Hooray, we made it! Disappearing in our rearview mirrors, 2020 takes a backseat as we look forward to a new year and – hopefully – an end to all the craziness that hounded us over the past 12 months. There were a lot of changes last year, but which ones will recede into the background like a half-remembered nightmare and which ones will haunt us into 2021? For a certainty, the “woke” generation will not surrender its social justice crusade, so what kind of wokeness do we have to look forward to in the next several months?
“Woke” or “wokeness”: What first originated in the black community to describe a state of being aware of racial injustice has morphed repeatedly until it now means different things to different folks. For example, on the left side of the aisle, to be woke means to fight against all the social injustices (perceived or imagined) in the world. Conservatives, on the other hand, equate the meaning to the cancel culture and use the reference when talking about inflated political correctness. There are generally three major viewpoints: "not woke enough" (the left), "woke too much" (the right), and "who the hell knows what it means?"
In May 2017, Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam snidely wrote:
“Do you use the word ‘intersectionality’ a lot, even if you aren’t exactly sure what it means? If yes, you are progressing well along your journey to wokefulness ...
"The real purpose of ‘woke’ is to divide the world into hyper-socially aware, self-appointed gatekeepers of language and behavior, and the rest of humanity.”
2021: The Year of Wokeness
The division Beam speaks of is a huge part of the problem. The country should be finding ways to come together, not segregating into "who is right and who is wrong" scenarios. Nevertheless, this mentality is likely to only grow in this new year.
Education
This is perhaps the biggest arena for woke folks. Educators can’t wait to demonstrate how in-the-times, sensitive, and all-inclusive they are. Inclusive, that is, other than when it comes to white students who are already privileged. What better way to change society and the way it thinks than to indoctrinate children from a young age?
The COVID pandemic may have put a damper on this agenda while children are essentially being home-schooled, but it hasn’t stopped the progressive messages or curriculum. At the end of 2020, we saw educational establishments rewriting their goals to be more aware of people of color despite the many parents calling this reverse racism against their pale children.
Teachers and staff have demanded specific changes, including defunding the police and more attention to Black Lives Matter, before returning to school. Some teachers have even gone so far as to have their pupils write anti-Trump essays. Sex education has morphed as well. While the institutes struggle to teach realistic biology, there are dozens of genders now being recognized – and we can expect that number to grow as more people find new ways to self-identify.
Health
Coronavirus fears have gripped Americans in a steel trap with blinders, effectively hiding and blocking out the loss of freedoms and liberties disappearing across the board. Despite a high recovery rate, panic-driven virus vaccines started rolling out in December, and there was no shortage of those wishing to be pricked for protection. The end of 2020 brought talk of vaccination passports being required before people are allowed to travel, and some employers are making it a requirement that employees have the inoculation if they wish to become or remain employed.
For 2021, we can surely expect to see a continuation of these programs, and likely much more. Joe Biden has demonstrated his hide-and-don’t-seek strategy when it comes to dealing with the virus. For his potential first 100 days in office, he wants everyone to wear a mask nationwide. And now, with a new and supposedly worse strain, we might even find ourselves having to get a vaccination card as we would a mandatory state identification card.
Voting
If there’s one lesson we can learn from 2020, it’s that a presidential election, especially a highly contentious one, is not the time to try out a massive mail-in ballot campaign. This year, we can expect a stronger push to allow people to vote from home, which brings more risk of fraud, including giving illegal immigrants the opportunity.
Immigration
On the subject of immigration, the woke generation won’t likely allow us to see an increase in deportations and arrests of illegal aliens. Joe Biden has already vowed to reduce aggressive immigration control, assuming he makes it to the White House. While he has yet to announce specifically tearing down the border wall, the former VP has no plans to continue it.
This new year will likely see more programs to integrate those here in the U.S. illegally so that they will get all the benefits of regular citizens as well as the special bonuses for being here without permission.
Media / Censorship
Conservatives have been condemning the media for years for their censorship and obvious left-leaning agendas. Even though CEOs from Facebook and Twitter have been called out, if we end up with the Biden-Harris team in the Oval Office we may just see a return to the old ways, and with a vengeance.
While we look forward to a new and improved year, there will still be a lot of work to undo some of the harm from 2020. There is good news, however. In 2021, we only need to look back a couple of months for inspiration and support to see how well Americans can truly come together when needed. We are likely to see many more truly woke Americans resisting their local governments’ COVID restrictions. The time for being lethargic and accepting whatever Big Brother mandates is ending, and this new year is set and primed for a much-needed patriotic infusion.
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