WAKE UP TO WOKE—Then Celebrate It
I woke up this morning wondering how in the world someone ever came up with WOKE. If you’re wondering the same thing or are as confused as I was about its meaning, read on. WOKE is an adjective derived from African American vernacular meaning “Alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.” It dates to the 1860’s and is equivalent to being “awake” to the reality of discrimination. By the mid-20th century WOKE had come to mean “well-informed/aware.” Easy enough to understand, right?
Today, the Oxford’s definition of WOKE includes a caveat: “Aware of social and political issues, especially racism, often used in a disapproving way by people who think that some other people are too easily upset about these issues or talk too much about them.” What!
So, something positive has been turned into a negative. These prejudice people using WOKE in the negative are telling you if you’re aware of or concerned about equal rights, white supremacy, ethnic profiling, police brutality, or targeted discrimination (ethnic, lifestyle, or religious), you need to shut up about them because they don’t exist.
An “anti-WOKE posture” is connected to long-standing backlash politics (a strong adverse reaction to an idea). This is resentment wherein it promotes white and conservative fear in response to activism by African Americans or fringe groups, or the changing cultural norms. Such critics often believe that movements such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights exaggerate the extent of social problems. Biased individuals go to the extreme of ignorance and attempt to convince you slavery was righteous because some slaves were taught skills. So, as long as you teach a slave how to pick cotton or use a cotton gin all is good—Really? They even stoop so low as to say the holocaust didn’t really take place. They think their ignorance can change history—how stupid is that? The problem is, many foolhardy (daft) people blindly follow along.
This resentment politics has turned into resentment white supremacy where if you don’t have white skin, you represent a threat. Too, it rolls over into religious supremacy whereas if you don’t believe the way I do, you have no right to be in his country let alone worship here. The wheels of this negative WOKE have made their way into the school classrooms with book banning to dictate what can and can’t be taught, again trying to change historical facts. Does this not ring a very loud bell? Germany, Hitler, ethnic cleansing, burning books, Auschwitz? Yes, it is the same thing, yet it is happening right here in the United States.
Turning WOKE into a negative is nothing less than another conspiracy theory to make already biased individuals believe another untruth. It boils down to grabbing hold of a person’s ignorance to convince them to “believe” the untruth. This brings us to the dilemma of “truth vs. belief,” which to me is the very foundation of this nation’s major problem. Some call it “fake news” but in reality it is “false truth” or perhaps “conspiracy deceit.”
Truth is the property or state of being in accordance with facts and reality. While a belief is a subjective stance that a scheme is true, or a state of affairs is indeed factual. A subjective stance is a mental state of having some viewpoint or opinion about something yet demands no proof whatsoever. Here lies the dilemma. A “belief” becomes truth in the minds of believers, even though no facts support it. The believer doesn’t require facts, they simply rely on what the person they “believe in” says, even when that person has been shown to have lied time and time again.
Perhaps the simplest way to understand this dilemma is the old adage, “You can’t cure stupid.” We are all born with the innocence of ignorance. As reason sets in most of us rely on facts and realities, tossing ignorance out of our minds. Those who ignore fact and reality and instead rely on others are merely pawns, and often a pawn to the ignorant. Case-in-point, if you actually believe the election was stolen, you are a pawn to the ignorant. I realize you don’t think you are, and I also know there’s no way to get you to see there are no facts supporting it—only statements. What you believe is simpy untrue, and your belief doesn’t change the truth. It is just as untrue as those who are pawns to the ignorant people saying the earth is flat. Without any factual data they believe the earth is flat even though simple science proves it is round—Ignorance simply prevails. If you try to show them the science/truth they won’t believe you because, you guessed it, you can’t cure stupid. Same with the election being stolen, the denial of climate change/global warming, and other conspiracy theories. The term “conspiracy theory” should be changed to “collusion absurdity” for it’s far more accurate.
What is the answer to such ignorance? Since you fight fire with fire, the same holds true with ignorance. The best way to fight ignorance is to—ignore it. You can’t cure stupid, and you can’t easily change ignorance, so just ignore both. By ignoring it you take away its fuel. Don’t get upset with all the political stupidity and partisan ignorance you are bombarded with by irresponsible people day after day–just ignore them. Merely shake your head wondering how they can be so dumb, smile, and be hopeful they will soon learn their lesson and fade away into their world of idiocy, and maybe even in jail with others of their kind, while we celebrate being WOKE. TJ