans women to be included in women’s sports saying that hormone therapy reduces testosterone levels and muscle mass, aligning trans women’s physical characteristics closely with women.
Has wokeness gone too far? At the most extreme level, yes, wokeness has gone too far. Protesting police brutality does not justify two billion dollars in damages. But, it is important to remember that these damages were caused by a very small minority. Also, trangender people make up less than 10% of the LGBTQ+ community.
With all of this in mind, the issues of a spreading “woke-mind virus” and are no more than propaganda.
