‘Wisdom’: Elon Musk praises former Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong’s critique of woke culture

The Tesla CEO shared a clip of Lee saying the wokeness movement leads to ‘extreme attitudes and social norms’

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Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said the wokeness movement leads to “extreme attitudes and social norms” in academic institutions. Photo: dpa

Published: 10:56am, 22 Aug 2024Updated: 12:35pm, 22 Aug 2024

Elon Musk, the tech magnate and CEO of Tesla, set off waves of discussion on social media by praising Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong for his views on the “wokeness” movement, describing them as “wisdom”.

It comes almost exactly one month after the billionaire lauded Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew as “brilliant” for his foresight and immigration policies.

Musk’s endorsement on X, his social media platform formerly known as Twitter, highlighted Lee’s critique of woke culture, which he discussed during a May TV interview just days before handing over the reins to his successor, Lawrence Wong.

“In the West, they have a movement called wokeness, where you are super sensitive about other people’s issues, and you become hypersensitive when other people somehow or others say things or mention things or refer to you, without the respect which you or your super subgroup feel you are entitled to,” Lee told reporters.

He warned that this movement leads to “extreme attitudes and social norms” in academic institutions, citing examples such as the practice of preferred gender pronouns and safe spaces, which refers to designated places where marginalised communities are protected from discrimination, harassment or exclusion.