When did ‘woke’ go wrong? | Rebecca Jane column

I was co-presenting one of their shows with the incredible power house that is Mr Lee Roe, he threw up a question that made my ‘woke’ radar roar.

‘RJ, give me your view on Marks and Spencer bringing out a Colin and Colin Duo caterpillar cake for valentines day’.

Colin is their male caterpillar cake (which, we have to clearly state these days in case I offend someone). Connie is their female caterpillar cake. For Valentine’s Day this year, you could purchase a variety of duo cakes within the same packaging. Colin and Connie. Connie and Connie and Colin and Colin. Of course. (Side note. M&S, where was your non binary effort?!)

I would like to send Marks and Spencer my 2022 award for ‘virtue signalling’. Last year I awarded them the ‘Muppets of the year’ award for suing supermarket Aldi over this rather troublesome caterpillar. Frankly, I expect my picture to be on a Marks and Spencer dart board any moment now. And I’ll help them throw the darts!

Here’s my problem.

If you want to be ‘inclusive’ why the heck do you have to do everything in your power to announce you’re ‘inclusive’? Surely inclusivity is that we support, love and respect every single person. How ever they decide to live their lives. It becomes so ‘normal’ that we don’t have to stick a flag out in the store shouting ‘WE ARE INCLUSIVE… here are two male cakes to prove it’. We just ARE inclusive.

Despite Marks and Spencer’s belief, people are not entirely dim. If they want to buy two Colin Caterpillars, they can. Not everything needs a label!

This may come as a surprise to some readers when I say this. But we don’t have to make a statement about everything!

Who is going to be insulted that Marks and Spencer do not sell two of the same gender cakes in the same packet? If anyone would be offended by this, I suggest there are bigger issues at play!

The problem with a ‘woke’ attitude is the point you’re trying to make becomes lost. Goodness knows we would never want to go back to the dark ages where we weren’t an inclusive society. Heck, our inclusivity is one of the things I love the most about our incredible nation. We’re very accepting of so many beliefs and attitudes, we have advanced decades over recent times. The term ‘woke’ has nothing to do with that!

To me, a ‘woke’ person, is offended by everything. Shouts about anything to make a point, just because they believe theirs is the only point to be made. It is a need to inflame their own ego and importance. Indeed I find the more ‘woke’ a person is, the less inclusive they are!

A woke person has to protest endlessly, shout about everything, take offence at anything and quite honestly, they become exhausting.

In years gone by it was simple. A problem occurred, we found a solution. Today, with a woke attitude, a problem occurs and if you don’t express incredible outrage or analyse to a ridiculous degree what exactly the problem means to every human existing in society, you’re not ‘woke enough’. A solution for the problem often gets forgotten along the way!

Becoming more woke isn’t going to continue changing attitudes. All that will happen is you paralyse people with fear. People want to learn, they want to understand. They’re scared of saying that because there’s probably a ‘woke do gooder’ sat in the wings ready to cancel them if they breathe in the wrong direction.

If woke people want our society to be more inclusive and champion change. I suggest they start with themselves.

Declare yourself ‘woke’ and you’re already putting yourself on a pedestal, declaring everyone who disagrees with you is asleep!

Being ‘inclusive’ isn’t hard. We don’t need to go around wearing a sign around our necks telling the world we support them. We don’t need a megaphone to shout our views from the roof tops. We certainly don’t need two Colin the caterpillar cakes to show two people in a same sex relationship that we support them either.

We sit back in silence, and we just appreciate everyone for who they are. We call out injustice as and when we see it. We find solutions to problems. Ultimately, we just have to be decent, supportive, respectful, understanding and loving humans.

Simple.

To end today… it almost felt wrong to not write about the atrocity happening in Ukraine. Like almost all of our nation, and the world, my heart breaks for them.

Personally, I’ve found the news incredibly difficult to deal with and I don’t think it is right for me to write about the subject just yet.

My thoughts, prayers and love are sent to everyone in Ukraine, all family, friends, our military services supporting the brave souls, anyone struggling with anxiety or depression with the events unfolding and finally our British journalists, who often get forgotten in these troublesome times.

Like so many others, I just desperately hope for peace.