Review: Titania McGrath’s Woke

Pressured by a modish wokeness, Rivas began to think he was betraying his people by dating white women. “ So here I stand, trying to be woke, and not dating white women, and feeling kind of bad about it,” Rivas bemoans.

Several questions arise. Not the least of which being: Who decided to publish this? Before publishing, did they ever consider how much this might resemble the pontificating of Jim Crow advocates?

Seeing society’s unrequited love affair with wokeness, I’ll assume that they didn’t. But how are we to make sense of this new religion?

For this, we have Titania McGrath, the radical intersectional feminist poet who verbally bombards the “white supremacist patriarchy.” A malcontent who is fed up with us ignoramuses, McGrath has published her first book. Simply titled Woke: A Guide to Social Justice, it’s a manifesto written in prose possessing a revolutionary zeal so potent Che Guevara would lecherously swoon and request that she provide him with remedial education in social revolution.

McGrath addresses the vast intricacies of wokeness and responds to the counterarguments that the agents of the patriarchy often make. She also outlines how this puritanical movement can attract converts. Her insight is sought after since, after all, “our society is a slumbering beast that has been trapped in its coma for far too long.”

Proving to be Winston Churchill’s 21st-century equivalent, McGrath teabags “the foes of justice with a gender-neutral scrotum.” And challenges the “illusion of freedom” to extirpate Nazis and destroy any other obstacles to the “Intersectional Socialist Utopia.”

We all live in a “heteronormative patriarchy” that’s a “Tyranny of Facts” erected by the “Scourge of Whiteness.” Knowledge is a “patriarchal construct” that is only convenient for those who want to strengthen the white male authoritarians’ grip on power. So what must we do to rectify this?

According to McGrath, our society is almost irreparably “unwoke,” and we might have to implement drastic purgatory measures. We shall be heedful of the wisdom of brave reformists like Hannah Gadsby and eradicate anything offensive. Reforming things like comedy and any other art form perceived to be toxically masculine should be our first priority. Scientists will also tremble at the feet of these woke revolutionaries. As McGrath avers: “The idea that knowledge is more important than feelings is everything that is wrong with the field of modern science.”

With a knack for conflict analysis that would rival Churchill’s, McGrath identifies our real enemies with panache. “Every sperm is an invader” if you didn’t know, and those who commit cultural genocide by doing yoga are civilization’s true adversaries. As are compilers of the English dictionary who give credence to antediluvian definitions of racism that enable us to think a person of colour can also be racist.

They must be defeated, as do the Brexiteers who are the agents of a nascent Fourth Reich. To extinguish this threat, McGrath advises that Britain should replace those who voted for Brexit with migrants from Syria. We also mustn’t fear Islamists since they are strong allies of feminists.

As many should know by now, everything I discussed above is the product of Andrew Doyle’s genius. Doyle is a writer who saw the creation of a satirical character as the only viable response to a culture that is “impervious to reason.”

As I wrote in December, parodying wokeness might be the “best way to expose its futility.” Good ideas and well-reasoned arguments should then buttress satire.

Parodies like this should be used to shine a light on the pest of shoddy woke thinking so we can then apply reason and truth as disinfectants.

The book is a necessary contribution to the culture wars, and one of the most amusing things I’ve ever read. I must say that there were a few moments wherein I asked myself if Doyle was going too far with his portrayal of the prototypical woke Leftist.

But reminding myself of my own interactions with Social Justice Warriors ascertained that such concerns were misplaced. It is both disconcerting and hilarious how blurred the lines are between parody and reality.

Having sat in on many woke congregations, I feel comfortable inferring that McGrath’s writings are one gigantic thought bubble for what some wokescolds might actually think. I can see one of my professors agreeing with McGrath, particularly when she explains ways to modify the curriculum to have it nurture social justice inclinations, and when she discusses the superiority of Blackness over Whiteness.

Indeed, wokeness is a phenomenon that we may never be able to comprehend fully.

But no matter the extent of our bewilderment, it is clear that we are living during a time of full wokenization.

Under the tutelage of McGrath’s disciples, society will proceed into the future “Hornlocked and hyperwoke.” We best get ready.