Talking to cultural iconoclast Bill Maher, the equally unpredictable playwright David Mamet — the most effective and exacting employer of the f-word among all the 20th/21st century scribes — ripped into the much maligned but ill-defined “Wokeism” that keeps conservatives up at night.
Yet despite characterizing (at 1:19:45 below) wokeism as “the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” Mamet, always loyal to complexity, then gives maybe the best description of how a change in the cultural dynamics that dominate the entertainment industry actually may be beneficial for a society that’s truly interested in equality.
With controversies roiling around quotas, cancel culture, and how DEI policies impact – and some say jettison — the prominence of merit in an increasingly competitive jobs (and casting) landscape, Mamet seems to join the lament.
But describing the “bright side” of the change fomented by the increased awareness and opportunity that DEI means to augur, Mamet describes nearly exactly what DEI initiativives and their advocates hope to achieve — a sort of cultural shift in how people of different races and backgrounds are seen.
“The bright side of wokeism is when you turn on the television,” Mamet tells Maher, “all of the commercials and most of the people in television shows are people of color. So, it’s bad for white actors but on the other hand, it used to be back for Black actors. But the good thing is that white America gets used to looking at Black people not as Sidney Poitier, not as Willie Best, but as people and that’s really great.”
Mamet also greatly thanks Maher for his comments on Israel, which he calls “epical,” and which are in the segment below:
