A renewed attack by the woke brigade on the naming of the James Webb Space Telescope

The insidious creeping of woke culture into all parts of society is extremely concerning. It’s a distorted appraisal of reality, where perspective is lost, and context is conveniently forgotten. For a movement that prides itself on liberal values, cancel culture is actually divisive and narrow-minded.

An obsession with rewriting history is a typical woke tactic. In 2021, a community petition was started by a group of astronomers, to rename the JWST. James Webb was a senior government official in the 1950s and 1960s - at a time when the US federal government fired employees because of being homosexual. The woke lot claimed that naming the next-generation telescope after Webb would celebrate discrimination.

James Webb, NASA administrator, 1965 (Credit: NASA)

In response to the petition, NASA launched an investigation to determine if the allegations were true. Apparently, nothing untoward was discovered, confirmed in September 2021 by Bill Nelson, NASA’s current administrator. As we reported, the JWST was launched on Christmas Day, 2021.

Since then, internal documents have come to light, following a Freedom of Information request. They show that NASA fired one agency employee for being gay when James Webb was in charge, although there was nothing directly implicating him (Webb).

An accusation of lack of transparency from NASA is now being used by the astronomers who started the petition as an excuse to reinvigorate their woke crusade.

Many accounts from the time clearly describe James Webb as an outstanding leader. NASA has written that he "did more for science than perhaps any other government official". The pioneering Moon landings owe him a debt of gratitude. James Webb died in 1992 and his daughter-in-law, Barbara Webb, says: “he had more integrity than anybody I ever knew.”

It would be more constructive for people to know themselves better than they do - including an understanding of their own shortcomings - rather than pointing the finger at others in superficial lip service to show that they “care”.

The woke agenda frequently verges on the ridiculous. Our great English poet William Wordsworth has come under fire because his brother, John, served as Captain of an East India Company ship in 1801. The fact that William Wordsworth was strongly opposed to slavery has not spared him from an accusation of guilt by association. And Wordsworth’s oneness experience - the peak expression of unity and a greater love for all - has been completely overlooked by the woke brigade.

Written by Cal Stewart & Victoria de las Heras, 2nd April 2022