I posted this tweet when watching Channel 4 News last night.
Why should someone be allowed to describe people who believe in racial equality as ‘members of a mob’ on @Channel4News ?
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) March 10, 2021
The comment made actually referred to a ‘woke mob'. It was made by a person from the right wing think tank Policy Exchange whose name I did not catch. It was not picked up on by the interviewer, Jackie Long, who stuck with the Meghan Markle story to which it, apparently, related.
Except it did not. That's because whatever else she is doing I very much doubt Meghan Markle is seeking to destroy the British institutions of government, which seemed to be the claim.
Nor are those who are woke a mob. The Cambridge Dictionary defines woke when used as an adjective as:
aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality:
By this definition I am most certainly woke. The government and every employer has a legal obligation to be so. Every major wisdom tradition is, of course, also woke by this definition. Quite explicitly, it's simply not possible to claim to be Christian and not be so. Loving your neighbour as yourself, the most basic rule upon which it is based, requires it.
So what was being said by this person, and Policy Exchange, for whom they were speaking?
Are they suggesting that government should be built on the basis of racism and inequality? I hope not, but cannot be sure.
Are they also suggesting, as very definitely followed from the language used, that a woke mob is threatening the institutions of state?
Are they also suggesting that this mob be stopped?
And are they suggesting in that case that the power of the state be used to defend institutions rhat are racist and promote inequality?
If so, why?
And if they are, institutions promoting racism and inequality what is the reason for defending them from the mob?
And what should happen to this supposed mob, fur having the temerity to stand up for rights enshrined in the UN Declaration on Human Rights, which we signed up to long ago?
What is going on here?
And why is such language unchallenged, as if to imply that to support human rights places you outside society, as it would seem Policy Exchange might wish?
I refuse to be described as part of a mob for defending very basic human rights.
I condemn those who describe the protection of such rights as the work of a mob.
I fear that if this continues it will not end well. This was the deliberate use of language to create ‘otherness' to which blame is then attached. They did it to Europeans and it worked. Now they are doing it to us. They think it will work. Worry.
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“woke” is the new “leftie”
Except in the states, where “woke leftie” is currently in use.
It’s the new phraseology used to direct voter ire at those not currently fiddling £22 billion into their friends pockets….misdirection in fact. Create enough confusion and sneak along under the social radar, so to speak.
I agree with you JohnM.
‘Woke’ has been with us for ages – the original ‘woke folk’ were the Liberals who started to question inequality and the condition of the poor and working class in this country and out of that came the original ‘woke party’ – the Labour Party and the working class ‘woke’ who were enabled to believe in and fight for something better.
I also would class ‘woke’ people as those who know their history. Timothy Snyder is one of those and so was Milan Kundera who said (and I’ll never tire of saying it):
‘
‘Mans struggle against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting’.
‘Woke’ people are those who live that struggle on behalf of their fellow men and women everyday and are sensitive to spotting the return of fascism and ignorance and attempts by the powerful to divide and conquer society.
If you get called ‘woke’ wear it as a badge of pride.
Why?
Because its better than walking around being fucking asleep obeying the MSM and voting Tory – that’s why.
‘Woke’? Count me in!
End of.
You’re in
I support what you say above, but if we’re going to challenge language, can I ask if by ‘wisdom tradition’ you mean religion? If so, why not say? Or say ‘faith tradition’? I think it fair to say that faith is a necessary part of religion; calling it ‘wisdom tradition’ ascribes it a quality which it does not necessarily possess.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and views which help me to cut across the indoctrination of our rotten establishment – the lies, the deceit – which I see so many people around me subscribe to.
(I read, “The Joy of Tax” a few years ago.)
Roger.
A wisdom tradition is not necessarily a religious one. Western religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, are religions of revelation. In Buddhism, the emphasis is more on exploration. It does have religious aspects. Although both involve metaphysical concepts, the word religion comes from a root which can be translated as a connection or link. Religion is the means of access to the numinous or direct experience of the transcendent. It has buildings, priesthood, writings, rules about sex, food or dress, rituals, codes of ethics which are mandatory. It can give meaning to one’s life or oppress it. We can all think of examples. But it is rarely a direct experience. (some would claim that the experience is an illusion without objective reality but for purposes of definition, I will accept the distinction)
There are some individuals or groups which explore and make their own morality, usually based on reason and compassion. It is not top down as in formal religion where, for example, the Pope declares a doctrine when he, speaks ex cathedra.
There, are exploratory aspects to the western religions. The mystical traditions go beyond doctrine, and the mystics of all three religions speak in similar ways.
The twp categories may over lap but I would suggest the distinction Richard makes is a reasonable one.
I am a Quaker
I prefer the term wisdom tradition as being more respectful of a wide range of traditions of value
One does not have to be a Christian to be woke,
Religion is another thing which, by now, should be well past it’s use-by date.
I disagree
Ian, a very enlightening summary. We might also like to look at the “wisdom traditions” of other peoples, such as those we now call “indigenous”, like the first peoples in Australia and the Americas, many of whom seemed to have a very distinctive philosophy of where humans fit into nature and the cosmos, quite different to Western traditions which see humans as dominating nature.
Whoever was making the comments on C4 has been given the green light by Tory politicians such as May, Patel and of course Johnson to “other” any group they find distasteful and threatening. We’ve been here before in Europe, but of course it couldn’t happen here – unless we elect a government that despises political traditions based on “good faith” and makes its own rules as it goes along to suit its own purposes.
It is just another daily state sanctioned emotional button pushing using the willing MSM .
These buttons are bred in over generations.
Here for example is the most substantial ‘news’ on our Covid world war, through the inevitable Russophobic button pushing Guardian today – one needs to read it carefully to find the pearls.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/russias-sputnik-v-covid-vaccine-gaining-acceptance-in-europe
It is the vaccine news I have been waiting for and I presume so has the EU (well the non-aligned with big Pharma part of it anyway)
The Groans auto snideness against any Russia story (unless it’s to do with Russian toadies who are over here buying up everything with their loot) has to admit the Lancet study.
‘ deemed the vaccine to be safe and offers about 92% protection against Covid-19.’
92 PERCENT! That is better than 9/10.
Better than AZ? Better than most others? And better than the German born Pfizer new tech? Because it is stable and safe with trusted vectors , easier to make, transport and administer — and probably at a fraction of the cost.
With that news I predict a return to normality by the end of the year!
I been saying for the last year — I’ll have a vaccine when it is safe AND proved and will happily order my Russian/Chinese versions through AliBaba, if Amazon gets tricksy, along with my EU vaccine passport — which will return some normality back to some of us who are used to being in a Europe free of nonsensical BrexShittery.
To be frank, what would you expect from an organisation like Policy Exchange? It produces as much right wing nonsense as titles like the Sun or the Mail. And it’s about as honest and trustworthy. And as usual with today’s right, it is a prime practicioner of the tactic of accusing others of the thing it itself is most guilty of.
So the government is trying to bring in legislation to give the police ever greater powers to stop protests and dissent; and more legislation to allegedly ‘protect’ monuments from being attacked or defaced, and to enable people to sue universities that turn them down as speakers. All because there is a supposed ‘cancel’ culture.
Whereas, as the above show, it is the right who going all out to suppress free speech, freedom of association, and freedom of thought.
Well said, Richard. I stand full square with what you have to say here.
Culture Wars is the name of the game, and “woke” is the latest verbal bogeyman used to drive the fears of those in the grip of bigotry, prejudice and selfishness. In this connection I urge anyone of a philosophical bent to read the magisterial book “Conservatism” by Ted Honderich, which finally reduces it’s subject to that one word – ” selfishness”.
Such people are the bedrock of contemporary Conservatism on both sides of the Atlantic.
Thank goodness their demographic is gradually shrinking.
Therein lies the explanation for their current behaviour. They really do feel under threat.
And a certain ex-MEP, and ex-political-party-leader (several times), Mr Farage, has announced that he has departed from political life to “fight the woke agenda”
So there must be money in being un-woke..
Paul Embery in his book ‘Despised’ seems to suggest that Labour should throw its lot in with the ‘anti-woke’ brigade to win back the Red Wall etc. ‘Woke’ has diluted traditional ‘working class issues’ as far as he is concerned and alienated it from these voters.
Personally I think he’s talking absolute crap. The Labour Party has always been and should always be a safe haven for those seeking social justice – whoever they are.
What has destroyed the Labour party is that it is not much different from the Tories these days. It has a long history of ceding ground to capitalism and we must credit the voter for seeing this. It is now the British Democrat party (its rough equivalent in the U.S.).
All Embery is doing is saying that Labour should seek to satisfy people who are angry and hopeless and who enjoy seeing others become as poor and frustrated as they are and are simply fodder for right wing wind up merchants.
No thanks.
You don’t sell the book
Crap is not a strong recommendation
There is a national movement that fights and campaigns for social justice and against inequality. It’s called the Labour party. But, because it departed from the path of righteousness, as defined by the anti-capitalist, anti-western left and the purveyors of identity politics during the Tony Blair era, many have decided to campaign noisily and ostentatiously outside and separately from the party.
I wouldn’t call them a mob, but the most prominent among them brook no compromise and their often extreme views repel large swathes of voters who might otherwise be well-disposed to their advocacy of social justice and their opposition to inequality.
Oh come on Paul….that’s over the top
There are many reasons not to want to campaign for Labour and to work elsewhere
The only way to make changes that will promote prosperity and well-being, advance social justice and reduce inequality is by making laws using the democratic process. Roy Jenkins understood this in the ’60s when he promoted and secured the enactment of some key social legislation that actually came ahead of and then drove major changes in public opinion. Tony Blair also understood this – even if he eventually lost the plot.
Those who support the right and centre-right have a dominant national political organisation that advances and protects their interests. It’s called the Tory party. It may be a broad church and it may include numerous lobbies and pressure groups which are often at odds with each other, but if any one of these looks like damaging the party’s ability to secure or retain power – or threatens to siphon off some of its core support – it will be crushed by any and all means available (even to the extent of damaging the interests of the country in the case of Brexit and UKIP).
Look and learn.
I have Paul
But this feels like an analysis from a past era
You are perfectly free to dismiss my contentions as being from a past era, but the functioning of the democratic process, in terms of electing MPs and drafting and enacting legislation, also comes from a past era. And, however much you and others might wish to change this, it will be achieved only by electing a sufficient number of MPs who are bound by manifesto commitments to make the necessary changes.
The coalition that Joe Biden has assembled in the US looks very much to me like something from a past era – but it is focused on tackling modern crises. (See Adam Tooze’s excellent op-ed in the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/11/green-new-deal-labour-left-politics)
A diversity of opinion and views on the left is very welcome and perfectly healthy. One wouldn’t want it any other way – and it simply couldn’t be any other way. People are free – and should be free – to campaign on the issues of most concern to them. And it obviously doesn’t require everyone to be a signed up member of the Labour party. But the sheer venom expressed by the anti-capitalist, anti-western left, the purveyors of identity politics and climate extremists towards MPs representing large swathes of Labour voters – and towards anyone promoting moderate progressive incremental policies that are intended to convince a majority of voters to consent to what will be radical changes in how we organise society and the economy – not only damages the left, but it repels millions of voters who would otherwise be persuadable. And it hands arsenals of ammunition to the Tory press either to keep these voters in their camp or to discourage them from supporting Labour.
Rafael Behr (also in the Guardian recently) put it well: “Winning is [the Tories’] business; feuding is for pleasure. With Labour, it is often the other way round.”
As a disillusioned Labour member, I have come to think that the Labour party is a desert for the development of new ideas. On one side, are those who know they are right already, so that any new idea must be wrong. Others can see the merit of a new idea, but believe that to win power, they must appeal to those outside the party and new thinking is a vote loser.
This is why people like Richard are so valuable. As his ideas start to look popular outside the party, Labour may just begin to adopt them.
I have long been persuaded that thinking takes place outside political parties and then moves into them
I have tried to review Embery’s book on ‘you know where’ twice and it has been refused. I’m going to try again. It’s a dangerous proposition he is making. And of all people that most failed of ‘political advisors’ Nick Timothy endorses it!!
Read it if only to find out that Labour is the party of no ideas (the Tories are the party of bad ideas) and also how fascism is getting a grip on this country.
Embery is a fireman by trade, yet all he wants to do is stoke up fire.
George Orwell said something a long the lines of:
‘So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don’t even know that fire is hot’.
The great man is spot on.
Why are these dark money funded lobbyists allowed on TV so much to dictate to us the narrative of their paymasters?
I’ve decided to adopt a personal motto: Never knowingly unwoke.
When a party leader is chosen in spite of, and probably because of, the fact that he is a yob of the best Bullingdon boy tradition, lies as a matter of course, has no smidgen of moral principle, takes everything, however important, as a joke and has no concern for the welfare of anyone but himself, it should hardly be surprising if the people and even institutions around him have the same despicable attitude.