The "culture war shiny object cycle" describes how certain divisive issues rapidly gain attention and dominate public discourse before quickly fading as another issue takes its place. This phenomenon is related to the "shiny object syndrome," where there is a tendency to continuously chase new ideas and opportunities without evaluating their benefit to strategic goals. This cycle can be seen as a distraction, diverting focus from more substantive issues.
The term "woke" is often central to these culture wars. Originally used within the African-American community to denote awareness of racial prejudice and discrimination, "woke" has expanded to encompass a broader understanding of social inequalities. However, it has also become a pejorative, used by some to criticize progressive movements and is being used sarcastically as a pejorative by the political right and some centrists, to disparage leftist and progressive movements as superficial and insincere performative activism. This politicization of "woke" contributes to the cyclical nature of culture war controversies, as the meaning and implications of the term are constantly debated and reinterpreted.
