Is Wokeness Just An Unquenchable Desire To Find Injustice?

I don’t want to write about woke culture anymore-but it seems that if anyone wants to criticize the woke, they must first define it. If one were to be most charitable-I would say it is “an alertness to injustice”. However, I believe it to be much more than that-so my own definition would be more like “an unquenchable desire to find injustice, whether it is there or not”.

There was a time when the culture birthed by what may be considered the extreme left was unpredictable and improvised- that is to say, “full of surprises”. Perhaps a year or three ago, there was a “what will they think of next?” phenomenon that one could attribute to the musings of such a movement. The type of considerations that ponder if cheese or math is racist. And so, too, full of surprises were the meaningful responses of some of the better thinkers that have made an enterprise out of being anti-woke. I could so say on some small pitiful level I was one of those writers and thinkers, although I could never wear a badge with “anti” anything on it. I, like others, am not attracted to being reduced to simply what I am against. 

But, nonetheless, I will give it my last go, so that personally, I can say I have said my piece on it, and then can leave the silliness for good. One last hoorah, to get my kicks in, so that I can drop it all off. 

One thing I think ought to be mentioned is that when criticizing the woke cultural movement of today, there is often a large emphasis placed on what the woke get wrong. Fair enough-the vocabulary of the woke system often relies upon a type of sardonic cynicism, hyperbolic phraseology as well as hyperbolic thinking. “Murdered in the streets”, “genocide”, “systemic” this or that, and a strange emphasis on “spaces” (trans spaces, black spaces, white spaces, don’t take up too much space, etc.). Perhaps the whole spaces concept comes from a type of fictional thinking- that the world is still rooted in community, when in fact, we have largely lost touch with that concept. There are no communities anymore. Everybody is fighting for themselves, like it or not. Perhaps it was the television. Perhaps it was the atom bomb. Perhaps it was Twitter. Who knows…

I think this approach is valid- criticizing what the woke get wrong, but we must also concern ourselves with the root of the problem from the get-go.  It is not what the woke get wrong, it is, in essence, what they get right. The woke, in all its catastrophe, gets some very basic things correct. 

Racism is bad-although not nearly as large of a problem as many would claim it is.

Inequality is not good-although there will always be inequality, and the ways to reduce it could be termed “the struggle of humankind”. It is, I would say, “without a pure solution”.

Hate is something we could all look for and find inside ourselves and, depending on what we find, attempt to root out.

These very basic things are correct. And because they are so correct, so obvious in their simplicity, so easily understood and accepted, so banal in their concept, anybody who could deny these basic values must therefore be considered corrupt, racist, homophobic, etc. It is exactly for this reason that the woke can easily tempt those who buy into this simplicity by means of recruitment-nobody wants to come in last place in the “I hate racism” contest.

Just recently, in the comment section of a Medium article, I ran across this phrasing in defense of wokeness:

 “What is so wrong with being woke? Like, being compassionate and loving to your fellow human being is somehow a bad thing?”

But as others have pointed out, human virtue is only a virtue until it is not.  When compassion for someone or something is wielded like a weapon against those who question or rebel against its essential argument, it becomes a vice. It becomes pushy, violent, incoherent with its principles, illiberal in its premise, and inarguable in its morally superior driven authority. In short, you may wield your compassion as a bully, and like a bully, you may find yourself waiting in dark shadows to bludgeon an ideological enemy (either with words or by physical force) while shouting “love!” “Tolerance!” “Peace!” The oft-referred-to idea here is that when we are absolutely convinced that we are in total moral right, there is little we won’t do to smash offenders to bits.

It’s been said a thousand different ways, but it bears repeating. There may be a type of grandiosity in dedicating yourself to the good, but the phenomena evolve into something much darker- and produces when all said and done, very little honor.

It is this simplicity, this contextualizing of wokeness, that makes it an easy choice for some personality types to join in on its pursuits-the ease with which we can see the evils of the world and the ease with which we can vocalize our support of the good. The ease with which we can reduce others to offensiveness, and the ease with which we find virtue in ourselves. The problem with this strategy, of course, is that the evil is rarely found inside ourselves- but almost always found in others. Another problem is that when initiatives to solve certain problems are positioned and implemented, we rarely take the time to review the outcomes of the proposition- say, an initiative to combat racism must be for the good outrightly, even if the outcome of such a proposition is actually harmful towards its motivation. Again, the simplicity overrides the nuance in many circumstances. 

For instance, one may feel totally obligated, perhaps jubilated to take part in anything resembling a BLM march, protest, gathering, or whatever. But after the protestors all go home and the fires are put out, when the final tally is counted up, it feels more and more like a big show-and very few have taken the time to look back at what the results were. Can one say positively that there has been a fundamental change for the good in policing? In racial discourse? In crime reduction in big cities? Has BLM bolstered the reputation of black people in America? Did many black communities feel scammed by BLM? 

But this is of no matter- propositions and effort matter- the results be damned. One can find a similar dynamic in debates surrounding affirmative action, reparations, and the use of the term “Latinx”, a relatively new minted phrase that Latinos, in general, don’t particularly like. 

There is no doubt that anti-racism, DEI work, BLM, and the woke movement, in general, have fostered many a mechanism by which a popular proponent of these measures could forge a career. Many breakout stars have found themselves quite a bit of fame for their very outspoken “hot takes” on topical issues. 

I know at least John Mcwhorter has called it, a religion. Not just any religion, but a new revolution of sorts-more resembling a time where all narratives of art, culture, music, sculpture, architecture, and literature must head in the same direction-praise god, our god, and nothing else. Adhere to the narratives we set at hand, or else.  There will be no “questioning” our motives or initiatives. But how many true believers are there? If the consequences of not believing result in consequences far beyond the perceived infraction?

The D’Angelo’s, Kendi’s, and the thousands of other commentators, speakers, and podcasters have all made a decent profit by their narration and contextualization of all the ills surrounding racism, sexism, trans, and homophobia. And it is fair to say, too, that the anti-woke crowd is profiting in the same way- the Rubin’s, Shapiro’s, and many smaller commentators have done the same. It is in this way that they share much more in common with their socio-political rivals than what might instantly appear to us-the wrapping of the personality around these issues to the point of being consumed by them. But perhaps that is just capitalism at work. I digress on that topic for now. People are going to make a living fighting perceived monsters. Whoever, wherever.

What I said at the beginning of this piece is true: I don’t want to talk about this cultural movement and all its implications anymore. Being woke or anti-woke is not a sufficient persona on which to stand. For the same reason that scientists who are serious about their work don’t engage flat-earthers. And as much as I empathize and agree with the anti-woke crowd, their rebuttals are becoming predictable, too. The whole back and forth between the two has become a charade of sorts. A childish game of “gotcha” and “owned”, “based” and “destroyed”. 

The woke movement has shown its fangs, its bullying tactics, and its own rhetoric, which has grown remarkably stale. It has shown that underneath the veneer of the “good” can hide something depraved, sinister, and manipulative. I applaud those who are determined to fight it. But for myself, I can’t think on these things anymore. For myself, it is time to put these childish things away-for me, it has gotten old. 

JSV
April, 2023