An old word has new life in the American lexicon, as "woke" has taken center stage in the culture wars presently raging in American society. It can be argued that "political correctness" was the precursor to being "woke." To be honest, the whole politically correct thing, though well-intended, often got on my nerves. A lot. As with most things in life, it's easy to go overboard on a subject or practice, even with good intent.
The concept of being politically correct dates back a lot longer than you might suspect. For instance, when I was a kid, as the garbage trucks lumbered up and down the streets of my old neighborhood in East Hattiesburg, we would refer to the men emptying those huge metal cans of trash into the back of the trucks as "garbage men." Even then, in the mid-1960s, we considered "garbage men," which I have to always put in quotes, at the bottom of the economic totem pole. It was not uncommon to hear a Black mother, in an effort to get her son to work harder in school, say to him, "Do you want to grow up to be a garbage man?!" Ouch.
In those days, working on a garbage truck was doubly demeaning. That's because, in every case, there would be a crew of Black men slinging garbage cans onto the back of the trucks as a white man sat up front, driving. Even us kids, unable at the time to grasp the social depravity we saw every day, accepted it as, simply, the way of the world we lived in. But here's the thing. Even though their job would never qualify as prestigious, toiling in the brutally hot Mississippi sun for meager wages, they were performing a service none of us could live without, no matter which side of the tracks you lived on.
As society evolved, more sensitive minds thought they deserved more respectable job titles than "garbage men." The term was replaced by a more "sanitary" title, pun intended. They became sanitation workers or even sanitation engineers. Sounds fancier, more respectable and certainly more politically correct. You get it, more "woke."
During the early years of the feminist movement, women even got in on the act. The title "housewife" came to be seen as servile to some degree. Homemaker was a little more suitable with some going so far as to play with "domestic engineer."
Here in the 21st century, some (me included) might say that sensitivity and wokeness is getting out of hand. To avoid public ridicule or, in some cases, loss of livelihood, you have to be extra careful about the words you use, especially when it comes to race or gender, so as not to offend any one person or group. The National Football League's Harrison Butker found that out the hard way.
During his keynote speech at Benedictine College, a private Catholic institution in Atchinson, Kansas, Butker riled societal nerves, on multiple levels. Besides being a star kicker for the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, Butker is an unapologetic conservative. He often sides with national Republican firebrands like Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. Closely following the Republican playbook on social issues, he came down hard on abortion rights, the LGBQT community and career paths women choose for themselves.
The section of Butker's speech getting the most attention was his advice to the female graduates in the audience, "Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are more excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world." Never mind the young women in the audience whose choice to attend college probably meant they had ideas of their own about what was best for their futures.
Butker also went after LGBTQ rights, criticizing what he called "dangerous gender ideologies" being pushed on the youth of America, a thinly veiled poke at gay and trans rights. Going more broadly, he encouraged the students to have "Catholic pride," rather than that of members of the LGBTQ community, participating in what was "the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it." Guess we know how he feels about June being Gay Pride Month. Incidentally, Butker's comment is the dangerous kind of dehumanizing rhetoric that can lead to violence against members of the LGBTQ community.
In his conservative admonitions, Butker seemed to reduce a woman's role in society to, basically, a biological function: birthing children, then becoming a homemaker. You know, the old "Ozzie and Harriet" routine of the 1950s. Ironically, he didn't say to the men that being a dad should be their primary goals in life. I guess he figures they have more important goals to strive for.
Enter the woke folk, as a viral backlash followed on the heels of to Butker's speech. He was roundly criticized by liberal elements of the media, and late-night comics delighted in ridiculing his speech. On the other side, no surprise here, he was praised by conservative media. I come down somewhere in the middle.
For those ladies whose goal in life is to marry, have children and be stay-at-home moms (domestic engineers, if you will), I salute you. Some women are very happy making that choice and they do play an important role in society. I have a feeling though, that young women graduating college may have other priorities on their minds. Butker may not have chosen the best audience for his advice. Worth noting: Butker's mother, Elizabeth, is a graduate school-educated medical physicist at Atlanta's Emory University. Seems she had time to both pursue a professional career and raise her two sons. How about that? I'm certain he's very proud of her.
Butker's speech was anything but "woke," and I didn't come here to condemn, or to praise it. The most important thing is his First Amendment right to express his opinion, period. Personally, I thought his views were straight out of the Stone Age and, in some cases, prejudicial. Still, his right to say what he wants, publicly, is matched only by my right to disagree — publicly. The fact that we can freely do that is what makes America, well, great.
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Elijah Jones is a proud Hattiesburg native who enjoys writing. Email him at edjhubtown@aol.com.
