Woken up

It has happened. I have been accused of the unpardonable sin. On Twitter. In my defence it was a sin of omission – something overlooked, rather than commission, something that I did wilfully. What was my sin I hear you ask?
I simply forgot to run my comments through the now ubiquitous “woke” filter and came out with what I thought to be a reasonable observation about female football commentators. More anon.
I am fascinated by the development of the fast growing anti-woke movement.
Its tactics seem to involve trolling social media on the look out for any posts or threads that suggest alternative, more inclusive views on issues such as equality, human rights and social justice. When such a thread is found, comments from group members mostly fall into a category I would describe as opinions stated as irrefutable facts - often introduced in general terms such as “everyone knows that…”… “ All the evidence points to…” .
In many cases members of “the movement” attack or diminish the person and not their comment.
Anyway back to my original sin. I had responded to what I perceived to be a sexist rant decrying any innate ability for female footballers to be able to serve as pundits or commentators during the world cup broadcasts. I merely offered my opinion that such a comment seemed to have no evidential basis and came rather from a comfort in retaining what we have been used to, - listening to retired male footballers turned pundits - rather than being open to embracing female voices. Well. I should have known better. I was being ridiculous, pushing women into roles that had always been rightly male. Women were ok to be involved as commentators on lower league games but not in serious competitions. The retort ended with the following comment “Sure what more could be expected from another snowflake with his woke notions. Next you will be saying women referees should be involved in the World Cup final!”
It is interesting to note that the phrase stay woke emerged in America in the 1930s, often referring to an awareness of the social and political issues affecting African Americans. By 2020, however, members of right wing groups in many Western countries were using the term woke, mostly in an ironic way, as an insult for various progressive movements such as Black Lives matter. What began life as a positive word, linked to a desire to advance rights of those on the margins has now morphed into a slur, synonymous with the term “woolly liberal” of my youth.
So, I proud to be woke, in its original meaning, as, for me at least, the concept originated 2000 years ago with a man who challenged the status quo to include others and through this, to make society more shared and equal.