Texas Governor Goes Woke, Creates Safe Space for Jewish Students
The mainstreaming of wokeness by the American right
It’s safe to say the Republican Party in America has become a parody of its former self as it has finally embraced the “great” American tradition of wokeness.
For years, Republicans have claimed that wokeness is a Marxist plot to destroy America, but it is becoming very clear that wokeness is nothing but a homegrown American invention and problem that has little to do with Marxism as much as it has to do with the current state of American culture. Wokeness at the moment is a feature of American culture; the Democrats just happened to be ahead of the curve.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot seems to be the latest to catch the woke mind virus with his creation of safe spaces for Jewish students in Texas universities. Not only did the governor pass an executive order on this, but he also proudly announced it on the “free speech” platform, X. The governor’s post reads:.
Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas
Today, I issued an Executive Order to fight the increase in acts of antisemitism at Texas colleges and universities
Texas stands with our Jewish students
We will ensure our college campuses are safe spaces for the Jewish community.
Amongst the things covered in the executive order is the requirement that all higher institutions in Texas review their free speech policies to establish appropriate punishments for antisemitic rhetoric and include the definition of antisemitism in free speech policies.
Governor Abbot couldn’t even be creative enough to come up with a new word; he simply appropriated the word “safe space.” The same words that Republicans have been fighting against for years. This move has shown that certain Republicans don’t care about free speech. They are just as censorious as Democrats; they only care about protecting speech that they like while at the same time claiming to be for free speech.
Ironically, this is where I think the Democrats are somewhat better; at least they are not pretending to be free speech advocates. Just imagine what would happen if Governor Abbot had made this executive order about blacks or gay people. If you substituted gay or black for Jew in the executive order, I bet there would be Republicans calling for his immediate resignation.
Not only is this executive order unnecessary, but it is also unlikely to achieve anything. I doubt if there is anything in the executive order that existing laws could not have taken care of, except to say that the purpose of the executive order is to stifle free speech by shielding Jewish students from potentially offensive speech. In my world view, all speech—except ones calling for violence—should be allowed, especially in higher institutions. The very idea of a safe space is ridiculous to me. The law shouldn't protect any group from offensive speech.
But I think this is how America incorporates new things into its culture; it’s how fringe ideas become normalized and how new cultural attitudes are shaped: progressives fight for a new thing, conservatives resist it initially, threatening fire and brimstone, then, with the flip of a switch, they embrace and begin defending those things with their lives as great American traditions. And this is what is currently happening to wokeness. The fact that Republicans have embraced wokeness is proof that it has become mainstream American culture.
Lastly, I seem to remember a time when Republicans used to say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That sentiment seems like a millennium ago. At a time when Israel is killing thousands of Palestinian civilians with bombs made in the United States, the Republican Party's new mantra is "bombs ain't shit, just don't trigger me."
Charles Ekokotu (Pharm. D.) is a bibliophile, prose fiction writer, poet, and playwright. His first self-published novel, Hotel Shendam—a crime fiction novel featuring a debate on race and colonialism—is available on Amazon. A very fun read! Grab a copy now!
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The USA is seeing unprecedented hate crimes against Jews and unprecedented anti-Jewish bigotry at all levels.
Jewish kids at school try to pretend they are not Jewish. Jewish adults try to pretend not to be Jews.
Do you think there is nothing the USA can do about this?
I think it is clear that many young Americans and young people around the world now hate Jews. And many even want Jews killed. It is perhaps better that these opinions be expressed openly and continually in public so that the public knows and understands the extent of this problem and can begin to address this via respectful loving dialogue.
Where do you think this massive Jew hatred comes from?
The old Christ killer charge?
The sin of not following and accepting Jesus as the Messiah of the Jews?
The sin of being far too successful in every sphere of of life, (including being massively overrepresented among billionaires, millionaires, Hollywood, entertainment, art, dance, music, corporate executives, co-founders of companies, members of founding teams of companies, angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity, I Bankers, asset managers, consultants, technologists, scientists, inventors, product developers, process innovators, top academic performers.)
I think the sin of being too successful is an outgrowth of global cultural marxism, post modernity, critical theory wave and the theory of disparate impact. People think that Jews must be cheating or oppressing or exploiting or being "white towards" or being "nazi towards" or supporting the patriarchy towards others. How else can Jews be so successful. I don't know how this theory can be fought.
I would note that a whole lot of Jewish Democrats, Jewish leftist, Jewish wokes support Gov Abbot's move. Jews feel vulnerable to attacks and Jew hatred all over the world (outside of some asian countries such as India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam) at the worst level since the holocaust.
Wow! I totally disagree with these sentiments. This is not a question of policing speech. College campuses have become hotbeds of both antisemitic speech and actions. Jewish students are not simply being thin skinned about negative opinions about the Jewish people or Israel, but are being verbally and physically threatened because of their nationality. Bullying and intimidation focused on one group’s race or ethnicity is not free speech—particularly when it is accompanied by physical actions. The so-called pro Palestinian protests are not just expressing disagreement with Israeli policies or approaches to war fighting, they are aimed at intimidating Jews. If you want to understand the difference between free speech and verbal bullying and intimidation substitute black for Jews; and say that blacks are parasites and the KKK should be allowed to kill them all.