How far do you agree that woke culture brings about more harms than benefits? [12]

Support your answer with reference to:

·       The ideas and opinions from at least one of the reading passages

·       Examples drawn from your own experience and that of your society.

• Explain the extent to which woke culture is beneficial or harmful for their society

• Support their views with reasoned argument

• Show understanding of the ideas and attitudes in the passages

• Explain the extent of their agreement with them

EXPLANATION. Candidates should show understanding of some of the following issues: (Frame as questions: *see attached photo)

General advice (e.g. on claim selection, and to avoid misinterpretation)

• Avoid engaging the events and examples in the passages (are there are BLM protests in Singapore?). Instead, engage with arguments (is wokeness just ‘striving for fairness’? does it ‘make a better world’?) and general observations (do disagreements lead to debate or cancel culture in Singapore?) at a deeper level. Move beyond the what to the why and how.

• Discussing woke culture as perpetrated by an individual without making the link to what happens on a collective/societal level limits your engagement with the question. Engage the topic on a broader level to capture the scope of the term.

• Also consider analysing the benefits and drawbacks of ‘wokeness’ beyond the level of the individual; instead, think about how your society might benefit or suffer from woke culture. Also pay close attention to the idea of ‘what sort of society does woke culture ultimately create?’, which is a prominent thread through all three passages. Your evaluation could include an extrapolation of the broad effects one society if certain trends or instincts are widespread and sustained (does society become fairer, or more oppressive?)

• As woke culture examples may include prominent examples involving scandals or controversy, avoid listing details irrelevant to the discussion, or spending many words (and minutes) describing ‘the back story’ and setting context. Condense your examples and illustrations.

• Also avoid merely furnishing examples from your own immediate experience (e.g. what you did and how your friends responded). Use SPECTRAL and GCI to brainstorm and broaden discussion points. Link it to broader trends and attitudes across society, or other examples and references beyond your own personal experience.

• Morality, moral responsibility, and the duty to speak/withhold judgement. Also related: Freedom of speech.

• Considerations of guilt, punishment and proportionality. Also related: Retribution, deterrent effect, presumption of innocence before guilt is proven, mob justice, etc.

• Issues related to race, religion, language, culture (and changing attitudes towards these issues)

• Polarisation and fragmentation of society (or the preservation of common ground and values)

• Forgiveness and empathy; the rehabilitation of the public image of individuals and institutions.

• Individual rights vs the public good (e.g. expressing anger vs respecting the due process of the law)

• If there should be institutional consequences for private behaviour (e.g. forced unemployment from being cancelled)

• The reach and influence of social media, including filter bubbles, echo chambers, etc.

• Sensationalism embedded in the attention economy (e.g. ‘Clickbait’ / ’Ragebait’ articles, warped representation of current events, etc)

EVALUATION. Candidates should: 

• Question/show reasons for approving of some of these views

• Give examples from their own and their society’s experience in support of their view.

• May put forward original ideas on the benefits – or otherwise – of woke culture.

Not the first time SM Lee has been praised for his take on woke culture.

In the United States, the 2024 election produced a political shockwave: Donald Trump returned to power, propelled not just by his loyal base but by a growing middle-ground backlash against “woke excesses.” Many voters, tired of ideological overreach in schools, corporations, and media, swung back toward what they perceived as “common sense.”

The key lesson? When the opposition to an establishment party embraces too much progressive ideology detached from real-world concerns, they alienate moderates and lose elections.

In 2025, Singapore may be facing a similar inflection point.

There are some aspects of the woke movement I genuinely applaud. For example, cancelling slurs like “slut”, “faggot”, and “tranny”.

Language shapes how we think, and consequently, how societies function. 

In cancelling words and phrases that perpetuate negative stereotypes — women should not be sexually promiscuous, being gay or transgender is derogable — I believe we are making the world a better place.

What I cannot get on board with is the cancelling of people and organisations for believing or saying something that opposes the “woke stance”, whatever the issue." (Taken from the article: click on article to read more!)