With everything Elon Musk has been saying recently, it is hard to imagine that he would run out of unintelligent things to say. The “woke mind virus” is Musk and his colleagues’ latest attempt to demonize those who are educated enough to see through their hate and fake controversy.
The term “woke” has been co-opted by conservatives in an effort to make it seem like they have an enemy. The word is an African-American Vernacular English synonym for the word “awake.” Staying “woke” is a statement that refers to being aware and educated about social and political issues facing African Americans. Progressives have used the word more recently, especially in 2020, with the protests against police brutality and the systemic issues that Black people face.
In December 2021, Musk called it “a word without humor” and “arguably one of the greatest threats to modern civilization.” He also claims that it suppresses free speech, which is ironic because his friend Donald Trump has run his presidential campaign on censoring history and his enemies. Musk has also been under fire for his app “X,” being accused of censoring users and journalists.
One of Musk’s biggest reaches with this is saying that his estranged “son” was “killed” by “the woke mind virus.” His daughter is not dead, she is just a transgender woman. He alleges that he was “tricked” into allowing his daughter to transition during the pandemic. In her court filing to change her name she said, “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Musk moved his Space X company out of California to Texas in relation to a law put into place that prohibits schools from reporting information regarding a student’s gender identity.
Musk and his conservative colleagues have turned the term “woke” into their red herring to shift focus from the actual issues facing everyday Americans. Labeling those who choose to stay educated as the bad guys is flat-out wrong and dangerous. These situations are not black and white, and things are not simple as one group of people is bad and one is good. Conversations like this require nuance but conservatives like Musk have proved time and time again that they do not care about going outside of their enclosed cage of their own design. They would rather create punching bags to absorb their consequences than confront actual problems and create solutions.
