Woke

In my experience trying to engage with someone who has any buy into woke ideology on any issue, especially issues around critical race and gender theory, is generally unproductive. No matter how reasonable and humble I try to be, no matter how well-crafted the words, no matter how unassailable the science, no matter how common-sensical the argument, I would probably be better off not Pursuing the matter.

How 'woke' is used now really depends on who's saying it or using it. 

For a long time "woke" just meant "not sleeping." But I think the term is understood by most people now to be a catch all term that is post modernism, post structuralism, associated as the newest replacement for previous terms used for hypersensitive, identity politics "social justice warriors," "snowflake," "race card,"  "virtue signaling" or the earlier "political correctness." 

I think you can like it or you can not like but it has actually come from a belief that you have now been able to wake up to all the systemic injustice around you and that you are enlightened enough to see that there is social injustice and racism everywhere. 

"Woke" is also tied to "cancel culture," Like a public figure who can say insensitive things (not woke, in other words). These people seem to face a backlash and occasionally loss of income or influence because of things they say.

So, in addition to meaning aware and progressive, lots of people and I think most now, interpret woke to be a way to describe people who would rather silence their critics than listen to them. So if your opinion is different than mine, your wrong and you should not be allowed to express it. If you do… you will be punished. 

For example. This last year the Toronto Raptors put together a video (like lots of  pro basketball teams) of players saying things that honor women during what they were calling Women’s Day. It was about why we should appreciate women. 

The video captured players saying things like…women are queens and they are amazing and they are the only ones who can procreate God bless them they are the Mothers of the world. 

So they published the video and were very quickly forced to take it  down and issue an apology saying that this is not true, we are going to be better, and we are learning that there are more than women who can procreate. Women are not the only ones who can get pregnant. 

There is nothing new with people believing crazy things but the thing that is new now in our culture being described as “woke” is that people are being forced to believe these crazy insane things but not being allowed to challenge it. 

That is a good example of being woke because in the world of the woke, men can get pregnant, they should be called birthing people and so on. 

In addition, the “woke” demand that you must apologize even if you are not sorry because you have offended there weird view and they need you to justify there weird world view  because you have hurt there feelings. So you will be held hostage with… you must 

I think that what I call it sometimes “wokeism” in all its forms is a religious cult. It is irrational, non-scientific, and goes against every aspect of God and nature's law. Yet, millions of people believe it and spread and enforce it with a zealous fervor that rivals the fastest-spreading movements of history. Except, it's far worse because of the trail of divisiveness and destruction it leaves in its wake. With wokeness, like a divisive cult, there is no such thing as agreeing to disagree. Like the most despotic cult leader or king, wokeness demands total fealty, and dissent is not tolerated. 

To the woke, dissidents aren’t just people with a different opinion; they are evil enemies to be exposed and punished. The woke by inlarge control almost all large private, public, and political institutions across the entire West and are angling for far more. 

Political commentator and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently described wokeism, and its sister ideologies of climateism and gender ideology, as “secular religions” that are “symptoms of a deeper cancer: a loss of purpose, meaning, and identity.” I tend to think he is right.