Prohibition of racial discrimination by the progressive camp… Conservative Voters Complaints of “Reverse Discrimination Against Whites”
The Republican governor of Alabama… Dismissal of the head of early childhood education for promotion of progressive education
Progressive vs conservative debate signs of heating up
‘Woke.’
A ‘culture war’ is spreading over this expression in the United States ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Walk was originally a word used to mean that we should be aware of discrimination against the weak, such as blacks and sexual minorities. However, it is now being used more in the conservative camp or media to ridicule those obsessed with ‘political correctness (PC)’.
Governor Kay Ivy (Republican Party) of Alabama, USA, also released the same statement on the 21st, firing Barbara Cooper, the head of early childhood education in the state. “The ‘work movement’ in education has nothing to do with good education and is divisive. We shouldn’t try to indoctrinate (controversial subjects like race or gender) in classrooms of all ages, let alone infants.”
It took issue with the fact that Cooper’s handbook for teachers distributed to public kindergartens in the state contained content that evoked the idea that the United States was founded on racism. The conservative camp, centered on the Republican Party, is showing antipathy, dismissing various progressive agendas as having fallen into excessive PC. The ‘work controversy’ is expected to heat up further in the US presidential election with a year and a half remaining.
Work, which means ‘awakened’ or ‘awakened’, has been used in a positive sense in the movement to end racial discrimination in the United States for the past several decades. However, in the process of spreading the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement due to the George Floyd case in 2020, a backlash began to emerge from conservative supporters saying, “Whites are also receiving reverse discrimination.” It was the result of the accumulated fatigue and rejection of agendas led by the progressive camp, such as race, abortion, and sexual identity.
At the time, President Donald Trump used it to stimulate conservative votes, and Republican candidates also began to use it widely when criticizing the progressive camp in major elections. It is similar to the fact that the word ‘Kkaesimin (awake citizen)’ was used for demeaning purposes in Korea.
The ‘anti-work’ movement led by Republican politicians stands out in the field of education. They strongly oppose it, saying that race and gender issues, which are acute issues in American society, should not penetrate the education field.
The right wing uses ‘work’ as a weapon to keep the progressive camp in check, but the Democratic Party and other progressive camps are passive in direct defense. When a reporter asked at a press conference in February, “Is President Joe Biden awake?,” White House spokesman Curin Janpierre criticized indirectly, saying, “The president doesn’t care about what is politically beneficial to the Republican Party, not the people.” Linguist Tony Sohn told the New Yorker, a weekly news magazine, “Walk became a word used by the conservative right at some point to blame (the progressive camp) for all problems, including mass shootings.”
The first contributor to bringing the “work” controversy into the public sphere is Florida Governor Ron Disantis. In the mid-term elections last year, he succeeded in re-election by criticizing the work, and he signed the blatant ‘stop work’ law from the name. Limiting discussions of race and gender within schools and businesses is key. It also prevented teaching sexual orientation or gender identity to younger students.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, also argued that “kids should not be taught to see life through a ‘race’ lens.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that “the threat to corrupt children in the name of ‘awakening’ is more serious than any external threat.”
As the presidential election draws near, Republicans are expected to actively bring up the walk to rally conservative voters. The fact that there are a significant number of voters who are tired of ‘pretending to be awake’ that has spread throughout society even in the middle class is also expected to be a variable.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.