Tom Slater Tom Slater

Johnny Rotten’s war on woke

Illustration by Natasha Lawson

God save Johnny Rotten. The former Sex Pistols frontman, real name John Lydon, gave a beautiful interview recently. It’s a moving portrait of his life now, caring full-time for his wife, Nora Forster, who is tragically suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. And it is also a reminder that, despite his newfound responsibilities – and despite being almost five decades into his career – Lydon’s punk spirit remains undimmed.

In the interview with the Sunday Times magazine, he takes aim at woke politics and the humourless narcissists it has produced. 

Those who write books about their ‘lived experience’ of oppression, who start every sentence with ‘speaking as a…’, are more interested in talking about themselves

‘They just view themselves as special’, he says. ‘It’s selfishness and in that respect it’s divisive and can only lead to trouble. I can’t believe that TV stations give some of these lunatics the space. Where is this ‘moral majority’ nonsense coming from when they’re basically the ones doing all the wrong for being so bloody judgmental and vicious against anybody that doesn’t go with the current popular opinion?’

Lydon puts his finger on a few things here. First is that leftish identity politics, often misunderstood as a ‘collectivist’ phenomenon, is often all about Me, Me, Me. Those who write books and columns about their ‘lived experience’ of oppression, who start every sentence with ‘speaking as a…’, are more interested in talking about themselves, and claiming the mantle of victimhood, than helping anyone else. And indeed for all their #BeKind nonsense these can be some of the most vicious people in politics and culture today.

But above all he sees that this as an establishment phenomenon. ‘These people aren’t really genuinely disenfranchised at all’, he said, and he’s dead right. Show me an identitarian commentator and I’ll show you someone who almost certainly went to private school.

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