The Woke Backlash: AOC's Controversial Phrase Sparks Debate

A phrase that has been gaining traction on social media, ‘Woke 1 was crazy,’ is at the center of a heated debate. The term refers to the excesses of the progressive movement during its peak in recent years. But what exactly does it mean? And who gets to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently used this phrase on ABC, downplaying the controversy surrounding former Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong’s old tweets. However, her attempt at deflection only seemed to fuel the fire.

Some moderates and conservatives see ‘Woke 1 was crazy’ as a dismissive label for the very real issues that arose during this period. They argue that it trivializes the concerns of marginalized communities and ignores the harm caused by some progressive policies.

On the other hand, many on the left are questioning what exactly they’re supposed to be backing away from. Cultural commentator Ryan Broderick pointed out that using this phrase can be seen as empowering sexism and bigotry: ‘Was #MeToo crazy? Was protesting police killing unarmed Black people live on camera crazy?’

The phrase was popularized by New York City Councilman Chi Ossé, who used it in May to downplay his own overbearing 2021 tweet. It’s an implicit acknowledgment from Ossé and other left-leaning personalities that during the ‘peak woke’ years, certain things got out of hand.

But at what cost? The progressive movement’s efforts to address issues like police brutality and sexual harassment were often overshadowed by harmful overreactions. For instance, professors were investigated, suspended, and fired for saying a Mandarin word that sounded offensive in English or showing artwork depicting Muhammad.

David Shor was even fired for tweeting research that showed nonviolent protests are more effective than violent ones. Two Black teenagers in Seattle were murdered because the city wanted to let anarchists create an ‘autonomous zone’ with no policing. And perhaps most consequentially, many cities defunded their police departments, including AOC’s own backyard.

The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, cut anywhere from $420 million to $1 billion and more than 1,100 officers from the NYPD’s budget while murder rates were spiking to the highest level in almost a decade. This is what makes ‘Woke 1 was crazy’ frustrating: it’s unclear exactly what you mean by it.

Does it refer to prosecuting Harvey Weinstein? Pronoun buttons and land acknowledgments? Firing professors for wrongthink? Defunding the police? Body-positive models on the Victoria’s Secret runway? The ambiguity of this phrase is part of its effectiveness, but also its problem.

The fact that AOC was one of those people who helped orchestrate ‘Woke 1’ makes her use of this phrase particularly galling. She and others seem to be backing down from their past statements without fully acknowledging the harm caused by some progressive policies.

It’s not just about being a stick in the mud; it’s about holding people accountable for their actions. The excesses of ‘Woke 1’ were real, and they need to be addressed head-on rather than dismissed with a vague phrase that means different things to different people.