In today’s Herald, Neil Mackay offered his opinion on what he described as “anti-woke hysteria”. I welcomed this perspective as I have had difficulty in understanding what ‘woke’ really means, especially as it is a word that is generally used dismissively. Although Mackay’s piece focuses on recent descriptions of Dominic Raab, former Deputy PM, as a victim of ‘woke culture’, it also made me think of how this kind of ‘anti-woke’ response has become commonplace, especially on social media, when those in power want to defend their privileged position. Mackay’s piece began:
Mackay continued to say that the “hysteria” around woke has:
Although the mainstream press has a lot to answer for in this regard, the availability of unregulated social media provides easy opportunity for unhelpful and potentially toxic discourse. As Mackay says:
Sometimes it is uplifting to be reminded that most people don’t behave like this: