SINGAPORE: On Wednesday (Aug 21) Tesla CEO and owner of X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk shared a video clip of then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong talking about wokeness that has received a lot of attention online. Mr Musk appeared to be impressed with Mr Lee’s take on wokeness, simply captioning the video with the word “Wisdom.”
The clip is from an interview given by Mr Lee to members of the media shortly before stepping down as Prime Minister in May. His remarks were part of an answer he gave when questioned about racism from Berita Harian’s Hadi Saparin.
“Woke” is a term that began to be used in the United States among Blacks in the 2010s, originally referring to a greater awareness of inequalities, particularly racial injustice, sexism, and LGBT rights. In the years that followed, many progressives, especially from younger generations, widely used. In 2017, the term was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
By 2019, there was considerable backlash toward woke and “the wokeness movement” and the term has since gained a negative connotation among the more conservative factions in society.
“In the West, they have a movement called wokeness, where you are super sensitive about other people that you become super sensitive about other people’s issues, and you become hypersensitive when other people somehow or other say things or mention things or refer to you, without the respect which you or your super subgroup feel you are entitled to,” said SM Lee.
CNA posted the clip on YouTube on May 11.
He added that wokeness can lead to extreme attitudes and social norms, and underlined that it can make life burdensome. Wokeness also does not contribute to resilience and social cohesion, he said, calling for people to be “more robust.”
Since Mr Musk shared the clip, it has been viewed over 33 million times and shared over 73,000 times. His post has also received over 8,500 comments, with many X users agreeing with Mr Musk and praising SM Lee.
One wrote that as Singapore’s Prime Minister, he is “to be respected and emulated as leader of the most fascinating, exciting, vibrant, and naturally diverse” country she had traveled to, calling Singapore “incomparable.”
Another X user called Singapore “a beacon in the dark.”
Even commenters who appeared to have no idea of who Mr Lee is praised his take on wokeness.
“I really like HOW ‘OBJECTIVE’ he speaks about the topic!!!There is NO sign of HATE. He just ANALYZES the situation and share his CONCERNS. @elonmusk WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE HIM!!,” wrote one, adding, “Who is this man?” /TISG
Read also: Singaporeans slam netizen who mocks local activists as “woke SJWs”