THE WOKE NIGHTMARE

‘Could the woke nightmare be coming to an end?’ asked Daniel Hannan, in a recent article in the Daily Mail. He believed that there were ‘glimmers of hope’. He cited three recent issues to support this: the legal victory by the Michaela School in London allowing a ban on religious ceremonies and public praying at the school; the Cass report which highlighted the reckless treatment of those children claiming to be trans; and that the Tory culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, had written to sporting authorities to urge them to ban physically male athletes from competing in women’s sports.

Daniel Hannan then asked: ‘Are we finally seeing a backlash against the identity politics that has rendered our country ill-tempered, intimidated and inane?’ In reply to his own question, he counselled caution. He correctly pointed out that there had been ‘no let-up in the anti-White bias that is widespread in our public sector and in universities’ and referred to the ‘preposterous demands for reparations’. He further commented that when overreach of moral outrage occurs, there may be a limited backlash, but not one sufficient to end the madness.

Daniel Hannan then examined the above three issues in turn, before saying: ‘Should we expect a wider pushback against some of the dottier woke doctrines? On past evidence, we shouldn’t hold our breath.’

No we should not. Firstly, it has been the Tory government that has been pushing a politically-correct agenda (the term ‘woke’ is slang for ‘political correctness’ – the mechanism for the imposition of cultural Marxism) and the Tory commitment to now opposing the creed is threadbare. Even many, if not the majority, of Tory MPs are believers in that creed.

Secondly, front and centre of political correctness are the policies of mass immigration and race war politics. As Daniel Hannan himself pointed out, the ‘anti-White bias’ is widespread and remains unchallenged. The Tories remain fully committed to the policy of mass immigration on a scale the country has never witnessed before.

It would be delusional to believe that we have witnessed a turning of the tide regarding political correctness. Not least because the Tories lack the will to do what is necessary. For example, they refuse to defund those groups actively engaged in promoting the creed with its many aspects and concepts. As Wayne Mapp (New Zealand’s former ‘Political Correctness Eradicator’) pointed out, political correctness is ‘embedded in public institutions, which have a legislative base’ and ‘have coercive powers’, and that ‘It is this third aspect that gives political correctness its authority’. Consequently:

‘Simply railing against political correctness will not do. There needs to be a clear political programme to reverse it; to remove the viewpoints and language of the politically correct from the institutions of government. Unless there is such a programme, the public who are intensely irritated about political correctness, are unlikely to believe anything will materially change, other than the most obvious examples of government silliness. There needs to be a commonsense strategy that deals with the central issue; what to do about those state institutions that foster the ideas of political correctness.’

Sniggering about whether or not certain Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs know the difference between a man and a woman does not constitute opposition to political correctness. It is simply drawing attention to some of its sillier manifestations.

At the end of his article, Daniel Hannan tried to blur the issue into being one of a choice between authoritarianism and a free society:

‘The disquieting truth is almost every civilisation has been based on a measure of identity politics, meaning some groups are favoured over others. In the West, around 300 years ago, we did something quite exceptional. We decided freedom trumped birth, caste or tradition. That achievement was more precarious than we realised. The liberal ideal, that every able-minded adult is equal before the law and that personal autonomy should be paramount, has given way many times before to the fierce appeal of authoritarianism … The best thing we can do is to educate our children, to teach them that open societies are happier, fairer and richer than collectivist societies where the cancel culture trumps freedom of expression.’

Daniel Hannan is trying to frame the issue, and hence dodge the need for an unswerving opposition to cultural Marxism, as being some general lurch towards group rights, which is best countered by extolling the virtues of individual liberties. That is hopeless. Nationhood matters.

As others have asserted, liberal theories of individual liberties are no match for cultural Marxism. In a fight between liberals and cultural Marxists, the cultural Marxists will win – and are winning. If we back the liberals, then we lose.