In a world apparently dominated by modestly talented liars, grifters and shysters, how fitting is it that Piers Morgan, a man who comfortably fits all three definitions, has written a book called ‘Woke is dead: How common sense triumphed in an age of madness‘? For as long as I can remember, Morgan has been a powerful voice in the media for no other reason than his bloated sense of self-importance. This time, his targets are simple: wokery, political correctness and, in his words, “the destruction of free speech”. Here is the official blurb of his new works:
“Never afraid to stand up for what’s right or call out hypocrisy at either end of the political spectrum, Piers Morgan became a voice of leadership at a time when so many of us were treading on eggshells. But now, with Trump’s comprehensive defeat of Kamala Harris and the accompanying rejection of woke ideology, it seems like the rest of the world is finally catching up.
“Woke Is Dead explores the international rejection of being told how we should think, how we should act and what we should (or shouldn’t) say. Addressing combustible topics including the gender divide and the destruction of free speech, Morgan argues that woke’s empty discourse only created more division, confusion and mistrust, and makes the case for what our post-woke future can, and should, look like.
“Rather than celebrating the death of woke for the sake of revenge, Woke Is Dead advocates for a return of common sense and a less divided, more sensible society. Because it’s what the majority of us want – and we should no longer be afraid to say it.”
As ever, we start with the basis of Morgan’s hyperbole. If woke is dead, as he confidently declares, is that a good thing? Allow me to point out, yet again, what ‘woke’ actually means. It’s an adjective meaning someone who is woke is very aware of social and political unfairness. We know that those on the hard right of politics have attempted to distort the meaning of the word but I choose, and use, the original version and to that extent I call myself proud to be woke. I also take Morgan at his word and when he says woke is dead, he means that people are no longer “very aware of social and political unfairness.” But there is much more than that to his pernicious and divisive comments.
I wonder why Morgan felt he was “treading on eggshells”? After all, he has been employed by evil hard right media magnet Rupert Murdoch, who controls vast swaths of the media, not just in the UK, but all over the world. He writes newspaper columns, he appears on TV shows, he writes books. Who has been stopping him doing all these things? No one, obviously. The press in the UK is almost totally on the right of politics, even the BBC is in thrall to the right. Morgan is all over it, like a rash.
If anything, it is people like Morgan, and all the other figures of the illiberal elite who tell us how “we should think, how we should act and what we should (and shouldn’t) say”. He sounds like an old time ‘comedian’, railing against the non-existent liberal elite, complaining that you’re not allowed to say anything these days. You know, things like racism, homophobia, misogyny; that kind of thing. You can’t even use the N word about black people, or the P word against people from Pakistan without people being offended. Political correctness gone mad. Yet, dinosaurs like Jim Davidson, Bobby Davro and Roy ‘Chubby’ Jones still tour the small halls with their own brand of racism, homophobia and misogyny, just like they always did and “the destruction of free speech” doesn’t seem to have affected them at all.
It comes to something when a word like diversity has become something of a swear word to the forces of conservatism. Equal opportunities for everyone, whether black or white, rich or poor, straight or gay, male or female: we can’t be having that. Power must be returned to middle aged men and enjoyed by them only. Morgan’s comment about the “destruction of free speech” shows the brass neck of the bloke.
For example, do we truly have a free press? Absolutely no way. While the printed word is a declining industry which will soon die, along with its predominantly elderly readership, it carries significant and disproportionate influence. Almost all newspapers are owned by rich men or rich corporations and they promote the right and the far right of politics. Only the small circulation Guardian and the rapidly declining Daily Mirror can be said to offer an alternative the right wing view in the dailies. With the Observer handed to the Tortoise group, it found itself last Sunday dedicating its front page to Nigel Farage’s BNP-lite Reform UK Ltd ‘party’. The truth is that free speech, certainly in the written press, has never really existed in my lifetime.
Morgan and his ilk pretend to rail against the establishment, yet they literally are the establishment. They have the money, they have the powerful media outlets who dictate who can and cannot appear in them and, as a consequence, they have the heft to prevent the rest of us from enjoying the so called free speech they enjoy.
As a humble blogger, I am someone “treading on eggshells” given the litigious nature of the rich establishment. I cannot write and publish what I really think about Nigel Farage and his connections to dubious powers around the world. A couple of years ago, I was threatened by a national newspaper with legal action unless I removed a blog about the tragic case of the young baby Charlie Gard, whose family I felt were being ruthlessly exploited. If I did not remove it, I was told, my work would no longer appear for Google searches. At the time, the offending blog had received something like 50 views but, coward that I am, I bowed to pressure (which I found really scary, by the way) and took it down. Morgan can write pretty well what he likes because both he and his employers are fabulously rich and powerful and they know that the little man and woman on the street could not do a thing about it. “Treading on eggshells” my arse.
Morgan suggests the victory of Donald Trump represents the “rejection of woke ideology” and he’s not wrong. Defeated Democratic candidate Kamala Harris was “very aware of social and political unfairness” whereas the rejection of it is Trump’s actual shtick. It’s what he believes in. And when Morgan’s spiel suggests he “advocates for a return of common sense and a less divided, more sensible society” you know that actually he means the literal opposite. His constant attacks encourage division. That, for a Pound Shop polemicist like Morgan, is his modus operandi. Hate blacks, hate gays, hate women; hate everyone and anyone who isn’t like him. I have a grudging admiration for his sheer brass neck, but that’s all.
If, as Piers Morgan suggests, woke is dead then so is society as we know it and the establishment, the illiberal elite, have finally silenced us all and put us all in our place. The humbling of the BBC, turning it into little more than a mouthpiece for the political right rather than its former role as a fiercely independent and trusted worldwide news outlet, is a prime example. Victory for “liars, grifters and shysters”? It looks like it to me.
