Would you mind defining well, cuz it's come up a couple of times and
I just wanna make sure we're on the same page.
>> So, I mean, Woke is sorta the idea
that this is gonna be one of those
moments that goes viral.
>> Yeah.
>> [LAUGH] >> It certainly was.
Now that was author Bethany Mandel and
she is an author of a book on Wokeneism titled Stolen Youth.
How radicals are erasing innocence and indoctrinating a generation.
Now, things didn't really get much better as Mandel tried to answer
a pretty simple question considering she wrote a book on this.
Let's watch.
>> Woke is something that's very hard to define and
we've spent an entire chapter defining it.
It is sorta the understanding that we need to re totally reimagine and
we reduce society in order to create hierarchies of oppression.
Sorry, it's hard to explain in a 15 seconds sound bite.
>> [CROSSTALK] >> I mean,
it's one of those things that I mean, everybody is weighing in
inveighing against Wokeness like we do some of it on this show as well.
It's definitely something, you know what it is when you see it, but-
>> It is well,
would you define Wokness then?
>> I would say it's the tendency to punish people formally or
often informally for expressing ideas using language specifically
that is very new that no one would have objected to like five seconds ago.
So it's easy to come up with examples like punishing people for
using the wrong pronouns.
>> Or I'm feeling like part of the problem is Woke has just been a catch all word for
the right meaning they use the word Woke and
they apply it to anything they don't like.
So it means different things to different people.
And when you're asked to define it, it's a little tricky
when it's a catch all phrase or catch all word for the right wing, you know.
>> Absolutely.
That clip is maybe one of the only things that ever made me wanna go to law school
the way Brianna Joy Gray did that.
She, that, that was definitely some lawyer stuff there, right?
Like, can you define that for me?
No, we have all day.
I mean,- >> [LAUGH] You could take your time.
>> It takes time.
No, way go ahead.
Just kinda let her keep going.
I mean, it's pretty good from Brianna there.
But yeah, you're right.
The Wokeness thing it's not just cuz I've been watching videos
about the banking meltdown and that's due to Wokeness.
I don't know if you knew that Anna that's due to Wokeness.
>> I have heard through the grapevine that some people would
like to deflect from deregulation and Federal Reserve policy and
instead focus on Wokeness- >> Yeah.
>> On the diversity within the banks as opposed to the deregulations
that allow the banks to take risks with depositor money and stuff like that.
Yeah, it's amazing.
It is amazing because I know I say this a lot, I repeat this a lot on the show but
I do it because I want people to, regardless of what your
political identity is to see why things play out the way they do.
Why politicians and members of the media lean into certain arguments.
It's usually to distract you from what's really going on, right?
So with the whole culture war stuff, especially the crying and
whining about Wokeness, when it comes from politicians,
when it comes from people in power, it's typically to deflect.
It's typically to provide cover for the fact that they're aiding and
abetting corporations and robbing you.
But with that said, I also wanna just note,
I do see some issues with how the culture war plays out, right?
And I'm specifically referring to,
I think what can be attributed to quote unquote Woke policies or Woke thinking.
So I'll give you two examples.
So for instance, this is a story that Jake and I covered a few weeks ago because
I thought it was such a dumb move by high school in Culver City California,
which is in Los Angeles to increase equity.
This California High School is eliminating honors courses.
So the story was about how they did an analysis and they noticed that there
weren't enough Latino students enrolled in honors classes.
So Culverts City High just decided to scrap their honors program.
Meaning they did away with the opportunity for everyone instead of encouraging Latino
students to enroll in the honors classes [LAUGH] like that makes no sense to me.
Another example, I also think this is a dumb move.
I am a woman and I disagree with this.
So in Connecticut, they want to increase the number of female firefighters.
So they proposed a bill that could alter female firefighter test,
meaning lower the standards in order
to increase the number of women who will qualify to be firefighters.
The proposed legislation in Connecticut would lower the physical test
requirements for women to become firefighters.
Currently, all candidates regardless of gender are required to carry a 50
pound vest during the test because as a firefighter, you're carrying heavy
equipment and you need to be able to do that in order to carry out the job.
So it's supposed to mirror the experience of wearing heavy gear and
an air tank while performing firefighter duties.
According to the language of the proposal, the purpose is to allow for
a more diverse class of candidate.
No, but I don't.
I'm just gonna be honest with you guys when it comes to essential jobs like
firefighting.
I don't care about like, we need to have an equal number of women.
No, I just want qualified people to do the job.
That's it.
So, like everyone should take the test and
people who don't pass the test can't be firefighters.
It's not that difficult.
This is a physical job.
Okay.
Being able to do the job is more important than increasing the number of female
firefighters, in my opinion.
I don't know.
What do you think are?
>> Yeah, I get what you're saying.
I mean, I think a lot of this stuff, it's just by the way, I an antique,
a sperry in, as a firefighter would be interesting.
You kinda like doing sort of a batman thing where by night you're saving
people from fires.
That'd be cool.
But, yeah, it just feels like, look, we have examples of countries
that kinda have a fairer they have a fairer system and
they have like things like a welfare state.
You guys always talk about the kind of the Bernard Sanders countries and
all that the Nordic countries.
Like we kinda know how to have a kinda fairer people more empowered society but
it feels like instead we get these kinda little touches around
the edges to make it look like we're kinda doing something.
I don't know. Do you get that feeling?
>> Absolutely, 100%?
I'm trying to think of specific examples, but
I definitely do see that happening, right?
And so I just want everyone to be able to make
good money to me that's power, right?
I'm not into this whole notion of like, let's lower standard so
everyone qualifies for things.
The standards are there for specific reasons, right?
There are differences between men and women and
that is like physical differences and it's okay.
It's okay to admit that.
It doesn't mean that women are weaker or that men are better or vice versa.
Just means that we have different strengths, different weaknesses and
that's totally fine.
Okay. So, but I do feel like in lieu of a system
that allows people to thrive regardless of what their background is,
regardless of what their identity is.
And when I say thrive, I mean, financial stability, right?
The idea of the American dream.
If we had a system in place that ensure that people had those opportunities,
I don't think we'd have these weird symptoms of let's do these little fix.
What they think are fixes around the edges?
And I don't know, it leads to more frustration.
I do think there's some truth to the language policing that rubs people
the wrong way.
I think there's a problem with White liberals telling Latinos that they need to
change their entire language.
So it's gender neutral, they don't want it, they didn't ask for it and
you can't force it on them.
So those things I think are legitimate, like those critiques are legitimate.
But at the same time, let's not get it twisted.
The whole Woke argument, especially by people in positions
of power is used to deflect from the fact that they're screwing you.
That they're helping corporate America exploit you, exploit migrant workers,
exploit child labor, exploit all sorts of vulnerable people to make a buck.
That is what the focus should be.
But let's just keep it real.
The focus is usually on all the like,
cultural stuff on the edges because it's a nice distraction.
>> No, I disagree.
It is Wokeness.
All our problems is because actually I know he's been on the show and
you guys have had good debates, but
Ben Shapiro did try to sorta make it sound that part of the problem.
Part of why the bank meltdown happened was because one of these
companies had like a pride month celebration.
>> My God. >> And I don't know if that was it.
I'm gonna just say I'm not an economics expert or banking expert, but
I'm gonna say, I don't think that's it.
>> I mean, they must have used up all of their liquidity on that pride price.
>> Yeah.
>> [CROSSTALK] >> They had usually have seen these
decorations.
My God, they were amazing.
So, I think that might have been it.
>> Guys it's a distraction.
They just don't wanna regulate the banks when we need to regulate the banks.
Let's call it for what it is.