This has not been a good month for wokeness in the United States.
Early in November came off year elections. They indicated that the electorate is becoming familiar with the policies the woke produce, and they do not like what they see. That even in some very woke places like Seattle where a Republican of all people defeated a woker than thou Democrat to become City Attorney.
The most notable elections were in Virginia where a Republican political neophyte defeated a past Democrat governor. Critical Race Theory and parental control in the public schools was a big issue that divided the two. The Republican Youngkin won and Republicans took control of the legislature in spite of Democrat McAuliffe bringing in any number of big guns to support him, including Obama. And remember Virginia was becoming reliably blue. Republicans hadn’t won a gubernatorial election there since 2009 or a presidential election since 2004.
Then came the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and verdict. It was surely the most watched trial in years. And many saw that what the woke and “news” media allies were telling us about Rittenhouse was utterly false. (That is about as nice as I can put it.) It was also hard to miss that many woke think that when their mobs come after us, we, especially if we happen to be white, should not defend ourselves but just take our beatings even if a woke comrade is aiming a gun right at your face as was the case in Rittenhouse’s predicament. One of the prosecutors even said as much. A man who defends himself is a racist White Supremacist or something.
The video of the Kenosha street confrontation is surely one of the most watched videos of the century. That, too, put the lie to the tales the woke were telling.
Many woke beclowned themselves in their often unhinged response after the verdict as well. Some, now including students at Arizona State, doubled down on vilifying Rittenhouse, a teenager who was trying to help and ended up having to defend himself. These doubled down on displaying how despicable they are. The whole episode is a Psalm 9: 15, 16 moment. Rittenhouse, on the other hand, showing more courage than I would, had a long interview with Tucker Carlson. Millions saw for themselves he is no villain but a polite even likeable earnest young man.
In short, in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and verdict, many saw just how full of . . . manure the woke are. Their credibility may never recover.
Two days after the verdict came the horrific mass murder at the Waukesha Christmas parade. The alleged murderer is BLM supporter Darrell Brooks. We do not yet know what his motives were though his social media footprint is disturbing. But we do know he was enabled by progressive Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm following the woke policy of low to no bail. Brooks had just been released on a bail of only $1000 even though he had a long and violent rap sheet. The comparison with Rittenhouse’s $2 million bail is striking.
So it is already clear applied wokeness enabled mass murder on the Main Street of Waukesha. That may become even more clear as more comes out in the coming weeks and months.
Not nearly as tragic but also provoking outrage is this month’s waves of mass shoplifting from organized gangs that are plaguing especially the San Francisco area. This, too, is enabled by the applied wokeness of District Attorneys who are soft on criminals, such as San Francisco’s DA Chesa Boudin.
So November began with voters surprising many, including me, with multiple rejections of woke policies. Then millions upon millions closely watched events in Wisconsin, the Kyle Rittenhouse trial and the Waukesha Christmas Parade mass murder, and saw for themselves what an utter pack of deadly lies wokeness is.
I therefore think it is possible that this month may mark the beginning of a decline for the influence of wokeness. Voters in a number of unlikely places already let us know they are fed up with it. And the events of the last half of the month have surely made people of common sense that much more fed up with it.
We shall see. Since I write predominantly for a church audience I will add, as I wrote just after the elections, that churches and church leaders who have enabled and promoted Critical Theory and related woke ideologies now have all the more reason to reconsider and repent. It was always wrong. Now it is becoming more and more repellant and rejected. It has become an even more sure way to drive people away. The Woke Church is on the way to becoming as much a joke and a byword as the “Emerging Church” is now.
