On of the most recent bogeymen that has the conservatives/right wingers howling is “wokeness.” They roar and scream about people and institutions being “woke.” They view being woke as something bad. So, what exactly does it mean to be woke?
“Woke” comes from “wake,” to “emerge or cause to emerge from a state of sleep; stop sleeping.” Woke is the past tense of wake, and “woke” is a slang term that means aware of and alert to important issues and facts relating to social justice, such as discrimination and prejudice. In other words, it means aware of what is going on. So, if conservatives don’t like those who are “woke,” it’s apparent – maybe even obvious – that they want us all to be asleep, unaware, ignorant. And, thus, easier to bamboozle and control.
Yeshua bin Yusef, better known as Jesus Christ, was woke. George Washington and the other Founding Fathers of the USA were woke. The abolitionists were woke. The suffragettes were woke. The civil rights leaders were woke. If you fight against any form of societal injustice – racism, ageism, ableism, sexism, etc. – you are woke. If you are paying attention to real news instead of letting Faux News brainwash you, you are woke. If you are doing anything to demand that our elected officials take the necessary measures to deal with climate change, you are woke. If you have adjusted your lifestyle in order to reduce your carbon footprint, you are woke. If you have become aware of thoughts and behaviors you do that are racist, or sexist, or ableist, or anti-LGBTQ, you are woke.
There can be no social or moral progress without people being “woke.” Indeed, acknowledging a problem exists, and seeking a solution, means waking up and finding a new way of thinking. It has been said that the founder of human civilization was the first person to hurl an insult rather than a rock. Without progress, civilization and society become stagnant and rot away.
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