Summary
Woke: Laurie Taylor talks to Susan Neiman, philosopher and director of the Einstein Forum about her analysis of the concept of ‘woke’. Contrary to popular assumption, she argues, it is not a set of attitudes which belong on the left of the political spectrum, but is rather an attack on progressive, universal values and the Enlightenment.
They're joined by Huw Davies, lecturer in digital education at the University of Edinburgh, who offers a dissection of the British ‘war on woke’, suggesting that it is an intensive ideological campaign that is mobilising reactionary tropes within mainstream British political discourse.
Producer: Jayne Egerton
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of |
| 0:07.0 | Happiness Podcast. |
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| 0:16.1 | And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley. |
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| 0:44.7 | BBC.co.uk. Hello it's not easy being woke no wonder there is now even a support group for terminally woke young people. |
| 0:56.0 | All of the young people in this room are ruining their lives by being overly virtuous. |
| 1:01.0 | That's actually a micro-aggression to say young people because it carries |
| 1:04.9 | subconscious bias towards the elderly. Actually what you're doing is denying agency to |
| 1:08.8 | the elderly which is arguably much worse. This is what I'm talking about you see it's a |
| 1:12.4 | slippery slope. One minute |
| 1:14.2 | you're carrying a reusable water bottle, fine and the next minute you're |
| 1:18.1 | arguing that water is racist. Oh my God is water racist? No, no, it's just an example. Right, how did you guys get on with the homework that I set you? |
| 1:26.7 | Do you mean having to watch that old people sitcom? It's called Friends Lily and you were supposed to watch it and enjoy it. |
| 1:33.0 | Well, I try but I find it deeply problematic. |
| 1:36.0 | Why? |
| 1:37.0 | Well, there's the homophobia, the transphobia, the fatism and the slut-shaming. |
| 1:41.0 | You can't go through your 20s worrying about every aspect of everything you have to pick your battles and just remember that it doesn't really matter because by the time you hit your 30s |
... |
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