My Path to Understanding Woke-ism
I’m a historian at heart. With all things, I seek to understand where something may have started and how it may have become so prevalent in our daily lives. For the past 25 years working for a major corporation, I witnessed firsthand the transformation from “nice to have” to “need to have” to “required” when speaking about diversity, equity and inclusion. At one point earlier on in my career, I was part of the Diversity Leadership team and took an extensive 3 day course to not only learn more about it but be able to bring that learning back to my colleagues. I found the course helpful and it provided a solid foundation for me to further grow in my understanding. Then, things went off the rails a bit.
If you haven’t noticed, social issues are wholly intertwined in our political system, perhaps more than ever. These social issues are referred to as identity politics. In my time within the workforce, there was always an underlying presence of social issues. For instance, I worked for a company that was very LGBTQ+ friendly, which I had zero issue with, having found that to be a plus in the category of inclusion. But, with all the social upheaval within the US over the past 5-10 years, the social issues that were once in the background were now placed at the forefront of my daily work life and I wanted to understand why.
The expansion started small, with the addition of pronouns at the bottom of our emails. At the time, I had no idea why we were doing this but was of course educated on it as time passed. Additional diversity courses were rolled out and, as a manager, multiple required diversity classes that I needed to take each quarter and/or year. Also, as a manager, I was required to have diversity conversations with my team, discussing specific topics relating to diversity, equity and inclusion. I’m not here to say any of this is bad, the Diversity Leadership team I mentioned above provided a very positive experience for me. Having said that, what was once a small portion of my daily/weekly work life became much more engrossing as time passed.
I’m never one to be told what to do. It’s a thing with me, always has been. I take the freedoms we have in America seriously, my civil liberty is at the core of many decisions I make in life. The fact I was being told to think a certain way, act or react to something based on a social standard always rubbed me the wrong way. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say this played a part in me leaving corporate life, it absolutely did. But why did it come to that? What is woke-ism and how did we get here?
I will say, there’s an immense amount of information I could provide here. I’m going to attempt to summarize what I’ve found out through my research thus far, you can take what I have and research yourself to further your understanding. I say thus far because I’m in no way done learning and don’t think I ever will be. That’s an important aspect to remember as I’ll discuss in more detail later regarding conversations.
In order to understand the idea of being woke, it’s important to understand the theories espoused today are based on schools of philosophical thought. I’ll be the first to say, philosophy can be both confusing and frustrating when you dig into it. For the purpose of this discussion, I’m going to keep it extremely high level by touching on the philosophy of Critical Theory and by quickly defining wokeism.
What is Critical Theory?
A quick search provides the following definition:
A philosophical approach to culture, and especially to literature, that seeks to confront the social, historical and ideological forces and structures that produce and constrain it. The term is applied particularly to the work of the Frankfurt School.
Ref: Oxford Languages
As the name would imply, critical theory applies a “critical” lens to societal constructs. For instance, American history. Why has our history been told the way it has? Who wrote the books our kids are reading? When were they written? Should they be rewritten or re-thought? The idea of Critical Race Theory (as the name would suggest) was built from the foundational concepts of Critical Theory.
Ok, we’re off to a good start. You’ve familiar with the 1960s I presume? Sexual revolution? Political upheaval, etc? Sound familiar? What’s happening in America today with regard to our racial divides, sexual exploration and pushing of societal boundaries are directly descended from philosophical principles born out of the 1960s, which were based on concepts originally devised from Critical Theory along with the work of Sigmund Freud.
As part of the 1960s social upheaval, there were philosophers who felt liberal Democrats weren’t doing enough to move the needle on societal change. These philosophers influenced a group of people referred to as Radicals, influencing their political and social beliefs. One of the more famous philosophers of this period was Wilhem Reich, who coined the term “sexual revolution.” Reich advocated for progressive sexual education and promoted sexual liberation, access to contraceptives, and the acceptance of divorce and abortion. This flies in the face of what was once believed in 1950s America and previously, providing an awakening for many Americans leading to what became the Feminist movement, Black Power movement and additional movements to remove the historical constraints perceived to be holding America back from our true promise as a great nation with an enlightened population.
What is Woke?
Someone who is woke is very aware of social and political unfairness.
(Ref: Collins Dictionary)
I think the key word within this definition is “very,” as in, almost fanatically religious about their understanding. The woke agenda that we witness within our political system is primarily owned on the Democratic side of the aisle with the more far left, Radical or Progressive constituents carrying the banner for change. Not unlike MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans, the Democratic party is now split in two, the Liberals on one side and the Progressives on the other. Liberals would be positioned more in line with FDR, JFK and even Bill Clinton. The Progressives would be aligned with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a large population of the young people within our country. This is a result of university professors and administrators accepting the core beliefs briefly mentioned above by philosophers of the 1960s such as Wilhelm Reich with students advancing those beliefs outside the university system upon graduation.
What’s interesting is that at one point, America was a nation of believers, with God or a God-like power at the center of our daily lives. With the advent of technology, this belief has dwindled to the point of almost fringe like levels within our nation’s youth. The religious fervor that was once a staple in our society has been replaced with the Religion of Woke. Members take to Twitter and Instagram to espouse their beliefs, Hollywood uses their influence to further the cause and corporations have signed on to ensure all employees conform while replacing Jesus and God with idolatry in the form of social media influencers. Is this bad? To the extent it’s pushed on people, I think it is, but to call all of something good or bad while allowing zero room for acceptance would be shortsighted in my opinion. I tend to think I’m like most people, go about your life and I’ll go about mine but I don’t want you telling me what I should do or think, that’s encroaching on my civil liberties and rights as an American citizen.
I love my daughter, she’s the light of my life. She’s my child and I’ll love her no matter what, always. If she were to sit me down at 12 years old and tell me she didn’t feel comfortable in her body, my wife and I would have a frank discussion with her to understand why. Honestly, I don’t always feel comfortable in my body either and I’m 47 years old. This is a normal concept, especially in the pre-pubescent stages of life. I’d want to understand if it’s more than that or simply confusion, hatred of self, or other. Does this make me woke? Maybe, or maybe I just love my kid and want what’s best for her. That’s my job as a parent and I don’t need anyone else telling me what to do or how to do it.
People like to feel safe. The sky is blue, rain is wet, hugs from your Mom are warm, etc. Strip this away and we become unbound to our social norm and structure, compelling many not used to this phenomenon to not only rebel but get very upset about it. You’re messing with their lives and they’ve always known, it’s only natural for them to feel uncomfortable. Yet, when people (especially those older than say 30 years old) get upset or push back, there’s a general lack of understanding or empathy, even to the point of being downright cruel about it. As an example, I’m getting used to what is now a mainstream idea of a man transitioning to a woman. I’m not 100% accepting of it yet because the concept is foreign to me, but that doesn’t mean I’m not open to it or that I’m not willing to better understand it.
Change takes time, it’s not easy. Conversations are the key to figuring out how best to approach our changing society. This past week, my wife and I went to Beaufort, SC for our annual trip on her birthday. As we were walking down the street and about to walk into a restaurant, we witnessed an argument between a white man and a black man, each of them in their 60s. The black man was calmly telling his counterpart how he was offended by something he said and how it was unnecessary. The white man replied, less calmly, but without rising to the level of yelling or furious anger. We didn’t linger; however, the moment had a big impact on me. Conversational discussion, rather than yelling or pushing our own agendas, is the proper discourse to achieve true change. I have zero doubt many of the things I learned when I was younger were either incorrect or embellished. I also realize America isn’t nearly as great as I’ve made it out to be in my own mind, but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud of the country my grandfather and father fought for. It doesn’t mean I can simply change on a whim. I’m not saying I can’t, and I’m not saying I’m not willing to learn, listen and perhaps change my mind, but that all starts with a conversation and/or performing your own research to come to your own conclusions.
I’m not the most educated person in the world, I don’t have a PhD or even a Masters degree, but I did graduate from college and I read quite a bit. I consider myself educated, perhaps even over-educated on certain subjects. Many Americans are just like me, educated and pliable, willing to bend once they’ve done their research, but perhaps not on everything. That’s our right as American citizens, to be free to think and say what we want. Liberty or Death was a motto of the American revolution for a reason, the founders of our country would’ve literally died rather than have these freedoms taken away. I couldn’t agree more. Reshaping our society is a dirty business, we can’t wipe out the sins of the past nor should we. We need to have frank and open discussions about our differences while having patience with those who have been told one thing all their lives only to be told that’s not correct and should be changed. Maybe it should, but changing the world view on so many different aspects of our daily lives takes time. Before you decide to rise in anger over someone who disagrees with you, have a conversation. Understand why there is pushback or hesitation and attempt to educate them on your position. You’d be amazed at what you learn from each other and about each other.
Our differences are what makes this country great, we simply need to embrace them and have patience as we all continue to navigate this changing world. The religious movement known as the Great Awakening lasted years, in fact, there were actually two of them in the history of our country. We can’t expect our current Great Awokening to happen overnight.