The American Democrats are starting to backtrack on the absurd positions held in recent years. The recent interview with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the symbolic figures of the US progressive left, had a lot of resonance, in which she said – laughing – that “Woke 1.0” was crazy. His words echo those of Chi Ossé, Democratic city councilor of New York, who, faced with the re-emergence of an old statement from 2021, said exactly the same phrase.

The statement in question was that a cis white man should not be Speaker of the City Council.

What was (is) woke?

This is in fact, more or less, the level of woke battles (now they call it 1.0, but it doesn’t change): the schools are bad, the males are bad, the West is bad, it’s all colonialist and racist and homophobic. Extremely serious statements have been made and outrageous acts have been committed, with the cheerful support of the American left.

Let’s remember just a few: Emmanuel Cafferty, an employee of San Diego Gas & Electric, was fired after a photograph showed him with his fingers in the OK gesture position, which had been associated with white supremacist symbolism; he was just cracking his knuckles.

In March 2020, some Hachette employees in the United States refused to work on the publication of Woody Allen’s autobiography, Apropos of Nothingdue to accusations of sexual abuse leveled against the author. The publishing house Little, Brown canceled the book contract of the journalist Julie Burchill, Welcome to the Woke Trialsafter a controversy on Twitter and comments deemed Islamophobic.

Books were removed from curricula, workers were fired, actors were shamed and exiled. They called for the demolition of statues, the erasure of history. It is no coincidence that Wokism was associated with cancel culture.

Years of obscurantism

This was the progressive culture between 2019 and 2021: a climate of terror, hatred and distrust that led to any gesture being interpreted as violent, any word as intolerant. Yes, it was certainly madness; which however has been widely exploited by Republican politicians to appear committed, combative, courageous.

For over two years they have contributed to the witch hunt, to useless controversies, to ridiculous proposals, in the name of respect for multiculturalism and gender differences. The Democratic Party itself has spread that rhetoric – this is the acronym by which the Democrat is called in the USA – so easily.

Who knows why, therefore, now we are choosing to change the tone. Does the mid-term elections that will take place in November have anything to do with it? The Democrats must recover voters, having lost many in these years of inclusive language and homophobic Homer; the stupidest progressive positions, which have become workhorses, have driven many away.

Of course, it is now important to point out that the Democratic Party is no longer the most culturally radical position of a few years ago: political communication in 2020 has become an election issue in 2026.

If the wind changes, coincidentally, the political rhetoric changes

It’s simply not worth saying those things anymore; In fact, AOC spoke of “rhetoric that we would no longer use today”. But it wasn’t just rhetoric: the people who got involved were real humans, the cultural industry that fed on certain antics made real money, the universities that taught historical aberrations awarded real diplomas.

Indeed, it is not even correct to speak in the past tense, because in many environments the situation is still this.

If nothing else we can say that there is a bitter irony of fate in this story: the Wokists were the ones who resurrected a political opponent’s tweet from five years ago to destroy his career; now they are the ones who have to deal with the statements made in the past.

Except that while that political opponent was truly destroyed and eliminated, in their case it won’t be like that, because they will never really have to apologize for their words: it was all for the good anyway. It was just a rhetoric that no longer applies today.