Woke Capital Receding?

By Michael Brendan Dougherty 

Thursday, February 01, 2023 

 

A friend flags this item from Axios. Corporations that had made a lot of noise about social justice as recently as 2020 have suddenly gone silent. 

 

State of play: In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, executives from Dell Technologies, Merck and Ford made statements slamming police brutality. 

 

• However, when asked how the leaders were responding to the fatal police beating of Tyre Nichols, reps from all three companies declined to comment. 

 

• The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion — which consists of 2,400 CEOs who publicly “pledged to create more inclusive cultures while not being afraid of having difficult conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion” — also provided “no comment.” 

 

The experts at Axios have all sorts of guesses as to why this is happening: It’s partly the Silicon Valley recession, or it is fatigue. Perhaps it’s investor pushback against ESG. 

 

My guess is that we are seeing something like a thermostatic reaction. When Donald Trump was president, the entire establishment was put on a war footing. Now that Joe Biden is in office, the private sphere can stand at ease. Instead of pushing for new territory, progressives in corporate life will content themselves to consolidating what they’ve already captured. 

 

Axios is upset.  They write (emphasis theirs): “Reality check: Corporate silence could crater civil discourse.” 

 

I don’t know about that. Civil discourse existed in America before Nike got involved. I’m sure it can survive without Dell.