Why We Walk on Eggshells

Political and social movements seldom appear out of nowhere. They have roots.  Some of the Woke Era's roots lie in our civil rights laws. By prohibiting discrimination, these laws were intended calm tensions among the races and between the sexes.  And they've had a lot of success.  But some civil rights laws—whether because they were not well thought out or because the Supreme Court bent over backwards to misinterpret them—have had the opposite effect. A prime example is the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which, for the first time, made lawsuits alleging racial or sexual harassment potentially lucrative for plaintiffs.  Alas, the '91 Act left the concept of harassment vague; relatively harmless statements that somebody found "offensive" could help land an employer in trouble.  Employers panicked and started what came to be called "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" training.  Their employees were urged to walk on eggshells.  Even things like "I believe the most qualified person should get the job" were forbidden.  No one should be surprised that after decades of this, employees—especially those whose views are conservative, libertarian or centrist—would go silent on issues of race and sex.  It's easy to see where this leads:  When everyday Americans with conservative, libertarian and centrist views clam up, those on the left don't get a lot of criticism.  Slowly, their positions evolve to be ever further to the left.  All this helped paved the way for the Woke Era  ... and eventually for the Age of Trump.