Fifty years ago, Jane Fonda stood next to Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns, smiling at the troops who were targeting American forces. The pic gave her the nickname 'Hanoi Jane' and rightly so. It was one thing to protest the Vietnam war; it was another to rub elbows with the Vietnamese. Both veterans and non-veterans have despised Fonda because of that photo, something she says she regrets and has apologized for multiple times.
Over the weekend, Fonda was given the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards. If she deserves derision for her visit to Vietnam, she also deserves recognition for her body of work, including 'The China Syndrome,' 'Cat Ballou,' and '9 to 5.'
But that doesn't change the fact that who Fonda was off-screen in 1972 is who she is now:
Jane Fonda: "Woke just means you give a damn about other people." #SAGAwards pic.twitter.com/ITxixvLUq9
— IndieWire (@IndieWire) February 24, 2025
No, Jane.
That's not what 'woke' means.
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Because if it did, the Left would be paragons of tolerance and 'giving a damn' about other people. Instead, this is what we get from woke:
For nearly a decade, the Little Sisters of the Poor -- a Catholic religious order that cares for the poor and needy -- had to fight the woke Democratic Party after the latter decided to force the order to provide birth control coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act. It wasn't until 2020 that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sisters and upheld that the Trump administration had the right to exempt them from the contraceptive mandate.
Speaking of Catholics...the Biden-Harris DOJ made a point to label traditionalist Catholics 'domestic terrorists' and 'white supremacists' who were subject to FBI interviews.
On February 22, 2024, Georgia nursing student Laken Riley went for a run. She was attacked and sexually assaulted by Jose Ibarra, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Riley fought back against the attack for almost 20 minutes until Ibarra killed her by bashing her head against rocks. She was 22 years old. She also wasn't the only victim.
Jocelyn Nunagray was 12-years-old. Ivory Smith was seven. Rachel Morin was 37. Like Riley, they were all killed by illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants who -- if not for the woke who give a damn -- wouldn't have been in this country in the first place.
In New York City, Ramon Rivera was released early from Rikers despite a lengthy criminal record. On the day he was released, he stole a $1,500 bowl from a store, was arrested, and released under the woke no-bail policies of Manhattan. He went on to stab three innocent New Yorkers to death.
The woke didn't give a damn about them.
While residents of Western North Carolina are still living in tents and Amish-built temporary dwellings, the Left sent $59 million to New York to house illegal immigrants. That comes after an autumn of revelations that FEMA intentionally discriminated against Trump supporters impacted by hurricanes in Florida and other southeastern states. Sure doesn't seem the woke among us could be bothered to care for their fellow Americans here, either.
But lest you think I'm only going to point out the ways the woke Left doesn't give a damn, here are some ways they do.
We'll start with actress Natasha Lyonne, who wants to make sure 12-year-old girls have access to abortions because the thought of tweens not being able to kill their unborn children 'rips her apart.' How those 12-year-old girls end up pregnant doesn't seem to keep her up at night, though.
Trans activists lost their minds when President Donald Trump issued an executive order prohibiting puberty blockers and other 'gender-affirming care' for minors. They protested outside of NYU Hospital.
Maine Governor Janet Mills vowed to see Trump in court after the President blocked men from playing in women's sports.
Kathy Hochul vowed to protect a New York doctor who illegally prescribed an abortion pill to a Louisiana mother, who forced her teenage daughter to take the pill. The teen lost her pregnancy and ended up hospitalized. But at least Natasha Lyonne can breathe a little easier.
Governor J.B. Pritzker vowed to protect illegals in the state of Illinois, saying local law enforcement wouldn't cooperate with federal authorities.
Connecticut just released a murderous, cannibalistic criminal because he made 'clinical progress', despite the fact he hacked a person to death and ate part of the victim's brain and an eyeball. When he kills another person, as Ramona Rivera did, authorities will wonder how such an atrocity could've happened.
So there are things the woke Left cares about. Unfortunately for them, they're a) killing babies, b) mutilating children, c) protecting criminals, and d) cosplaying resistance fighters standing up to Donald Trump.
Perhaps that's why the Democratic Party's approval rating is 21%.
And maybe if they lose a few more election cycles, they'll start giving a damn about something other than themselves.
