Two questions: what does “woke” mean to you? And are states of emergency “woke”? 

The reason I'm asking is that the Mayor of Wairoa thinks they are. Which I think is a load of old nonsense. 

Unlike other mayors in other North Island areas - who declared states of emergency in anticipation of Cyclone Vaianu at the weekend - Craig Little didn’t. Because he thought it was all a bit over the top and not necessary. 

He went further yesterday, saying that he thinks they’ve become “woke”. 

He says: “we’re becoming woke as a country when it comes to states of emergency”. 

That’s what he says. And I say: nonsense. 

The Prime Minister thinks the same. Hitting back, saying he’s happy to be labelled woke if it means keeping people safe. 

Christopher Luxon says: “I'll happily wear a woke label this time if it means we didn't lose anyone's lives.” 

He says: “This was a significant event with 10 local states of emergency actioned, and in a number of regions there were road closures, power outages and flooding." 

And Christopher Luxon is right. States of emergency aren’t woke and this mayor is just another one of these people who has no idea what woke actually means.

Put simply - and this is my definition - woke means being aware of how things impact people. 

The more official definition - courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary - says woke means "alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice". 

What that has to do with states of emergency, I’ll never know. 

Well, I do know actually. It’s got nothing to do with states of emergency. 

And the Mayor of Wairoa is just another one of these people who think calling someone or something “woke” is a way of having a go at them. 

But, whether we like it or not, it’s a word that’s been hijacked to the point where some people have no idea what it means, but are happy to bandy it around left, right and centre. 

Nevertheless, are states of emergency “woke”?

Last October, when we had those huge winds in canterbury and a state of emergency was declared, one Christchurch business owner got in touch with me, very unhappy about it. Saying they thought it was overkill.  

Their takings were down 50 percent, and they were criticising the decision to include Christchurch city in the state of emergency. Because the city wasn’t as badly affected as other parts of the region. 

I disagreed with them. Because we had no idea how bad it was going to get, so it made sense to be cautious. 

Because - and this is what i say to anyone who thinks we go a bit O.T.T with states of emergency these days - what would you rather have? Be prepared just in case? Or find out too late and deal with the consequences. 

Which is why i think this mayor up north not only has no idea what woke means - he’s also wrong thinking states of emergency have become a woke over-reaction.

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