So, You Want To Define Woke?
Leftists have been trying to dismiss the term Woke, claiming no one can give it a real definition. When they do, share this article.
SO, WHAT IS WOKE?
Spoiler alert!
Woke is the Left’s “Red Pill.”
Duh.
I mean, both terms reference being asleep to some broader worldview — a system of oppression that we can’t see, like fish in water, until we finally wake up.
“The Matrix is Whiteness, bitch.”
Okay, clearly I jest.
Being Red Pilled is something that pretty much belongs to everyone at this point. It’s like calling wokism a religion — while the shoe fits, just saying that doesn’t actually tell us much about it.
Now, if you want the real definition, here it is:
Woke is left wing, zero-sum, cultural and systemic identitarian-collectivist activism.
Phew! Damn, that was easier than I thought.
The way ya’ll made it sound, I figured this was the gotcha of the century. But that’s it, that’s the definition. If you look at most remotely-informed criticisms of wokeness, that’s ultimately what they’re talking about.
Shit. That is kind of a mouthful, though.
I mean, we could simplify things and just call it “Cultural Marxism,” but Wikipedia considers that some kind conspiratorial dog-whistle.
Curiously, it’s actually not a conspiratorial dog-whistle if you just change the words around a little…
…and so long as you’re not claiming it’s an agenda to “destabilize The West.”
So maybe it’s better to say:
Woke is Neo-Marxist Cultural Activism That’s Totally Not Trying To Destabilize The West.
Come to think of it, both of these definitions, while apropos, may just be a little over some people’s heads, so let’s try something a bit easier:
Woke is The Left’s Alt-Right.
Ah, now I know we’re speaking the same language.
If you think about it, both the Alt-Right and the Woke-Left are identitarian-collectivists, both obsessed with identity and putting it first in matters of policy. Sure, they definitely have opposite views about how society should treat “cis/white/straight/Protestant/males” specifically, but they’re ultimately using the same strategies, or ideological framework, to achieve their ends.
(Kinda like how the Nation of Islam and Neo Nazis make good bedfellows.)
One wants to use discriminatory policies while the other…wants to use discriminatory policies.
To quote Ibram X. Kendi:
“The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”
“Damnit, who put that ‘Anti-’ in there?!”
I’d add, the only way to measure a lesser of these evils is by which identities you prefer to get screwed.
But even this is only part of the picture. There’s actually a crucial difference between them: Whereas the Alt-Right wants to differentiate themselves from the standard Right, the Woke-Left wants to infiltrate and assimilate the Progressives.
Let’s dig a bit deeper.
SO, WHERE DID WOKE COME FROM?
The core ideological framework is actually pretty old, coming out of The New Left of the late '70s and essentially gaining ground in '80’s academia, but the push to radicalize Progressives — to go from the old ideal of equality of opportunity to equality of outcome (now called equity), or “color blindness” to race essentialism and favoritism — has grown increasingly blatant over the last decade.
Seeing this coming, I sought to prevent the woke infection, to differentiate them as “Neo-Progressive,” but alas, it was a lost cause. In recent years, the Right cleverly conflated the two, because it’s politically expedient to confuse your opponents with the worst of their ilk. Meanwhile, the Progressives were primed for the saccharine optics of wokism and its appeal to “white-savior” inclinations: They were already activists, comin’ out swinging from the '90s for marriage equality, challenging racial injustice, and eager for any flagellation which could absolve them of culpability.
“Are we doin’ it dad? Are we savin’ the blacks?”
Mind you, marriage and racial equality aren’t woke, they’re progressive. But Wokism rode this momentum like a paraglider. This was made possible, in part, by the increasing division between political parties. But more to the point, the sad truth is many older Progressives aren’t very informed: they’re armchair-activists, a bit too busy with their adult lives to do any deep dives, yet desperate to stay on the “right side of history.”
Sorry Prog Mommies, but a whole lot of ya’ll woulda unzipped my pants if I told you that’s where I kept my Social Justice.
Meanwhile, the young Progressives have had years of calculated indoctrination.
Still, many have been picking up on its bullshit. It’s not just a conservative thing. Progressives are increasingly telling their stories of “walking away from the Left.”
Full disclosure, I’m one of ‘em.
SO, WHY USE THE WORD WOKE?
Back during Gamergate, the nomenclature du juor for a Neo-Progressive was Social Justice Warrior (SJW). It was an acerbic lash upon the screeching identitarians infiltrating various entertainment mediums. But once the term grew mainstream and reached the normies, thanks to the likes of Fox News, even your crusty grandfather was using it for damn near anything.
“Goddamn SJWs and their Vegan burgers!”
An SJW wasn’t just a third wave Feminist braying about Patriarchy and promoting false wage-gap statistics, or a professor gaslighting students with gender confusion (which arguably primed a generation for self-diagnosed identity disorders), or students demanding white people leave campus so they can have a Not-White safe space, or a store owner wanting to charge extra for men and giving women priority seating.
It was someone who owned a Prius.
The term lost so much of its bite, Marvel planned an unironic run of comics called the “New Warriors,” an apparent SJW roster of teen superheroes. This literally included characters like, I shit you not, “Snowflake” and “Safespace.”
Saving the world, one coloring book at a time.
As a result, the term faded from common parlance, because the very thing that made it valuable was drained through gluttonous misuse.
But here’s the thing, I don’t think it actually disappeared at all.
I think it became Woke.
Or, rather, it colonized Woke (wink, wink).
The fact remains that these terms do reference something, and while it’s not quite intuitive for the average person to suss out just where the progressivism ends and wokism begins (especially when everyone is actively muddying the term), I think most of us smell something rotten and we need a word for it.
“It’s just an infestation of Wokamorpha Marxys.”
On a recent episode of The Daily Show, Sarah Silverman described Woke as:
“…learning new things about people or the world and then acting accordingly like basic kindness, maybe a gesture of care to people who are more vulnerable than you.”
But that’s just more of the mud. When someone says, “Go Woke, Go Broke,” they’re clearly not referencing basic kindness or learning new things.
For example, despite Billy Eichner’s best attempts to wave away the failure of Bros by blaming homophobic crowds, there’s a reason why it could fail in 2022, yet Brokeback Mountain was widely praised in an era when marriage equality still wasn’t even legal.
Can you spot the difference?
The people trying to conflate wokism with progressivism are gaslighting us, and much of that comes from their agenda to blend: They know they can only thrive when they’re not fully exposed. This is why you’ll never see Ibram X. Kendi or Robin DiAngelo debate. It’s also why they want any labels that do call them out washed from discourse, and why they disseminate the notion that Woke doesn’t really mean anything at all.
And all of that’s why we need to preserve the term as long as possible, and that means being cautious of misusing it.
Stop helping, Jordan.
And let’s be real here, saying “Woke” is far easier than saying “left wing, zero-sum, cultural and systemic identitarian-collectivist activism.”
SO, WHAT IS WOKE MEDIA?
Wokism in media can take many different forms, and that’s what complicates the topic of “Go Woke, Go Broke.”
Films with a black lead or gay characters aren’t inherently woke — these people exist and depicting them is natural. Talking about racism, sexism, or inequality isn’t either. And I know, I know, you saw some dipshit on Facebook call that woke, but pointing to them as your “aha!” example is just confusing your opponents with the worst of their ilk. Like I said earlier, it’s politically expedient, but it’s also obtuse at best and deceptive at worst.
Do better, Senator.
The problem isn’t the subject itself, but what is done with it.
Sure, it can be something absolutely on-the-nose like Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, but wokism goes much deeper than surface-level trite.
Bask in its subtlety.
It can be something as simple as unnecessary race, sex, or sexual-preference swaps.
“Hey,” I hear you moan, “diversity is a good thing!”
And I agree! But that word means something very different to the Woke than it does to the rest of us.
Instead of implying something composed of distinct or unlike elements or qualities (think the cast of Captain Planet), they mean “Woke-Diversity,” which is just anything specifically “not cis/white/straight/Protestant/males.”
And if you’re thinking, “But Captain Planet didn’t have a black female character, so it wasn’t diverse,” then you’re on the same the road, just in a different lane.
Forced representation isn’t diversity, it’s rigging the project with biased demographics.
“By our powers combined, we are Captain Oppression!”
Race and sex swapping established characters isn’t inherently woke either, it happens all the time in stage plays, and it can be done without sacrificing the nature of the character. Think Starbuck from the Battlestar Galactica remake. The problem again is Woke-Diversity: rigging the casting for the sake of an ESG score or the showrunner’s own prejudice, especially where it doesn’t make sense. Think the BBC show, Anne Boleyn.
And, I hate to break it to you, but if you think Superman has to be black for black people to relate, you’re a racist, no matter how hard the Woke want to redefine the term.
And if you know any kids who feel that way, congratulations, they’ve been indoctrinated to view identity first and foremost, which is a win for the Woke. In fact, it’s the first component of their agenda.
And it’s not just the identities, it’s also what you do with the characters. For example, making all young women unbelievable-scientific geniuses (Wakanda Forever had two of these “Women in STEM tropes,” and the horribly-titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s whole plot revolves around another), or making all older women “girl-bosses.” Seriously, it’s like every person in authority has to be a chick with a stick up her ass. It’s sheer, fucking hubris. Conversely, it can also mean making all men, especially white men, little more than villains or buffoons.
This isn’t building women up, it’s patronizing them while breaking men down.
“Equality at last!”
Now, I can hear some of you saying, “Psh! Typical male privilege. You’re so used to being on the top, when someone else rises to your level, you feel like you lost something.”
But that’s clearly nonsense because I want strong, female characters. Hell, we have a rich history proving that both can be strong and compelling. Think The Terminator. No, I’m explicitly talking about turning female characters into Marry Sues whilst making a mockery of men. Think Rey vs Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy.
Even a toddler could tell that this isn’t putting them on the same level.
Likewise, it can be found in the very skeleton of a production, such as “diversity-hiring” unqualified show runners. Not only does this trickle down wokism, it leads to a loss in quality, as green “creatives” who aren’t familiar with (or blatantly don’t like) the material they’re working on produce poor work. Think She-Hulk, whose showrunner clearly knew nothing about the titular character, law, or even comedy.
“…Please laugh.”
It can go even further and be directors who only hire an LGBTQWTFBBQ+ cast for their production or others who outright refuse to cast a white lead.
Seeing the pattern here?
SO, WHAT’S THE POINT?
To be clear, I’m not arguing against Wokism in this piece: I gave my opinions, sure, but this ain’t the time or place for a comprehensive challenge.
You asked what it is and I’m telling you.
This may come as a surprise, but I have no qualms talking about serious topics in teen shows, including racism or sexism, etc., provided it’s not woke sophistry. I like seeing diverse casts (granted, more so by their character than superficial features like race), it just can’t be forced and has to make sense in the context of the work. Not even talking about entertainment, I want to see people pulled out of poverty or not abused by police…I just don’t start and end the conversation with the color of skin. I also think we should teach the full scope of history, especially the ugly bits, sans contemporary agendas and provided it’s honest and age appropriate.
See, each caveat I have to add to those statements is where you can find wokism hiding.
Speaking of which, Lefties try to say Anti-Woke means not telling “black history.” That’s bullshit too, because they don’t want to just tell history, they want to “reframe” it to achieve their goal, and that’s what we’re calling out.
“But, so do the conservatives!”
Sure, many over there do too, and it’s also bad. But a tu quoque doesn’t get you off the hook.
To wit — I don’t want children being told what to think, I want them taught how to think critically. They should not be vehicles for your agenda so your ideas can get away unscathed by challenge.
Woke ‘em while they’re young.
To be clear, the Woke put every bit as much attention into their tactics as they do their message. Activism is paramount: They use racism to fight racism; use Machiavellian strategies to obfuscate their efforts (such as redefining racism or trying to get someone fired/demonetized); and exploit progressive good-faith. They aren’t interested in discourse or intellectual exploration; they want authority, are more than happy to lie and cheat, and they’ll try to cancel anyone that gets in the way.
And again, the goal is to convince you that this is progressive.
So if you believe: the West is a “Post-Colonial, White Supremacist Patriarchy;” that concepts like individualism and punctuality are aspects of Whiteness; that diversity means forcing specific demographics into projects, work, or schools; that calling out a diversity hire is a microaggression; that all entertainment should reflect your political messaging; that your race determines your reality, and so on…then good for you!
Seriously, I mean that.
You do you, boo.
But the next time you go to ask someone to define Woke, just save everyone some time and take a quick glimpse in a mirror.
If you’d like a deeper dive, or want to fallaciously ad hom me with some claim that I don’t know what I’m talking about, I invite you check out my long form, ongoing series on Wokeness.
Or, if comedy’s more your speed, be sure to check out my The Top 3 Most-Woke "Proud Family: Louder and Prouder" Episodes From Season 2 (it’s been breaking all of my previous records here on Substack, so it can’t be as bad as this shit.)
Thanks for reading.