Brenner:Das Ende des Wokeismus

In just a few years, public cultural life in Europe and the USA has changed dramatically. Terms that previously played a role in entirely different areas, such as at airports, now also govern and regulate the lives of those on the ground: events are canceled, or safe spaces are created. Just as a flight suddenly disappears from the departure board, so too do lecture titles unexpectedly vanish from organizers' programs. Musicians can find themselves suddenly deemed unacceptable due to their hairstyle. Those who do not want to be deemed unacceptable must therefore pay close attention to what is considered appropriate to say and, above all, meticulously avoid anything that is regarded as taboo in the new culture. In a word, one must be woke in the new culture of wokeness. What wokeness also disrupts in its fervor of canceling is the movement of Enlightenment. Thus, it is no longer individuals that matter, but collective identities; no longer arguments, but beliefs. However, this new culture undermines its own foundation, which is why one can already speak of the end of wokeness today, at the height of its influence.