Spiked
May 5, 2021
-Spiked
Wokeness is a completely regressive phenomenon. It is censorious and divisive. But more than anything, wokeness is just boring. From comedy to literature to music, it saps the energy and the fun out of life as it desparately attempts to destroy anything that might offend or provoke.
Rock legend Roger Daltrey clearly recognises this. Last week he launched a much-needed attack on the ‘woke generation’ in an interview on The Zane Lowe Show.
‘It’s becoming so absurd now with… the woke generation. It’s terrifying, the miserable world they’re going to create for themselves. I mean, anyone who’s lived a life and you see what they’re doing, you just know that it’s a route to nowhere. Especially when you’ve lived through the periods of a life that we’ve had the privilege to. We’ve had the golden era. There’s no doubt about that.’
He’s right: we would all prefer the excitement and rebelliousness of culture in the 1970s to the stifling puritanism of modern wokeness. Heroes like Daltrey knew how to have fun and didn’t care who they offended. Today, artists have to tip-toe around to avoid upsetting the puritanical social-media mob.
We won’t get fooled into thinking wokeness is harmless or progressive. Let’s embrace the spirit of rockers like Daltrey and fight back against the oppressive, conformist culture of woke.
