We can see through Oliver Dowden’s US-style bluster as a mere distraction from the country’s real problems
Dr Seuss and (Mr) Potato Head. The Mandalorian and The Muppet Show. These are just some of the many cultural artefacts that have been dragged to the heart of the US’s all-consuming war over “wokeness” in the past year, with furious rightwingers decrying liberals for “cancelling” things they see as insufficiently progressive.
Republican-led states have moved to ban schools from teaching “critical race theory”, an academic framework for assessing entrenched societal racism that is not typically taught in schools. Ron DeSantis, the Trump-lite Florida governor, proposed the “Stop Woke” Act, with woke standing for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees”.
Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes the Columbia Journalism Review’s newsletter The Media Today
