A fast-growing North Wales firm has defended its flag against a revival which one critic said made it “disgusting”. Net World Sports has opened a new headquarters in Wrexham and employs more than 200 people in the town.

He has three large flagpoles outside his headquarters and one of the flags came under fire. The banner reads “Woke Free Zone”, reflecting boss Alex Lovén’s stance against awakening.

A local resident contacted North Wales Live to complain about the flag, which she said showed a “complete lack of inclusivity”. They said it was “offensive” and added that it “astonishes me that their human resources department condones this display of complete and utter discrimination”.

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But founder Alex responded: “It is more than reasonable to question the value of the cloak of vigilantism that has enveloped all parts of society from education to mainstream media.”

He added that the company had questioned whether the “woke story” was helping young people’s development and that it would be “completely disingenuous to say otherwise if we don’t believe in it”.

The term awakened first appeared in the 1940s and was used by African Americans to “literally mean an awakening or sensitivity to issues of justice.” But in the last decade it has come to include a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial justice, sexism and LGBT rights. It has become a term of insult – used mainly by those who have the right to attack those who are perceived to be “too sensitive” to these issues.

A local resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “I am absolutely disgusted to find out that a local business within my community is promoting a no wake zone. I find it deeply offensive and the fact that they are highlighting it with a flag outside the building shows a complete lack of morals and inclusivity. I would be very disappointed to find that someone would join such an enterprise who has an obvious lack of awareness and understanding of ethnic, racial and sexual minorities.”

But Alex Lovén wrote a long response to the criticism, explaining the company’s stance, which he says helps empower young people.

He said: “The qualities and values ​​we encourage and develop in young people are self-confidence, taking responsibility, independent thinking, communication, teamwork, decency, the dividends of hard work and finally resilience. We are sure that anyone who reads this, will agree with at least some How much are these not things that are crowded these days. Our only goal is to give young people the skills they need to flourish. We have to ask ourselves, as a country, are we failing young people?

“That’s an open question, but if you look around, alarm bells are ringing and at this stage it is more than reasonable to question the value of the cloak of vigilantism that has enveloped all parts of society from education to the mainstream media.

“We’re a business that shoots for the stars, and as we go through galaxy after galaxy, it’s the pioneers we’ve nurtured who are both astronauts and Net World mission managers. The success of our methods is clear – our top 10 people in this £80m business average age is 29 and below them we have a pool of talent as bright as the Great Barrier Reef, plus they’re perfectly normal people, mostly from Wrexham, who’ve left school with no idea what they want to do and we’ve turned them into world-beaters (we started at the bottom).

“We set out to take everyone with us on a full journey, the world treats people as expendable; but we build from the ground up and take everyone with us, and we believe there are no other businesses on the planet that can boast that. as loud as possible. Forget university, the biggest academy in the world is Net World.

“Simply put, we question whether talking about vigilantism helps young people’s development, and it would be completely disingenuous to say otherwise if we don’t believe it. The world is a hard place and life is full of challenges. A sense of entitlement or inaction will get you nowhere. Young people we should be building them up, not pulling them down. Help them develop skills, confidence, give them opportunities to flourish, a sense of purpose, rewarding achievements and there is a good chance Personal happiness will follow. Do this and the world will become a much easier place to succeed.

“We’re not the only ones questioning the merits of vigilantism. There’s a little-known guy who has a rocket, car, satellite, tunnel, and social media business named Elon who is questioning this narrative on a much larger scale than we are.”

“Ultimately, we all have to think about how the world was shaped by the great pioneers. These people weren’t afraid to challenge convention. From Galileo to the suffragettes – it was discoveries and principles that drove these people forward. Let’s just say for a minute that we can hold a candle to this great pioneers, but we take inspiration, and judging by our results, we think we have made a very significant breakthrough. For young people, Net World is simply the best place to be.”