Crazy, Thriving

In August, Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian noted that United States Representative Alexandria-Cortez in an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl

“Woke 1 was crazy,” she told Karl, quoting her friend, New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, also a democratic socialist, who used that phrase in May when he was called out on social media for once posting that the next speaker of the New York City Council should not be a cisgender white man.

As Karl pressed Ocasio-Cortez — “You briefly supported the idea of defunding the police” — she wriggled.

“During this time,” she said, “especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton window… And I think that the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place.” (The Overton window refers to the range of ideas and policies that are broadly acceptable to the public at any given time.)

Abcarian pointed out that among pundits, “some were offended that she seemed to be laughing off an important struggle. Some demanded contrition for broken careers and shattered lives.”

Nonetheless, virtually everyone assumed that (for the time being) “woke” was over, at least as one of its main proponents, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, saw it.

Surprise! ESPN reported

The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light.

 "The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments," the team said in a social media statement Thursday announcing Bell's dismissal. "Social media posts made by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are in clear violation of team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations. Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster."

Among the insensitive comments, as found by a reporter for KGW in Portland, were Bell saying he was "not racist" but "Asian people piss me off" and a number of misogynistic posts, including him shouting out "big girls" and "closet whores." The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old.

Oh, dear Lord, that was 14 years ago. Braden was only 15 years old.

"Woke" is not over; not by a long shot.  It has served nearly everyone's purpose to claim that it has ended.  The left, such as Ocasio-Cortez, wants to reassure the right and the center, so as not to alarm and alert them; the right wants to take a victory lap.

Every time you hear someone say "they" when they clearly mean "he" or "she," you know woke is thriving. The cultural left has been arguing tht there are not merely two genders (sexes) and began several years ago defaulting to "they," and the mainstream has largely followed suit. 

Queried on use of illegal drugs, then-governor George W. Bush of Texas would typically answer "when I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible".  The clever response would typically shut down questioning.

That reflected a failure of journalists who were talking to a guy who would become the 43rd President of the USA. However, it was understandable because it reflected a sane reality. When an individual is young, he (especially a "he") does things that he would not do when older. 

Moreover, that was the explanation for some very bad behavior.  Bell evidently made some very bad statements.  And obnoxiousness which was O.K. for a presidential candidate- Bush's remark satisfied almost everyone- is now not O.K. for a sports broadcaster. 

It should be.  Although there was scant, and insufficient, scrutiny of the past actions of the 2000 G.O.P. presidential candidate, people do grow out of things. (Bush, for instance, has not been an active alcoholic in decades.) His past was accepted not only because of that but also because, to a degree, that's what is done by young men, a message that GEICO pushed in a series of commercials:

 

Share |