Credit: HBOSurprise surprise, Logan Roy hates “Woke Culture,” and he went on Piers Morgan to talk about how he blames Millennials for it.
“Wait,” you must be thinking, “The dad from Succession? Isn’t that show over?” Yep. We’re actually talking about actor Brian Cox – but the complaint, on the face of it, sounds so much like something Logan Roy would complain about, it was impossible to resist.
The Scottish actor went on Piers Morgan Uncensored, the talk show hosted by divisive conservative British figure Piers Morgan, to talk about his frustration with Millennials, social media, “woke” culture, and the divided nature of our current society.
Brian Cox Blames Millennials, Social Media For Hated “Woke Culture”
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Cox began by saying that he thinks social media is hindering, not helping, our ability to come together and heal as a society, saying that it points out inadequacies too readily. He then continured, saying that “the whole woke culture is truly awful.”
“Who are the arbiters of this shaming? And it’s very hard to pin them down, and, it turns out, it’s usually a bunch of Millennials. And who gave them the halos? I suppose in a way they’re probably saying, ‘Well you’ve all screwed it up so we may as well do something about it.’ But it’s from the wrong principle. It comes from the wrong place.”
Cox may have a point. The movement he’s describing with the word “woke” – which simply means to be awakened to the injustices in society – began with things like Time’s Up, and other early efforts began out of a genuine desire to hold guilty people accountable, but perhaps we need to look at how far the pendulum is swinging.
The COVID-19 pandemic made everyone a little crazy in ways we still don’t entirely understand, so maybe it time to and try to have a little more compassion an understanding when someone says or does the wrong thing.
Is Cox Right About Cancel Culture? It Depends.
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Of course, the thing is that with all of these discussions, it really depends on what, specifically, we’re talking about forgiving people for – and people who complain about “woke culture” are almost never that specific.
Should we perhaps pull back on “cancelling” someone who thoughtlessly uses a word they didn’t understand was a slur, or getting people fired when they get a little heated on the internet? Maybe. Should we ignore it when someone willfully punches down on a marginalized community, or engages in a smear campaign against a person or group who did nothing to them? Absolutely not.
We can see where Cox is coming from, and there certainly is something to be said for the fact that everyone seems a lot more willing to be angry with one another these days, instead of trying to reach out and understand. However, the Millennials, as bands have now been singing for generations, “didn’t start the fire.”
Regardless, Blaming Millennials Is Very Boomer of Brian Cox
You can perhaps begin blaming Millennials with “halos” for throwing stones when they themselves are imperfect, but the fact is that people have always wanted accountability, and raging at a specific age group for being the ones to actually get it isn’t exactly fair – blaming social media is probably a much more accurate take.
What’s more likely: that a specific generation masterminded a scheme to redo McCarthyism (something that Cox has accused them of on Morgan’s show in the past)? Or that the first generation of people to colonize social media didn’t understand how just easy it is to be meaner or ruder to people in conversation when you aren’t looking them in the eye?
Brian Cox is betraying his age on this one. Cancel culture is just the social media era iteration of gossip – yes, we all recognize that gossiping is not an inherently good act, but it is human and unavoidable, as is having an opinion when you hear that someone has done something upsetting.
Social media has made it faster, and perhaps ruder, but it hasn’t created anything that wasn’t already there. It just made it much harder to ignore.
What do you think of Brian Cox’s opinions on “woke culture?” Let Inside the Magic know in the comments below.