All American ideas and currents of thought will necessarily be imported to Norway. Last cry from the great continent in the west is woke. Many have probably noticed that something is going on. Activists want to tear down statues, ban cultural appropriation, decolonize the curriculum and teaching staff, remove paintings and words, correct old books, in short remove everything that might offend a new sensibility. Woke can in many ways be seen as the extension of the gay fight, anti-racism and feminism. It’s civil rights 2.0. But has something been lost along the way? This is where Subjekt editor Danby Choi comes into play. The art of getting the last word Choi goes to great lengths in his review of the spread of woke pipes in Norway. The dispute over the Art Academy in Oslo is recapitulated, where a group of students who Choi believes were labeled as racists and right-wing extremists because they opposed the demands for “decolonization” of the school’s curriculum and teaching staff. Occasionally, this becomes overly detailed. There are limits to how many intrigues and slanders in the internal milieu of well-intentioned think tanks and micro-publications one can bear to follow. The discourse sometimes resembles a long Facebook harangue in which Choi lectures and ridicules dissenters, without them being allowed to speak. So here, balanced opposition is missing. Choi is better when he rises to the level of principle, and delivers tributes to truth, science, criticism and open debate. And to what he calls “the mature person”. In other words, a free and enlightened, independent individual, who does not allow himself to be pressured to bow the knee to either religions or political isms. I think that is an ideal worth striving for. Hear news’s critics discuss the book in “Open Book” on news Radio: To think about Sjæl Choi is in many ways the opposite of the woke people’s nightmares. He is one of these who has grown up with and in social media, with a top-tuned rhetorical engine, trained on countless Twitter and Facebook threads. For good measure, he is a second-generation immigrant, with parents from Korea. And also gay. Actually, these qualities about Choi shouldn’t matter in the slightest, but in this case they do. Because within the woke worldview, having an immigrant background and being gay is something that gives extra points. Within the identity political thinking, which both the extreme right and left embrace, your political convictions must follow your identity. Brown-skinned and gay, then you should really be one of us! And it is precisely this simple dichotomy and tribalism that Choi rebels against. HOME WITH: A portrait painting of himself was the result after a trip to the city with artist William Heimdal. Choi was initially unsure whether it was “allowed” to have a portrait of herself on the wall at home, but it eventually ended up in the dining room. Photo: Javier Auris Grand coalition of oppressed Choi shows how the woke worldview evokes a hierarchy of victim statuses, where the most gifted and most significant is the one who is oppressed in the most dimensions. A white middle-class woman can claim victim status by virtue of her gender, but must see herself defeated by the victim status of a black woman, who is oppressed both by virtue of both gender and race, writes Choi. Choi points out that many have been wary of criticizing the woke people, for understandable reasons. Not least because you have to count on being labeled a homophobe, transphobe, sexist or right-wing populist/Alt-right if you disagree with them. Even so, Choi makes a strong effort to pick apart what I also experience as the wakers’ somewhat one-track worldview. As a rule, with a strong anchoring in solid democratic principles, such as that people we disagree with or even don’t like, must also have their say. On the edge of cancellation The weakest parts of the book, in my opinion, are when Choi delves into the personal. Like when he defends his friend Sophie Elise, and her infamous maybe-it’s-drugs-and-maybe-not photo. Here he’s floundering, I mean, and this has nothing to do with either wake or cancellation. Although it is noble enough to defend one’s friend. Another difficult chapter is when Choi talks about the trials surrounding the newspaper he is editor of, Subjekt, where a leading figure in the community was accused of multiple rapes. Choi is committed to supporting the person in question, while at the same time he does not want to make a final decision on the question of guilt. This is, of course, an extremely sensitive issue. Choi includes this story because he believes it may be an example of a Metoo-like witch hunt, where the man must by definition be guilty. But is it? This is just one of several questions that remain open. But the book is thus a defense of freedom of expression. That does not mean that all the statements in the book are indisputable. “Cancel me if you can” is no conclusion at all. But I think it is certainly a solid starting point for further discussion about woke in Norwegian. news reviews Photo: Aschehoug Title: “Cancel me if you can” Author: Danby Choi Genre: Nonfiction Publisher: Aschehoug Published: 16 October 2023 ISBN: 9788203399749 Hi! My name is Ola Hegdal, and I read and review books for news. Preferably crime and suspense literature, or non-fiction. Feel free to read my review of “The Anomaly” by Hervé Le Tellier, “You are a farmer” by Kristin Auestad Danielsen or “The Night Runner” by Karin Fossum.
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“Cancel Me If You Can” by Danby Choi – Reviews and Recommendations
