Why “waking up” becomes toxic | LGBTQ

In the West, the word “wake up” has become the lightning rod on both sides-a symbol of modern cultural wars.

But its origin is far from modern. It first appeared in the United States in the 1940s. It comes from the term “sober” and is used to describe people who have a good understanding of social injustices (especially racism). In its original use, it meant being vigilant against specific discrimination and systemic harm suffered by African Americans. Therefore, “waking up” means a person “waking up” from a deep sleep, just like the protagonist Neo in the movie of the same name after unplugging the power from the Matrix. Recently, it has been widely used as a slogan for various social movements, including LGBTQ issues, feminism, immigration, climate change, and marginalized communities.

But the widespread use of this term has led both the left and the right to weaponize it heavily, turning the once-popular creed into a toxic and divisive term, especially in Western countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other countries. . European countries. This toxicity is due in large part to the failure of activists to build the necessary alliances to instill the changes that activists are advocating.

This is a shame, because the inclusive and diverse messages that underpin the “awakening” should not be overlooked so easily.

So why has the word “waking up” become so divided? Troubles begin when campaigning is excessive, alienating moderate supporters. It’s easy to see how this happened. Examples include the overthrow of the statue of the wartime leader Winston Churchill-regarded by many in the West as a hero-or the company being “recommended” by the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall to stop using the term “mother”, which operates a “workplace” in the UK Equality Index”. For the general public, all these screams of political correctness have gone crazy.

Being awake also means that people who are not in the club are asleep, confused, or wrong. The judgment at this moment formed a dividing line, forcing the other party to adopt a defensive attitude, further deepening the argument. Moral superiority platforms have difficulty attracting skeptics, especially when wealthy and privileged activists who choose to awaken do not even follow their own standards, such as the celebrity Mrs. Emma Thompson, who flew across the world to participate in the extinction in London in 2019 against climate change. Rebel protest. This particular protest involved the blockade of bridges and roads in central London, including stopping ambulances. The public outrage was so great that it harmed their careers because it provided the impetus for new operations. The Police Act will restrict future protests. The noise level and time.

Another example is the heated debate about transgender rights and gender identity. Transgender people want to be accepted, including being recognized by the law as their desired gender. The UK has provided a gender recognition certificate, through which their legal gender can be changed, but they must pass time requirements and medical examinations. Many people in the transgender community consider this to be degrading. Therefore, transgender activists are working to reduce these checks to make it easier to legally change gender. These voices deserve to be heard. However, it is reasonable to listen to women’s voices. They are worried about what this might mean for women in private spaces, such as changing rooms, toilets, and more importantly, prisons and domestic violence shelters.

Unfortunately, the instinct of modern awakening seems to be to stop this argument. The famous Harry Potter writer JK Rowling found herself at the center of an awakening storm after liking Maya Fustat’s tweet. Fustat said on Twitter that “men are not women” after Unemployed in 2019. The response was immediate, with some accusing Forstater of “killing transgender people with her hatred” simply by expressing her views. Rowling wrote a touching article to explain her reasons for supporting Forstater. In it, she admitted that she had been in an abusive relationship, so she can understand why the single-sex space of disadvantaged women should be protected.

The British tabloid “The Sun” shamelessly seized this opportunity and conducted an interview on the front page of the person who abused Rowling. The headline was: I slapped JK. I don’t regret it. The wake-up response to Rowling’s article basically provided a platform for right-wing media to allow domestic abusers to gloat for his abuse.

The aforementioned Maya Forstater took her former employer, the Hillary Clinton-friendly international development think tank Global Development Center, headquartered in Washington, to an employment court and challenged the decision not to renew the contract. But it ruled that her views were “inconsistent with human dignity.” This was recently overturned after an appeal, and it was in line with the legal test that Forstater’s right to express opinions is protected by the English Equality Act. Therefore, she is protected by the law, but in the final analysis, she still lost her job.

Sober can also be closed for good reasons. In 2019, Canada’s oldest domestic violence shelter for women in Vancouver was deprived of funding from local authorities because it refused to accept transgender women (physically male). Perhaps the shelter should deal with this issue in a different way, because local authorities have won short-term victories in the name of “inclusiveness.” However, the paralysis of a basic service only means further fragmentation and long-term damage to the cause.

Some civil society institutions also seem to have become more radical, making even their initial supporters distraught. Simon Fanshawe, the pioneer of equal rights and founder of Stonewall, was denied by the charity he founded because it only emphasized women’s concerns about introducing self-identity for transgender people, indicating that the charity now only requires Strictly abide by its new level of awakening that focuses on gender ideology and a divided progressive agenda.

Social media has also raised the stakes. Offensive remarks used to lead to scolding by friends or enemies, but now people are only one tweet away from being “cancelled” (a relatively new term used to withdraw support for someone), which may lead to you Lost job or worse. Marion Millar, a “gender-critical” feminist and accountant, was arrested by Police Scotland earlier this month for tweeting her views. One of them was a photo of a feminist ribbon tied to a fence, which the complainant described as a lasso. Her tweet may be poorly worded and very offensive to some people, but she may now face up to 6 months in prison — the same maximum period as common assault charges against emergency responders — her self Children with autism may be taken away for care.

Some companies’ attempts to commercialize social movements and adopt social movements and their language have further devalued and downplayed the concept of awakening. In 2017, Pepsi-Cola launched a high-budget TV commercial featuring (rich and privileged) model Kendall Jenner as the protagonist, participating in mock protests, reminiscent of Black Lives Matter. In the advertisement, when she presented a can of Pepsi to a handsome policeman, the conflict between the protesters and the police was quickly resolved-amid applause and praise from the protesting crowd. The advertisement was criticized for monetizing social justice and despising the “Black People’s Fate” movement.

California’s McDonald’s celebrated International Women’s Day in 2018 and reversed their golden arch sign to W, sparking union anger at McDonald’s’ historical resistance to raising the minimum wage, given that U.S. labor statistics show that women account for nearly two-the country One-third of minimum wage earners. All this has led to an atmosphere of resentment, and now “waking up” may trigger rolling eyes, just like describing a progressive philosophy.

For a long time, individual social progress policies have won the support of everyone, even in conservative governments. The current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is often regarded by the left as a right-wing populist. He was actually one of the only five Conservative MPs who voted to repeal Article 28 in 2003, which prohibits local authorities from teaching or publishing. To “intentionally promote homosexuality.” The Conservative Party subsequently passed the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill in 2013, which is a major progress. Considering that the term has been weaponized, it is now difficult to imagine the same success if the movement is labeled as a “wake up” movement.

The challenge for social progress activists now is to ensure that the next priority-tackling climate change-is not just packaged as a striking project, otherwise the center-right and right-wing parties may be even less willing to join, just like what happened to climate change. The skeptical American Republican Party.

Without both sides listening, no systemic problem can be resolved. How can we allow people to participate in debates without blaming them for having different opinions? How can we create a common point of view without alienating another group? Where should we put the line between sincere misunderstandings from growing up experience and threatening hate crimes? These questions are not asked enough, let alone answered, but if we do ask them, we can make progress without having to say the word “wake up” again.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.