What does it mean to be Woke? #2
19 Jan 2023 16:00:00
Merriam-Webster defines Wokeism as “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”. This is no different from the myth of persecution from Roman Empire created by Christianity in which the Christian faith was weaponized to grab power.
The Wokes are no different from this. In the US, if you are white, you are presumed to be a racist even though you aren’t. People who do not subscribe to this presumption are cancelled, singled out and attacked. Language and wokeism go hand in hand. To be a woke, you have to be updated with the ever-evolving language. Just saying “I am gender neutral” doesn’t suffice. Using womxn not women, using Mx, not Mr. or Mrs makes you a true Woke.
Consider the Critical Race Theory (CRT). Wikipedia defines CRT as “intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of colour. Critical race theorists hold that racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions”. In short, the systems are inherently racist. If you are a Woke in the US, you would assume that the entire system is racist, every white person is a racist, but ignore the fact that majority of the homicides in the US are committed by the Blacks against the Blacks (Black on Black murders). Who is the racist here? The Black who killed the fellow Black? If you are white woman fighting for “gender justice” then you are less oppressed by “patriarchy” (Toxic Brahminical Patriarchy for Indians). If you are black woman fighting for gender justice, you are more oppressed by patriarchy than the white woman. Being woke is all about “my way or highway”. It means if you are not with the wokes, they will be against you. Wokeism demands that you cannot be neutral. You have to take a side. Which side you will take will be decided by the wokes.
Also Read: Introduction to Wokeism and woke culture #1
To become woke, you have to adopt to “cancel culture” in a very subtle manner. If you refuse to address a person with his/her preferred pronoun, you are anti-LGBTQIA+. If you do not take the knee to support Black Lives Matter, you are racist. People not succumbing to these kind of symbolism are subjected to character assassination and silenced from speaking up. But some people are less cancellable than the others. The current POTUS, Joe Biden in 2010 eulogised an ex-organizer of the white supremacist organization Ku Klux Klan (KKK), at his funeral. But Biden wasn’t cancelled. It is easy to live in the woke world because facts and data do not matter to you. If you adopt to the ever evolving woke language, it is an easy sail. Gender is assumed/perceived, science doesn’t matter, the people who do not subscribe to your views about race and gender are racist and anti-LGBTQIA+. If you want to try Wokeism, now is the time when the majority are silent because the costs for the majority are not too high.