Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam

Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam by Vivek Ramaswamy

I was expecting this to be a Fox News style attack on woke ideologies written to advance presidential ambitions. Instead, it is an indictment of big business.  Big companies are more than willing to perform window-dressing to help them gain advantage. The book provides various anecdotes such as companies that provide "service" that involves a day at the pub, or mandate "diverse boards" after all boards are diverse. 

He feels that the requirement that corporations seek to maximize shareholder value is a feature, not a bug. When they drift to other areas, they can obtain too much power in society. "Social Good" can help to produce value. However, it can also lead to "faking it". The example of Volkswagen faking admissions results was given. They tried to show they were being good and maximized value, but did so by cheating. Other companies like "beyond meat" have helping the environment integrated into their shareholder mission. He gives them a pass.

He criticizes the unwritten requirements that people voice support for Black Lives Matter, while not being allowed to disparage China's human rights record. 

The end is an attack on big tech. They have become a defacto communications platform, yet they are exempt from first amendment requirements. They are thus able to shut down content that they view to be "fake news" or "hate speech". While some of this content is negative, other is legitimate part of the debate. Moving dissenters off the mainstream can lead to further separation of society.

The argument is fairly well reasoned. The examples from the Covid-19 pandemic helped emphasize the points. Big tech was encouraged to de-prioritize and censor arguments that went against the official stance. However, the official police was evolving. At first, human to human transmission was not acknowledge. The CDC initially saw no benefits in masks. Later both of these were flipped. Even more problematic were restrictions on policy discussion. The policies started to become more and more nonsensical. (Parts of stores closed off as being "non-essential". Working outside was a danger, while protesting with crowds was not.) The burdens of the policies were disproportionately felt. Office workers could continue to work from home without issue. Low wage service workers could collect unemployment that exceeded their previous wages. Middle-wage blue collar workers, freelancers and small business owners had the biggest challenges. They couldn't work. Unemployment didn't cover what they lost. While there was government aid, it was not easy to come by. There was also the simple desire to work rather than be on the dole. By silencing arguments along party lines this further discouraged these people from following other policies that they might agree with.

What are the solutions? He has a few. One is a legal argument similar to how sex discrimination protections were extended based on sexual attraction. Wokeness has become almost a state religion. The constitution provides freedom of religion. Thus people are equally free to not follow the woke religion. He also proposes changes to liability for companies when they delve outside the realm of maximizing shareholder value. Furthermore, if tech companies are large gatekeepers, they should also be subject to the first amendment. While communication has been open to seemingly many voices today, it has been centralized at various chokepoints. One persons "hate speech" may be another persons heart-felt belief. We must keep all communication open to survive as a society.