Why are the woke suddenly disliking the “woke” brand?
And why will I use “woke” all the more?
Lately I’ve been noticing something happening often in online conversation. When the subject is wokeness and its produce, someone will say something like, “I wish people would use another word than ‘woke.’ It is so overused.” Usually that is said to put down the argument of one opposing wokeness. Or someone will ask, perhaps with faux innocence, “Define wokeness.”
I think this is occurring more often now. And before we decide upon how to respond, I think we have to understand why this may be happening.
An old tactic of the Left is that when chosen labels become widely disliked and a political liability, they change the labels.
So when “liberal” or “Left” became political baggage around 1980, and Socialism already had a bad name, the Lib/Leftists changed their label to “progressive.” And who of an enlightened conscience would be opposed to progress? Who would be so backward?
When the pro-abortion crowd quickly discovered that the average American actually was not for abortion much but thought it not a good thing or something that should be rare, they changed their label to “pro-choice.” Hey, it’s downright un-American to oppose freedom of choice! Do you want to take away freedom from women and keep them pregnant and in the kitchen?
When skepticism about “global warming” increased (particularly during cold winters), the term suddenly got changed before you knew it to “climate change.” And who is such a mossback as to think climate isn’t changing? Heck, even I think climates change!
You get the picture. When various Leftist notions and plans become widely repugnant, instead of reevaluating, they relabel.
Yes, I think that is happening with wokeness today. About five years ago, the average person was not all that familiar with wokeness or woke activism. But they sure are now, and they don’t like what they see: racism against whites, Asians and Jews combined with the insistence that its not racism or is even “antiracism,” drag queens grooming children with the support of public schools and libraries, biological males competing against women in sports, infinite genders and the mutilation of minors, free speech being attacked with cancellation and censorship, history being vandalized through statue toppling and through ideological class curriculum, calls for “reparations” based on skin color, “diversity and inclusion” being put above competence with predictable results, etc. etc.
The woke insist that average people really don’t know what wokeness or Critical Theory is. And maybe most have not risked their sanity by diving into the madness of Critical Theory as I have. But average people are now very well aware of wokeness in practice, and they do not like it.
So it will be interesting to see if the woke invent a new label for themselves soon and try to make it stick. In the meantime, they are evading the “woke” brand. They are more and more playing the game of “Woke? What is woke? That’s just a label for things Fox News and its viewers don’t like. Can we just retire that useless smear word?”
Well, no I won’t. When people now understand how toxic, dangerous, and even evil woke ideologies are when put into practice, I will not assist the woke by discontinuing that label. Instead I will use “woke” and “wokeness” and expose the evil of woke ideologies and their applications that much more.
So how do I recommend responding when someone whines that they’d rather we’d use another word? I recommend you link them to this post! Aren’t I helpful? Or maybe you can respond with something like, “Do you dislike woke ideologies or just dislike the use of the woke label to expose them as toxic?”
And if someone asks for a definition of woke, I might answer, “those who espouse or are heavily influenced by Critical Theory.” What if someone then asks, not unlike Pontus Pilate, “And what is Critical Theory?” At that point I pretty much know they are playing games. And I won’t play. Life is too short. I would ignore them at that point or soon after (while maybe doing my best not to be rude if I’m having a good day).
Now, yes, there are a few who are really trying to find out more about wokeness/Critical Theory. I would refer them to Cynical Theories by Pluckrose and Lindsay and converse with them as best I can. But I will not waste time with woke trying to cloak their evil and trip up people exposing it. As Jesus said, “Don’t throw your pearls before swine.”
But, yes, do not give credence to those complaining about overuse of the woke label by actually overusing it. Not all concerned for the poor and genuinely oppressed or interested in past history of prejudice is woke. And one can be left-of-center without being woke. Instead there are some left-of-center people with open minds and courageous hearts who are really waking up and speaking up against wokeness or at least aspects of it, such as censorship. So as the woke overuse “Nazi” or “racist” to smear people who disagree with them, we should not be like them. We should not use “woke” for everything we dislike.
Still, now that the woke are more exposed as bankrupt and evil, now that we are beginning to have them on the run, we do not allow them to confuse matters by discarding the “woke” label. When we had the Nazis on the run, would we listen to any German solders who insisted, “Nein! Nein! I’m not Nazi!”? Neither do we give in to woke soldiers who insist we use another label.
They have only themselves to blame for the woke label and how odious it has become. Let them wear it. Make them wear it.
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Right after I posted I came across an excellent and helpful post from
that makes similar points about labels. Read it!