Stephanie thinks “woke” culture has gone too far and has started a blog to push back against political correctness in the workplace. Is woke orthodoxy a suppressive force? And more importantly, is fighting against it cool?

“America was founded on the principle of free speech, which means that I can say something that's unpopular or that someone disagrees with. If we lose that, we will regret it.”

Listen to Stephanie’s submission featured in Episode 75 of How Cool Is This? and read a transcript of the full 5-minute podcast episode below:

Stephanie: Hi, my name is Stephanie and I run a blog called Corporate Wokeplace.

Earlier this year, a high school student started an online petition to ask Trader Joe's to change the name of the food lines, Trader Ming's, Trader Joe's and Trader Jose's because she felt it was racist. The position reached over 2,500 signatures. And because of this, Trader Joe's decided to disband the use of those names, which had stood the test of time since the company's inception. In the 11th hour, however, Trader Joe's reversed course and put out a statement saying that they were going to continue with these international food labels. Furthermore, they denied that this packaging is racist in any way.

Our world today has a sinister component called cancel culture, which allows people and companies to quote, ‘be canceled’ if they deviate from politically correct - often referred to as ‘woke’ orthodoxy. Meaning if you don't think like the woke crowd does, and you say so, they will try to destroy you. People are being doxed, harassed, and fired due to this.

America was founded on the principle of free speech, which means that I can say something that's unpopular or that someone disagrees with. If we lose that, we will regret it.

There was nothing racist about Trader Joe's food packaging. In fact, I think it celebrates the food culture, and I think it was a very good thing that Trader Joe’s stood up for their company and didn't give in. In fact, I think it's pretty cool.

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Brian: Nick, Corporate Wokeplace… how cool is this? 

Nick: First of all, it's a decent pun. But I have a hard time believing that all of these things corporations are doing right now to make marginalized groups feel more accepted are bad things. 

Brian: Yeah, it's tough because when a corporation is doing it, it can feel disingenuous regardless of if it's cool or not. Regardless of whether you agree with it politically, it is always motivated by the bottom line 

Nick: Totally, corporations aren't inherently altruistic. So, anything that they're doing, like you said, is only to make sure that they make more money. If the action is motivated by making more money, is that cool? 

Brian: Not necessarily. And I think it's worth pointing out, too, that a lot of these actions are usually reactionary rather than something inherent to the business. 

Nick: Just because corporations might be doing these things that make them seem more quote-unquote woke, does not mean that corporations are cool. 

Brian: And I think that's probably not what she's suggesting. She's saying like, “Hey, let's keep politics out of the workplace,” which there's an argument for that as well.

Nick: I would argue that not using racial stereotypes on your packaging has nothing to do with politics.

So, if you want to keep politics out of the workplace, yeah, I get that. But if you want to make sure that you're not putting  a man with a sombrero on your package of tortilla chips, I don't think that's politics. 

Brian: But I don't know. I think it's kind of cool to take a stand in general. Like the idea of, “Hey, I don't believe in this” and kind of pushing back against a group of people is cool, conceptually

Nick: Fundamentally, taking a stand, believing in things, is good. That's cool. But when you're taking a stand for something that no one needs to take a stand against? You've always been allowed to say whatever you want, you just have to accept the consequences. That's how free speech works.

Brian: There has been an accepted norm of doing things for so long. And now that is being challenged by people who have access to tools to raise their voice. It is becoming a challenge for people who have never really had to think outside of their own perspective before.

I think the readers of Corporate Wokeplace are probably viewing this as a “give a mouse, a cookie situation.” It's like all right, what next? What next is probably some type of reparations. 

Nick: They're worried that this is a slippery slope. Kind of like I'm still waiting to be able to get married to animals after they legalized gay marriage. That's supposed to happen, right?

Brian: That's the argument, is my understanding. And you know, if you want to get married to your dog, you’re probably already f*cking your dog. 

There is an element of conformity, of constraining yourself, to fit to what the tribe says. But I think one tribe is saying, “Hey, we want equality.” And the other one is saying, “Don't change anything,” at the most reductive level. 

Nick: I don't think it's cool to be conformist and to just do what everybody says you're supposed to do. But in my mind, when someone comes up and says, “Hey, the thing that you're saying, the thing, the language that you're using is hurtful to me.” I think you have to respect that. To me, that's not being a conformist. That's just being respectful.  

Learn more about the Trader Joe’s story in The New York Times.

Read more of Stephanie’s blog and perspective at www.corporatewokeplace.com

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