Company criticised for 'offensive' 'woke-free zone' flag outside HQ
A company has come under fire for flying an "offensive" "woke-free zone" flag at its new headquarters.
A local resident said the flag shows a "complete lack of inclusivity" and expressed shock that the company's HR department would allow the statement to be on display. The resident added: "[It] astounds me that their HR department would condone this display of complete and utter discrimination".
Founder of Net World Sports, Alex Loven, defended the flag by saying it represented a valid viewpoint. He argued that a "cloak of wokeness" had taken over all aspects of society, including education, culture and mainstream media.
The boss defended the flag and gave a long speech about how woke values were destroying the youth of today (handout)The boss of the Wrexham-based company said: "It's more than reasonable to question the value of the cloak of wokeness that has enveloped all parts of society from education to mainstream media." He added that the company questioned whether the "woke narrative" is aiding the development of young people and that it would be "completely disingenuous to say otherwise if we don't believe in it".
The term "woke" first popped up in the 1940s, used by African Americans to mean becoming aware of justice issues. But over the last ten years, it's come to cover a wider understanding of social inequalities like racial justice, sexism and LGBT rights. It's now often used as an insult, especially by those who see others as being too sensitive to these issues.
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A local resident, who wanted to stay anonymous, said: "I am utterly disgusted to find that a local business within my community is promoting a Woke Free Zone. I find this deeply offensive and the fact they are highlighting this with a flag outside the building shows a complete lack of morals and inclusivity. I would be very disappointed to find that anyone would affiliate with such a business who have an obvious lack of ethnic, racial and sexual minority awareness and understanding."
Mr Loven stated: "The qualities and values we promote and develop in young people are confidence, taking ownership, independent thought, communication, teamwork, decency, dividends of hard work and finally resilience. We are sure anyone reading this will at least concur to some extent that these are not things which are overflowing in youngsters of today. Our sole objective is it give young people the skills they need to flourish. The question that we must ask is, as a country are we failing young people?"
"That's an open question, but if you look around the alarm bells are ringing and at this stage, it's more than reasonable to question the value of the cloak of wokeness that has enveloped all parts of society from education to mainstream media."
"We are a business shooting for the stars and as we power through galaxy after galaxy, it's the trailblazers we have nurtured who are both the astronauts and mission control of Net World. The success of our methods is clear - our 10 most senior people in this £80m business have an average age of 29 and below them, we have a pool of talent as bright as the Great Barrier Reef. What's more, these are completely normal people, mostly from Wrexham, who left education with no idea what they wanted to do, and we've made them into world-beaters (having started at the bottom)."
"We set out to take everyone with us on the full journey, the world treats people as expendable; but we build from the ground up and take everyone with us and we are confident to say there are no other businesses on this planet that can boast as loudly as we can on this. Forget university, the greatest academy on earth is Net World."
"Simply put, we question whether the woke narrative is aiding the development of young people and it would be completely disingenuous to say otherwise if we don't believe in it. The world is a tough place and life is full of challenges. A sense of entitlement or bone idleness won't get you anywhere. We should be building young people up, not pulling them down. Help them develop skills, confidence, give them opportunities to flourish, a sense of purpose, reward success and there's a good chance personal happiness follows. Do this and the world becomes a much easier place to make a success of."
"It's not just us questioning the merits of wokeness. There's a little known chap who has a rocket, car, satellite, tunnelling and social media business called Elon who is challenging this narrative on a much wider scale than us."
"Finally, we must all reflect on how the world has been shaped by the great pioneers. These people weren't afraid to challenge convention. From Galileo to The Suffragettes it was discoveries and principles which drove these people on. We wouldn't for one minute say we can hold a candle to these great pioneers, but we do take inspiration and judging by our results we think we have made a highly significant breakthrough. For young people, Net World is simply the best place to be."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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