Several sources identify Canada as the world's "wokest" nation. I think Eric Kaufman (Telegraph) may have been the first journalist to apply this label to a nation and a political leader. The term first began to be used by those who were alert to "social inequalities", but has since evolved to include what some are calling the "four intellectual pillars of wokeism":
- Social Justice
- Rejection of traditional morality regarding sexual binary identities and the promotion of "gender as a spectrum that the individual can self-determine".
- Environmentalism based on the notion that it is desirable and possible to arrest climate change.
- Activism against traditional "patriarchal, intolerant, and oppressive" ideologies such as Christianity.
Critical Race Theory (US) and Bill C-16 (Canada) are only two examples of recent legislations that have helped to cement this new ideology.
You can see evidence of its presence in government, education, media outlets, business cultures, and even in some church initiatives.
This past year, a number of well written articles have appeared describing "wokeism" as a religion. It directly challenges the traditional foundations of law and justice. It's possible to be "woke" and yet in certain circumstances justify violating some, if not all, of the ten commandments.
So when woke political leaders describe the goals of a group of peaceful protesters as "hateful rhetoric" and instead endorse protests such as BLM, they probably really do mean it and believe it.
