Woke witch-hunts are more sinister than McCarthyism
THE grim phenomenon of McCarthyism in 1950s America used to be seen as a warning from history about the dangers of political oppression. An intolerant rightwing bully, Senator Joe McCarthy created a climate of fear with his relentless quest to root out alleged subversion with witch-hunts, sackings, blacklists, show trials and smears as he spread his poison across US public life.
Yet today, his methods have been eagerly adopted by social justice warriors on both sides of the Atlantic. Driven by the woke agenda, McCarthyism has returned with a vengeance. The new incarnation is just as eager to crush its enemies but it is perhaps even more sinister because its fanatical campaign of intimidation is helped by the tools of modern technology, including social media and digital surveillance.
All this is utterly alien to the British tradition of liberty. Ours is the land of the first Parliamentary democracy and pioneer of the concept of individual rights. But today the flag of freedom flies low, pulled down by self-righteous zealots who demand absolute compliance with their narrow creed.
The victims of this modern British form of McCarthyism grow in number all the time.
APRIME recent example is Kathleen Stock, a highly respected philosophy professor at Sussex University, who was hounded out of her job by transgender activists for daring to express her belief in the biological reality of womanhood.
Similarly Michael Vaughan, one of the all-time greats of English cricket, was dropped this month by the BBC as an analyst after he was accused of making a derogatory remark to an Asian player at Yorkshire 12 years ago. Vaughan fiercely denies the claim, but in the bleak doctrinaire world of McCarthyism, a mere accusation can be enough to taint or wreck an honourable career.
The woke activists blather about fighting prejudice yet their actions can be viciously bigoted. Only last week, a howling mob threatened the Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely after she had participated in an event at the London School of Economics. Ms Hotovely, who had to be bundled into a car by security, rightly complained that the toxic atmosphere was infused with anti-semitism.
At times, cruelty results from the hysterical cancel culture, as happened with Nigel Farage, the veteran Brexiteer, when he was asked recently to speak at a non-political function hosted by Preston rugby club to raise funds for a local hospice. As soon as the event was advertised, an online campaign was organised to get it banned. The militants succeeded. The invitation to Farage was withdrawn, the event cancelled and the hospice denied badly-need cash.
At other times, the antics of woke warriors can just be absurd. Earlier this month, the well-known historian Andrew Graham-Dixon took part in a debate at the Cambridge Union in which he ridiculed Nazi attitudes towards art. His performance, including a mocking imitation of Hitler, attracted the ire of the Cambridge Union President Keir Bradwell, who stated he would put Graham Dixon on a “blacklist” of speakers never to be invited again.
IT OFTEN feels as if we are living through a progressive cultural revolution. Having seized control of so many of our public institutions, the commissars now indulge in constant brainwashing in support of their cause, through endless propaganda, concocted media rows and re-education programmes. So much of life is now viewed through the prism of their divisive identity politics, from television drama to National Trust properties. Theirs is a bizarre world where author J.K. Rowling is treated as an enemy of the people and British history is regarded as a narrative of shame.
Our once free country is now scarred by thought crimes and censorship. According to the Free Speech Union, in the five years to 2020, the police recorded 120,000 so-called “non-crime hate incidents”. Social media accounts are routinely trawled for signs of heresy or unsavoury opinions, while many publishers employ “sensitivity readers”.
Always eager to extend control, the woke mob will no doubt be delighted by an invention called Themis. Currently being trialled in classrooms and universities, it is a lamp-sized detector that uses speech recognition to sound a loud alarm if it detects any offensive language among a gathering.
The Themis sounds like something from science fiction but in reality it shows the levels of totalitarianism to which we are sinking, cheered on by the new McCarthyites.
‘A mere accusation can be enough to wreck an honourable career’