Once upon a time we were supposed to see the woke agenda as striving towards social justice. That’s because the term “woke” originated many decades ago as black slang that meant a keen awareness of the many forms of discrimination. But no more.
It became so manipulative in its usage—so knee jerk accusatory—-that many of the accused and others started citing the term with contempt. This negative use of “woke” has deeply annoyed those who identify as progressive.
But the evolution is organic. The term was turned against the mostly white leftists who used it as a battering ram for their agendas in the same way President Trump turned the originally leftist expression “fake news” right back on the propaganda media.
Well, here’s my synonym for “woke”: anti-thought.
And here’s my definition: mob and media-enforced group think.
The main ingredient of wokeness is intolerance for free speech. Speech is how we express our thoughts to others. So, ultimately, wokeness leads to social isolation, which is a precursor to tyranny.
Normal Americans don’t like being bossed around by self-important hall-monitors who tell them what words they may speak and what thoughts they may think. At some point, the busybodies start throwing cement “milkshakes” at their heads and threatening them with firearms to force them into compliance.
Hence, the meaning of “woke” changed to match what it really stands for: an accusatory and manipulative system of anti-thought tyranny.
Stella Morabito | “The true definition of ‘woke’ is ‘anti-thought'” | April 2, 2023
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What does this have to do with the Church (Our Faith and Practice)?
1. Christians in North America need to know where they are and what is happening.
2. Stella Morabito has been on the forefront of analyzing these issues since the Obama Administration. This site was the first to highlight her work.
3. Free speech and totalitarianism matter to Christians. See these resources.
If I may ask respectfully, why are you OK with the meaning of “woke” evolving (as Morabito put it) into basically its opposite, when you are not OK with the evolution of the definition of “gender”?
Hi Don,
1. It’s unclear to whom you’re writing. This quotation is from an essay written by Stella Morabito. If you’re asking for the author’s opinion you should contact her directly.
2. For my part it is not a matter of being “ok” with the evolution of either term. It is fact that the adjective “woke,” which, in the 1960s described someone who was awake to genuine racism as classically defined, is now widely used to refer to a Gramscian (Marxist) analysis of history in which anyone who disagrees is an oppressor and must be silenced. The noun gender is also being terribly abused.