Woke weekly bullettin #21

Emanuele Mastrangelo and Enrico Petrucci

Intro. Is wokeism in withdrawal?

After a brief hiatus, the wokeshit's bulletin returns. In September, The Economist headlined America is becoming less “woke, an article based on a statistical analysis by the same publication on how interest in woke (or at least online searches) is in decline. Also associated with this headline were the DEI practices that seem to be in remission in some large corporations. There is Toyota dropping its sponsorship of LGBTetc. events, the cases of Harley Davidson (motorbikes), Jack Daniels (Whisky) and John Deer (agricultural machinery) who had stepped back or eliminated the DEI department within the company, partly because their traditional clientele of inclusivity cares little, and urban rainbow class members are unlikely to buy threshers and motorbikes. And even Microsoft fired a DEI team within the company in July, specifying that it is no longer as critical an element of the business as it was in 2020.

But is the woke really in decline? There are actually two elements to consider. In the end it is a way to save money on non-productive divisions, which shareholders always like. And above all, in the United States we are close to the presidential election round, and therefore the same democrats for some are moving in a less woke manner.

But if the woke is simply less talked about, and a few lucrative corporate Diversity & Inclusion positions are cancelled to improve the quarterly results, the woke is still there. It is here to stay as per the title of the essay in the book Woke – Cancel culture – Oicofobia.

Demonstrating the excellent health of wokeism, the wokeshit never lacks.

Italia: laboratorio per bambin* trans e gender creative

In Italy the event ‘Workshop for trans and gender creative children aged 5 to 14’ made headlines. The event's poster stated ‘The research has received the approval of the ethics committee of the University of Roma Tre’. The event brought a long trail of controversy, so much so that both the university issued a press release (which mentioned ‘7-14 years old’ instead of the ‘5-14’ of the poster published in numerous newspapers) and the rector intervened in person from the pages of ‘Repubblica’.

In the heated debate, there was no shortage of accusations of fake news and witch hunts and the reiteration that research is free. Only the ‘Feminist Post’ highlighted the potential conflict of interest of the researcher who promotes the lab and is also a member of an association that deals precisely with these issues. An association that in its promotional material emphasises that it is ‘your family’ (a slogan that evokes disturbing parallels with a Charles Manson-style sect or situations from horror films such as ‘Speak no evil’), almost as if the parents of the minors in question were too ‘gender critical’ it would be better to leave them unaware.

That is what is happening in California, the practice of not informing parents of decisions regarding ‘alias pronouns’ adopted in schools. An affair that led nine families to sue the State of California.

Scozia. I am a Teenage Werewolf

The institutions that support such initiatives should be asked how they stand with regard to the Californian events. And especially with regard to the news coming out of Scotland and reported by the ‘Daily Mail’, namely of the child identifying himself as a wolf. Self-definition accepted by the school.

The news from the British tabloid, which to date has not been denied, has been taken up by several Italian newspapers, with explanations of ‘species dysphoria’, ‘furry’ (paraphilia) and ‘therian’ (identity)

Those who follow Machiavelli know that these concepts are widely present in gender studies overseas: in September 2023 we reported on foxgender. It is up to you to draw your own conclusions.

USA. Gender madness among youth, a growing social disease

As an aside, we note that the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention in a large census of 20,000 students aged 14-18 (Disparities in School Connectedness, Unstable Housing, Experiences of Violence, Mental Health, and Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors Among Transgender and Cisgender High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023) found that 3. 3 % of students identify as transgender and 2.2 % as gender questioning (the CDC notes that the analysis may have underestimated non-binary by having narrowed the options to transgender, questioning and cis).

As this is a US census, the values are detailed "race" or "ethnicity": it is immediately apparent that the white student community is over-represented, i.e. the group with the highest number of transgender and gender questioning. Other ethnic groups would therefore appear to be less prone to the phenomenon.

USA. Bird hunt

On NPR the news that the American Ornithological Society plans to rename six species of birds to remove any connection with personalities linked to colonialism, supremacism etc. Immediately after the George Floyd case, a bird was renamed because it was named after a Confederate officer. The Ornithological Association started a programme of renaming review last year, estimating that at least a hundred designations would have to be evaluated, for now the renaming will only affect six birds. Let us recall the case of dinosaurs (Bullettin #2) and plants (Bullettin #18)

USA. Minors on a leash

In the United States, a new ‘habit’ is spreading in malls, shopping centres: to avoid petty crime and violence, minors can only enter if accompanied! In New Jersey's oldest mall, chaperoning is required on weekends starting at 5pm. The custom is gradually spreading to other shopping centres, while in California minors are required to wear a tag with their parents' details around their neck.

Wales. Regime art, but DEI

Yet more news from Wales, whose Labour government is a veritable mine of wokeshit for its decision to become anti-racist by law by 2030 (Bulletin #11). In recent months we have seen the attempt to decolonise and make the national coal museum less white (Bulletin #15), the anti-racist initiatives that cannot be held in buildings with colonial heritage because of the genius loci (Bulletin #20), the controversy over the statue dedicated to Marconi's first transatlantic radio signal that cannot have references to that fascist Marconi (Bulletin #19), the need to decolonise public libraries (ibid.) and the proposal to make politicians' lies a crime (Bulletin #16).

This time it is the turn of anti-racist public art, with funding ranging from £3,000 to £15,000 to create installations and works promoting ‘diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism’. Nothing new in the theme of the relationship between art and power, but it must be stressed that this new subsidised inclusive art must tell the ‘right historical narrative’. Regime art for all intents and purposes, albeit Democratic and Labour.

UK. No make-up, we're British

While in British museums (after the events of Constable's nationalistic landscapes (Bullettin #6) and the fact that Constable's own landscapes (Bullettin #19) did not take into account the socio-economic conditions of the peasants) it is now the turn of the English to point out the implicit racism of local folklore. The Haxey Hood is an event in which participants disguise themselves, and some blacken their faces. This blackface can be seen in some of the photos testifying to the custom at the North Lincolnshire Museum, which required the appropriate trigger warning. Heaven forbid anyone should be scandalised.

Who knows if Arezzo and Ascoli will soon find themselves having to make their respective Giostra del Saracino and Quintana more politically correct with their ‘’Moors‘’ being shot at by Christian knights?

Emanuele Mastrangelo

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Redattore del blog del Centro Studi Machiavelli "Belfablog", Emanuele Mastrangelo è redattore capo di "CulturaIdentità" e di "Storia in Rete". Cartografo storico-militare, è autore di vari libri (con Enrico Petrucci, Iconoclastia. La pazzia contagiosa dellacancel cultureche sta distruggendo la nostra storia and Wikipedia. L'enciclopedia libera e l'egemonia dell'informazione).

Enrico Petrucci