Experts argue that Donald Trump’s ‘woke’ stance helped secure his re-election, and now, in Australia, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s battle against ‘wokeism’ is heating up.
Dutton claims it’s brainwashing young Australians and even making them “dumber.”
Is ‘woke’ just a buzzword used for political gain, or is it genuinely shaping our cultural landscape?
On Thursday morning’s episode of The Briefing, we sat down with Dr Bella d’Abrera and Dr Karen Stollznow to break it down.
The term ‘woke’ originated in the African-American community, originally meaning awareness of social injustices, particularly racial inequality.
However, in recent years, the term has taken on a more politicised meaning, with critics and supporters using it to describe a broad spectrum of progressive ideas, from gender equality to climate activism.
In Australia, Dutton has placed ‘wokeism’ front and centre in his political rhetoric, warning that progressive ideologies are overtaking traditional education in schools and undermining academic standards.
He argues that this “woke” agenda is causing harm to young Australians, distracting them from essential learning.
“There should be no woke ideology in the schools. If you want to do that in university in your linguistics department, that’s fine, but leave the children out of it,” Dr Abrera said.
“I’s not a small minority that is objecting to their children being taught. It’s a very basic thing for parents to not want their children, their three year olds, as is happening in Australia, to be taught that there’s no such thing as a little boy and a little girl. This is not conservatives being crazy.”
However, critics argue that Dutton’s portrayal of ‘wokeism’ as a threat is more about political distraction than a real concern about education.
“It’s just not about what’s being taught in school. That’s just alarmism and fear mongering,” Dr Stollznow said.
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