By Erich R Pilcher

Woke, or being woke is a disease that has flooded down upon society. Now, everyone might have different definitions of this term. But I feel it is people that have faux rage over a bevy of societal issues. They flock to social media, posting news stories as if their blistered fingers of rage from pounding keys are going to fix society’s problems. All the while not doing anything else to fix the issues, or even have a basic understanding of them.

Recently, this plague of ignorance has found its way into our forms of entertainment. Either as little tidbits of virtue signaling to full-blown using a platform to push their beliefs and theories down everyone’s throats.

Enter the ABC hit show The Conners. The show is a spin-off of the legendary series Roseanne (which came back in 2018 and was renamed The Conners after one season when creator/star Roseanne Barr was fired for racist comments). The show itself has become a woke culture darling. Addressing illegal immigration, workplace drug testing, transgender issues, drug abuse (they wrote Barr off the show by having her die of an Opiate overdose), and alcoholism On March 2, they aired an episode called Triggered.

To start the episode one of the stars Lecy Goranson (plays oldest daughter Becky Conner) warns the audience of the sensitive nature of the episode regarding gun violence. In this episode, the family is on lockdown due to an active shooter situation.

First of all, the episode attempts to tug at our heartstrings by having Becky’s daughter with her father at the local mall where the shooting occurs, adding to this emotional pull is that Becky cannot be there because she is on lockdown. This is where the episode falls into woke absurdity.

The Conners are glued to their televisions as the local news station covers the police as they surround the home of the shooter (whom the Conners have known since they were a young child. Yet another generic heartstrings tug). Then as the suspect emerges he pulls a gun and police gun him down on live television. The family watches in horror as he is shot down, including jaded young adult Mary (daughter of DJ Conner, absent from the episode)as family matriarch Dan Conner “powerfully” shields her from the image after it happens, the episode goes to a dramatic break.

At this point woke culture is excited with glee. They are sitting in front of their screen gushing, “how powerful, how sad, what is what is going on with society”? Let me rain on your woke parade. It never would have happened. As someone who has worked for a news station, in this situation, everyone is in the control room and the minute he pulled the gun, they would have cut to whatever they could to avoid this being shown and provided an update. So strike one, on this woke crackpot pie.

It only gets better (or worse depending on your level of common sense), from here. During the lockdown, Dan goes and gets a gun that is secured in a lockbox. Showing responsible gun ownership and wanting to defend his family, this is where I started to get some hope that this nightmare would end and I was wrong. He is consequently admonished by his family for having a gun in the house. Despite them being in danger, they are still clinging to being against the very thing that could save them in an active shooter situation.

The show closes with Darlene’s (played by woke talking head on The Talk, Sara Gilbert) daughter Harris stealing Dan’s gun and selling it to the police. Dan is angry but “understands” why she did it. He only demands that she make up the difference for what he was paid for the gun and what it is worth. How heartwarming (please insert sarcasm) this brave girl commits multiple felonies (possession of a stolen firearm, selling a stolen firearm, carrying a firearm while not licensed and many more I’m sure), and yet she is the hero of the episode. How quaint. Finally, during the credits we see two people visit the Conners seeking donations for the victims of the families of the shooting and Dan gives them the money from the unlawful sale of his gun. AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

It is nonsensical drivel like this that causes irreparable damage to society. Look at the trend. Someone shows responsible gun ownership and a need to protect their family and they are admonished. Then someone commits multiple crimes and there is no punishment. The reason is they had good intentions. This is what woke society does, it ignores common sense and tugs on emotions to get people to see their side.

After I watched this episode, I realized that entertainment has changed. I have long since denied this and I’m no better than those that allow themselves to be manipulated by this. This is not the first TV show to do this and sadly, it won’t be the last. They use the most overblown, dramatic approach they can to prove their point. Common sense, laws, and even real-world application are thrown out the window. All to make us see they are right and know what is best for all of society.

If we want real change in regards to societal issues, we must do our research, come to our conclusions and not let entertainment or agenda-driven mainstream media (both on the right and the left) make our decisions for us. Let us close our woke eyes, open our tone-deaf ears and expand our minds. Then we can truly be woke to the world around us.