The Stop WOKE Act
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| Ron DeSantis |
DeSantis named the new law the “stop WOKE act” because (1), (2) and (3) are part of a political ideology that is mainly spread by liberals and the far left of the Democratic Party. According to DeSantis, a woke ideology means "an ideology of liberals and the far left." DeSantis vigorously contends that woke ideologies are wrong (false). He assumes (without argument) that if an ideology is wrong, then it is justifiable to suppress it. Suppression of woke ideology is exactly what the stop WOKE act was designed to accomplish.
It should come as no surprise that the stop WOKE act was soon struck down as unconstitutional. Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said in a 44-page ruling that the act "violates the First Amendment" and is “impermissibly vague.” Judge Walker wrote that “If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case, But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents. Because, without justification, the (law) attacks ideas, not conduct, Plaintiffs are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of this lawsuit.”
The First Amendment of the Constitution says "Congress [and the states] shall pass no law … abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." Did Governor DeSantis and those in the Florida legislature who voted for the act carefully read the First Amendment? The governor and most of the Florida legislators went to law school. Did they not take a course in Constitutional Law? Did they read conservative justice Hugo Black's powerful admonition that when the Framers wrote the words "shall pass no law," they meant "no law"?
There are two questions about the suppression of woke ideological speech that political philosophers and theorists might ask: First, how did the definition of the word "woke" change in a way that made it a negative concept suitable as a weapon to be used by one political party against another? Second, aside from the constitutional issues, are there any plausible moral reasons for not suppressing what Governor DeSantis refers to as woke ideology?
What is Woke Speech?
The word ‘woke’ has taken on a new meaning in the last decade. People are said to be woke if they are “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)" (Merriam-Webster). Opinions and ideas are woke if they are about important facts and issues that make people be aware and actively attentive.
It makes sense to say that the ideas and perspectives of many great philosophers were woke in their time. Consider Socrates’ opinion that he is the wisest person in Athens because he is the only one who knows that he knows nothing (Apology); Plato’s idea that only philosophers should rule the city-state (Republic); John Locke’s idea that an absolute monarchy is a logical impossibility (Second Treatise of Government); Rousseau’s idea that man is born free, but is everywhere in chains (The Social Contract). Each of these ideas meets Merriam-Webster’s criteria for being woke.
Although the Merriam-Webster definition of ‘woke’ uses racial and social justice as an example of an important perspective or issue, the quoted definition says “especially issues of racial and social justice,” not “exclusively issues of racial and social justice.” This leaves plenty of room for other ideas or perspectives (for example, issues about abortion law) because the definition says nothing about what makes any idea or perspective ‘important’ other than "awakening" lots of people. But what is important to me may not be important to you. This is especially true about political and religious ideas. I am woke if I embrace the idea that women should have full control over their bodies, and you are woke if you deny this. All that matters is that our ideas are important, whatever they may be.
The broad Merriam-Webster definition of "woke" has been changed recently by Florida governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis does not want his conservative political and cultural views to be referred to as woke. Instead, he uses the word ‘woke’ in his speeches as a negative word that applies only to liberal and far left ideology. For DeSantis, labeling an idea or perspective as ‘woke’ is like labeling a jar of arsenic as poisonous. And this is sufficient for him to loudly declare that woke perspectives are wrong and should be suppressed by law and public opinion.
Should Woke Speech be Suppressed?
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| John Stuart Mill |
This is where John Stuart Mill and his famed 19th- century book On Liberty (1859) enter the debate. If Mill was alive at the time the stop WOKE act was being debated in the Florida legislature, he would have vigorously argued that there no moral justification for making illegal the woke speech cited in (1), (2) and (3).
Mill’s argument for this is set out in chapter 2 of On Liberty (“Liberty of Thought and Expression”). Without going into a lot of detail, here is one of Mill’s arguments against the suppression of speech:
"(T)he peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is that it is robbing the human race …If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth; if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced by its collision with error."
Applying Mill’s argument to the (alleged) woke opinion #3 that “discrimination is an acceptable way to achieve diversity in education and business,” Mill’s first task would be to get the Florida legislature to admit that this opinion might be true. Mill writes that “to deny this is to assume our own infallibility.”
If it is admitted that no legislator is infallible, then it is possible that woke opinion #3 is true. If it is found to be true, then those who believe that it is false will be "robbed" by the Woke act of the opportunity to “exchange error for truth.” Although there are some politicians in our society who think it is a good thing to get others to believe a lie, this is usually good only for the politician and not for the populace at large.
On the other hand, if the woke opinion is false, then silencing the promulgation of the opinion and any debate about it ultimately robs the populace of the benefit gained from the “clearer perception and livelier impression” of the truth as it collides with the so-called erroneous woke opinion. This happens when we are forced to think critically and defend our ideas.
But none of this will happen if woke perspectives are silenced. Instead, non-woke (conservative) political opinions will become dogma. Mill writes that citizens will eventually forget the rational basis for the approved non-woke opinions and they will revert to “the manner of prejudice, …[thereby preventing] the growth of any real and heart-felt conviction from reason or personal experience.”
Perhaps reversion to "the manner of prejudice" about their non-woke political opinions is what Governor DeSantis and his Republican loyalists want for the people of Florida.
Is this what Floridians want? Is this what you want?
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References:
"What is the DeSantis Stop woke Act?" https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/3608241-what-is-desantiss-stop-woke-act/
"Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks DeSantis Stop Woke Law. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/18/federal-judge-temporarily-blocks-desantis-stop-woke-law-00052768
On Liberty. 1859. John Stuart Mill. Hackett Classics edition (1978). Hackett Publishing Company. 1978.
Understanding John Stuart Mill: The Smart Student's Guide to Utilitarianism and On Liberty (2017). Laurence Houlgate, Kindle edition (Amazon).
Good piece. I floated an opinion on another blog this morning, where the writer was addressing a related topic. I pointed out that conservative ideology is best suited to folks who reject change, and that position is widely held in the United States. Americans are heavily traditionalist---many would just as soon remain asleep.
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