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Michael Gove: ‘Woke’ is too nice a word for it
The minister says the term trivialises a powerful and destructive force
Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, today warned that radical social justice activism and identitarianism are causes of major division in British society. Speaking in Westminster this afternoon, Gove went on to explain that he did not, however, like to use the word ‘woke’ to describe these divisions:
At Right-of-centre think tank Onward’s ‘Future of Conservatism’ event, the minister cited institutions which are both under attack and unsure of their own importance, such as the police, the heritage sector and the education system. “Underlying all these problems,” he said, “is the quest for community and the question of authority.” He pointed to the arguments of Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who has compared the identitarian movement to a “new authoritarianism”:
The Onward event was geared towards generating a new agenda for those committed to protecting and celebrating the tradition and national pride behind Conservative thought, and Gove’s keynote speech was directed at those who, in his words, “are concerned by identity trumping ideas and arguments, who see language forever being policed as a thoughtcrime”. He lamented that these people were “derided as ‘culture warriors’”, insisting that “it’s the radical social change activists who want to identify and magnify divisions; they’re the people who want to tear down and transform, who demand repentance and self-abasement. Where they bring discord, I want to see harmony.”
Gove, who has previously held Cabinet positions at Education and Justice, argued:
A portion of his speech was devoted to giving an overview of the history of the radical Left, and how its advocates had shifted their focus from the emancipation of the working class to the championing of marginalised identity groups, as a consequence of the “collapse of state socialism” and the “spread of prosperity across the Western world”. The aim behind calls to decolonise curricula and museums is “to delegitimise nationhood and national loyalties,” Gove said, “to make any traditions or affections seem acts of aggression, to uproot the settled and familiar and to make way for a brave new world.” Considering the attractions and pitfalls of this worldview, he claimed:
By way of a solution Gove suggested, with reference to the debate around gender self-identification, that “we need to develop a response which is both sophisticated and robust, nuanced but authoritative. We need to be clear about an objective scientific truth in human biology. Emotion can’t change your chromosomes.”
Good stuff, Gove is a very effective speaker on this kind of thing. A great place to start would be to stop funding left wing organisations that are pretending to be charities.
Yes, conservative politicians like Gove, Badenoch and others deliver sound commentary but need to wield the axe against those who have successfully captured so many of our institutions.
And yet they’ve spent 13 years feeding this beast. Why trust them now?
Precisely, a ‘complete waste of rations’……….all of them!
Ahhh … Gove, bed pans in the west wing.. you can go now…
Minister identifies “horses bolting” as “fundamental cause of all these open stable doors we see around us today” at think-tank event. Serious People in audience nod sagely and reflect on how wrong it is that people (not those in the audience of course; people who certainly wouldn’t get invited to respectable events like this) are lambasted as anti-horse-bolting lunatics when really they just want Something To Be Done to firm up the government’s bolted-horse-chasing policy before the next election. Otherwise, where will the money for the next such event come from?
Gove would not know a bolting horse from a hovercraft’s windscreen wiper, but of course he would were he to be an under groom, the sort of job that him and his ilk were put on earth for….
13 years ago the beast didn’t exist in its current form and the rights issues at that time were more balanced and worthy of support. Things have spiraled out of control over the last 5-10 years and the monster has been feeding itself on the indifferent and apathetic general public regarding such issues. Any suggestions as to who else would you trust?
All this woke stuff has come in under their watch? They are reverting to their usual tactic of telling you what you want to hear just before an election. They will turn around and spit in their voters faces again once the polls close. Never trust the Tories.
“By way of a solution Gove suggested, with reference to the debate around gender self-identification, that “we need to develop a response which is both sophisticated and robust, nuanced but authoritative. We need to be clear about an objective scientific truth in human biology. Emotion can’t change your chromosomes.” ”
It is precisely such an approach that the language and tactics of extremist identity politics is designed to defeat.
You’re right. The negotiating strategy, if one can call it that, of the identitarian left is first to refuse to develop any form of dialectic and secondly to resort to slogans and unsubstantiated statements e.g. “free speech is hate speech”, “trans women are women”, “black lives matter” etc.
They are self-evidently stupid (defined as in the wilful disregard of available knowledge, evidence or facts), and as Bonhoeffer outlined in his theory of stupidity it is not possible to rationally engage with the stupid:
“Against stupidity we have no defence. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts that contradict personal prejudices can simply be disbelieved — indeed, the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
The only correct response is ‘No’. Don’t even give them a foot in the door. But too late.
I prefer NO embellished with savage vitriol.
He’s right… but too little too late. After having a huge majority that could have actually tackled this, the tories are now going to get trounced at the next election (as they deserve) and the rot is only going to accelerate under Labour. All our institutions are captured by the new authoritarians and the next generation are completely indoctrinated.
The legacy media always talks about the “right wing culture war” but the truth is the tories were so useless that the authoritarians had already won the culture war before the tories even knew/cared that it was happening.
I propose the use of another four letter word, also beginning with “w”….and ending in “k”.
You’re on form today, Katharine!
I’m grumpy at home with the tail end of covid, that’s probably got something to do with it, I’ve got steam to let off!
Oh you’ve had a cold. Poor you
The way to disarm the “woke” Jacobins is to ridicule and mock their self-identification excesses. My progressivist brother, like Bill Maher and others, is fed up with the whole “woke” Marxist charade. So, he quipped:
“I self-identify as a pirate. I’m going in next week for affirmation surgery. They are going to remove my left eye and my right leg below the knee. I’m still debating a hook, however, because getting one would definitely make using a keyboard more difficult.”
We need to take these Leftists seriously enough to embarrass them openly in public. Bring on the satire!
I would do the pirate surgery and take the hook if a ship and crew are included?
It would be a hate crime not to include the ship actually.
Sign me up.
Good speech. Can the Tories now please be more like DeSantis, and actually undertake practical action to defeat the woke skum.
And find someone to provide the tactics such as Christopher Rufo.
OK. While in power for 13 years Gove and his chums have done nothing to defund the actors responsible for pushing this insanity, nearly all of whom are directly or indirectly on the government’s payroll.
The woke are increasingly being called out on their BS. Their days are numbered
The knight who slays dragons weeps when the last dragon is dead, and seeks dragons that aren’t.The modern wokester …
Gove always eloquent and worth listening to, even if one disagrees. He constructs a number of excellent phrases here that the Article highlights that I’ll certainly be hanging on to.
In general concur with the thrust of his argument and as probably someone moderate centre/soft left I’m sure not alone in having firm reservations about the growth in identity politics.
Gove refers to needing to find better language and descriptors rather than just a broad-brush deployment of ‘woke’. He’s right. The use of the term ‘woke’ is loosely chucked around ill defined. One suspects a majority of us would agree with a core of the anti-woke thesis, but beyond this core the anti-wokers can deploy it against any grievance they might have about literally anything. That’s lazy, but also counter productive.
The Hard left can use terms like Facist etc in exceptionally poor ways. Always been a real bug bear of mine. It’s an attempt to stain a viewpoint as toxic and not requiring consideration. It comes across as ‘studenty’ too (not a word but you’ll know what I mean). Anti-wokers should be cautious about committing the same error.
Oh, they’ll commit the same error. When the pendulum swings back, it always goes too far. It’s a law of nature. which abhors a lack of noisy, stupid argument as much as it does a vacuum.
Let’s be clear about Gove. He said about Covid vaccines and mandates “This virus doesn’t discriminate. No one is safe until everyone is safe”. This was a lie when he said it and has clearly been proven so (and I believe he knew it to be so). Average age of death from (with) Covid is 82+, higher than average mortality. Until he acknowledges this lie, anything he says is not worth the paper it’s written on
Unfortunately the majority of the so-called Conservative Party are blissfully unconcerned about the havoc that indentitarianism and radical social justice activism has wreaked upon our institutions and beyond. Or they just don’t care, so taken up as they are with their free-marketism to notice that, outside of their bubble, society is crumbling.
Excellently put by Michael Gove.
His party/Government is the useful idiots. The Tories cant fight the “woke” because that’s what they are!
Sorry Gove. I can’t get past your public pronouncement about Covid “no one is safe until everyone is safe”. The IFR data was clear from early April 2020. That statement was a lie and I have no doubt that an intelligent man such as Gove knew this. Yet still he lied.
He’s only now joining the culture war because he sees a leadership opportunity in taking such a position. The man is a political snake of the highest order.
Sorry. Too little too late
This is the lockdown fanatic right? And we are paying attention to him because…?
What a truly ghastly and odious little verbose jumped up clerk this man is?
Be a little easier on yourself Nicky
Today on UnHerd:
Today on UnHerd
10th December 2023
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