Part 1 – Linguistic Dishonesty
Merriam-Webster’s definition of “woke”:
“Aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”
I have no problem if people want to use this definition. If someone says “I’m woke because I care about racial equality” that’s perfectly fine. It’s actually the most historically accurate definition. There’s no dishonesty here.
But people have to understand that some (like myself) use this word as a pejorative. For instance:
“I’m exhausted of woke messages in movies.”
Using this first definition, I sound like an asshole. Like, what, are you exhausted of equality and progress being protrayed in movies? This is the problem with subscribing with the first definition so rigidly. Obviously, when a person complains about “wokeness” in movies or entertainment, they refer to things like:
- Overbearing, poorly written, black-and-white morals
- Explicit (as opposed to suble or implicit) political ideology
- Tokenization of characters (e.g. black man represents the oppressed class, evil white man represents the patriarchy)
- Overpolitization of a previously non political franchise (e.g. StarWars)
When people complain about wokeness in entertainment, this is what they mean. 99 times out of 100, this is what they mean. They’re not “triggered” by the existence of a black character in the movie, or an LGBTQ+ character. It’s an annoyance of the overall pandering and overly political content in the movie. Of course, people who subscribe to the first definition of Wokeness refuse to acknowledge this phenomenon. Because this topic isn’t about linguistics. This isn’t about some people using definition A, and other people using definition B. This is a problem of epistemic and moral framework. I will get more into this later in this post.
So, definition A of Wokeness is: “Awareness of social injustices, such as racism, sexism, and other forms of systemic injustices in our society.”
Definition B of Wokeness would be something like this: “A shallow, overly performative, simplistic, dogmatic form of messaging of progressive causes, especially under non political circumstances or mediums.”
Definition B is useful when we’re discussing entertainment, celebrities, and some corporations. Some people call this “fake Woke”, but I disagree. I don’t think the writers of The Acolyte merely inserted woke messages in the series merely to gain popularity points. I truly believe people who push these types of things believe them, in the exact form they come out. I don’t think the creators of She-Hulk were merely trying to pander to feminists. I truly believe that they inserted their own worldview, their own agenda, into their piece of art. And by all means, that’s totally fine. If you want to produce a highly political, hostile piece of art, you’re free to do so. The dishonesty comes when you receive criticism of that low quality art, and you call your ctitics “racists” and “sexists”. You cannot have it both ways. If you make a conscious decision to insert politics into your work of art, you should expect criticism. You’re free to disagree with your critics, you’re free to ignore them. But engaging in name calling, and canceling, and all of this bullshit that news media engage in, calling Star Wars fans “bigots”, this is very anti-art.
This is why people like myself detest politics in entertainment. We just want to enjoy our show, our franchise, and not be beaten over the head with messages we disagree with, AND afterward be insulted by the show’s creators.
Part 2 – Room for Nuance
This is where shit gets real. This section is for those with enough brain cells to explore the problems with Wokeness.
Definition C of Wokeness is something like this: “The Far-Left. Ideologies such as Radical Feminism, Pro-Open Borders, Anti-Police ideology, Anti-white racism, and the promotion of and other radical Left-wing ideology, such as Anarcho-Communism.”
This is an OK start. This is the definition most critics of Wokeness use. But this definition is still very problematic, because it’s too narrow.
Definition D of Wokeness is this: “The cult-like behavior and mindset of certain groups and ideologies on the Left. These consist of Cancel Culture, violence, dogmatism, a refusal to engage in civil discourse, and acts of victimhood. Wokeness isn’t an ideology per se, but rather the attitude that many individuals on the Left possess. Wokeness is actually agnostic in regards to the contents of mainstream Leftism.“
I heard Tim Pool define Wokeness in this manner. This is very much the other side of the coin of definition C. Although this version is agnostic in content, it’s “extreme” in behavior. My problem with this definition is that, once again, it’s still too narrow. It excludes many elements in our society which I absolutely consider to be Woke.
Part 3 – My Description of Wokeness
I have pondered for a long time the question “What is the definition of Wokeness?”
For the first time in my life, I’ve pondered the idea this word has no definition. I have a good picture of what Wokeness is, from the way I use it, from the way other critics of Wokeness use it, and I see many similarities. This is my description of Wokeness, but this description is broad enough that I believe almost everyone who uses Wokeness as a pejorative, they would agree with this description.
Similar how “Narcissistic Personality Disorder” has no specific definition, but rather a set of symptoms in the DSM, this is how Wokeness manifests itself:
- An overly simplistic moral worldview of “Oppressed Vs. Oppressor”
- A self-serving, self-referential, non falsifiable, elastic framework of epistemology
- Hostility portrayed as kindness and virtue
- Inverse systemic injustice (discrimination and hatred against whites, men, christians, the middle class, the working class, first world nations)
- An excessively political, moral, ideological worldview and projection of said worldview
- A strong desire to destroy (as opposed to cure) evil in the world, especially evil individuals
- Epistemic rigidity disguised as flexibility
- An inability to see nuance, disagreement, different opinions, and kindness in supposed “enemies”
- Disproportionate compassion allocated to certain groups, and complete disdain toward the remaining groups
- Non-physical hostility, in the form of character assassination, cancelation, and censorship
Many of these elements are obvious, they align with definitions B, C, and D. What these definitions are missing is the elasticity. Wokeness is inherently elastic. It’s funny, I have described it as both rigid and elastic at the same time. And that’s not a contradiction.
Wokeness is morally rigid. Strong boundaries have been defined and you don’t get to cross them. But Wokeness is epistemically elastic. Definitions change according to the author, to the study, to the circumstance. The concept of “falsifiability” itself doesn’t even apply. It was, after all, invented by a straight white male. Wokeness isn’t something you can refute, define, establish boundaries, or falsify. Wokeness uses epistemology not as a child uses clay. Today it has this shape, tomorrow it will have another shape. The arrangement of facts, definitions of terms, conclusions of studies, it’s always flexible enough to justify the Woke mindset.
This is why I consider even the average CNN reporter “Woke”. I don’t think he is a radical leftist. But he will justify DEI, trans children undergoing surgeries, he will fearmonger about racism, he will engage in any and all overreach of the Left. And in his eyes, he’s not even “far-left”. In his eyes he’s just “center-left”, or sees his worldview as “basic empathy”. And if anyone disagrees with this or that aspect of his worldview, he will look at that person as if they’re a monster.
The End – What Wokeness Isn’t
Wokeness isn’t left-wing politics. Well… It is political, but only in part. The majority of Wokeness isn’t the increase of tax rates for the rich, or healthcare subsidies, or the discussion on how to improve trains, or increasing the minimum wage. Most policy and law related topics aren’t “woke”. Wokeness isn’t about economics, or border policy, or political party, or domestic policy, or green energies transition. Wokeness, for the most part, is actually a cultural phenomenon.
It doesn’t manifest itself in the law, in courts, or in some bureaucracy. Wokeness manifests when you’re out on a date with a woman. When you’re watching a movie. When you’re chatting with friends. When you’re in the office, and you’re male, and the head of HR is a “progressive feminist who strives for the safety of women”. Wokeness aren’t the numbers CNN displays. Wokeness are the journalists, the framework in which they select data and present it, and discuss it. Most forms of Wokeness aren’t even radical. No normal person ever worries about Communism taking over society. But the subtler forms of Wokeness are all around us.
We (the west world) are surrounded by wokeness. We are like fish in water, asking “Where’s the water? I don’t see it.” Wokeness is the water.
To me, that’s why Wokeness is so dangerous. It’s so prevalent, so elastic, so abstract. It’s easy to watch the news and see some far-right riot happening here or there, and to shake our heads. You cannot deny violence. You cannot deny things like hate crimes. But people sure love ignoring Wokeness. They love engaging in name calling, in defaming critics (fascist, nazi, conservative, bigot).
Wokeness is… It’s inherently elastic. And the content doesn’t matter that much. I don’t care about trans women in women’s sports. It’s not something I’ll die on a hill for. But if I dare express this opinion on social media… Or in front of my “progressive” friends… The repercussions are always much more severe than I imagine. I have lost dozens of friends because of this. I’ve been banned, I’ve been censored, I’ve been defamed. And I’m a nobody.
Wokeness causes innocent men to go to prison. It causes lonely and men to kill themselves. It causes innocent individuals to be fired from their professions, to be “cancelled” permanently, for daring to have this or that politically incorrect opinion.
I’m not here saying Wokeness is as bad as Nazism. I’m not saying that Feminism in our society is as oppressive as Fascism. I’m not saying that anti-white racism is as bad as anti-minority racism. But Wokeness is still pretty fucking bad. It’s still a disease in our society. That’s why I hate it so much; because Wokeness is the evil people ignore the most.