Anti woke is not an issue. The future is bright.
Unless you’ve totally switched off, there’s a high chance that you’ve read, or heard some form of anti-woke sentiment in traditional or social media. Surely by now you’ve observed right wing politicians or journalists complain about the woke era and how unreasonable it is. I have, and I just wanna talk about how annoying and somewhat hilarious it is.
There’s an obvious, growing frustration from conservatives that we’ve just gone too far in this era of woke whingers wanting unreasonable equality for everyone. I mean, equality for all, it’s a ridiculous notion! (how dare it challenge my white, patriarchal, middle class privilege!)
Look, I’m not a massive fan of the term ‘woke’, mostly because it’s just a buzzword and we all know that buzz words can mean different things, to different people at different times. Generally speaking, words tend to lose and change their meaning, as language is a continuously evolving beast. E.g. modern ‘stalwart’ which began appearing in the 15th century, derived from ‘stalworth’ which was used in the 12th century to describe strongly built people or animals, and ‘Stalworth’ derived from the Old English word stǣlwierthe (meaning "serviceable"), which, is thought to mean "foundation" and "worth." I digress. Words change ok?
Take the word ‘foodie’ for example. In the late 90’s/early 2000’s it was somewhat of a cute buzz word to associate yourself with if you loved to cook, eat well and explore life through a culinary lens. I might be wrong, but over the last decade its reputation has been somewhat sullied, and seems more associated with obsessive wankers that curate food on social media, for the likes and notoriety, not so much for the enjoyment of a moment in culinary ecstasy. Look, yes I’m somewhat guilty of this. I did write a food blog for years (2008-2015 era), I had a few cook books published and I still share food stories on social media. But I feel a bit icky calling myself a foodie, it just doesn’t sit well with me, notably because I now associate it with a particular basic personality.
But enough on Foodie, let’s get back to woke and anti-woke.
As far as I’m aware, ‘woke’ derives from being a person that’s ‘awake’ to issues mostly focused around social injustice, of which there’s no shortage of. The reliable Merriam-Webster definition for context.
woke - (adjective)
Aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).
The thing that raises my eyebrows with the anti-woke sentiment is the deliberate ownership of NOT wanting people to be treated equally. Which seems pretty harsh and a bit cunty or dickish, whatever you prefer. Screaming to the world that you’re sick of all this woke shit, kinda sounds like you’re saying you DON’T want everyone to be treated equally. Instead you prefer to maintain your position of privilege and you’re not open to making people feel like their natural condition in life isn’t something people should judge them for.
What’s even more humorous is people getting overly concerned and angered that they have to live in a society where gender is fluid, ‘men’ are wearing women's clothing and certain races and religions are getting a fair go and ruining the good old days (when we kept the weirdos at bay and were openly encouraged to tease the wimps, wogs, jewish, asians, queers and anyone else in between that didn’t fit into white, hetero normative). Not suggesting this still doesn’t happen btw. It does and this is why being social issue aware and active is so important, if that kind of thing floats your boat. Equality and all that.
It reminds me of the classic line, “I’m not racist, but…..
Here’s the rub. Social change has always been with us and isn’t going away. You either go with the flow, or you get left behind.
My kids' generation (which are more ‘woke’ than Boomers) will eventually take over the world and will introduce the next round of social change. They’re already making an impact and will continue to and I’m on board with this, especially if my teenage daughters are involved.
One day not too far in the future there will be gender fluid, political leaders of mixed cultural backgrounds and there’s nothing the anti-woke can do about it. Just like those pesky females getting the vote and fighting for equal rights, which at the time was an outrageous concept for men, but now seems more reasonable a concept for the general misogynist to accept.
I guess there’s some comfort in knowing that the old ways die with each generation and a new layer of skin grows from the shedding of the old. With that comes change, and as much as change is difficult for many to accept, it’s an inevitability. Literally the law of the universe. As reliable as stars burn bright and eventually fade to dust particles, so too will social change continue its unstoppable march of progress.
The question for the anti-woke folk, the things that really upset them like gendered bathrooms, people of colour having a fair go at life and scary drag queens ‘grooming’ the kids, is the contradictions their arguments are founded on. It’s always a fun conversation to ask them what drives their beliefs, what’s the foundation of their logic. It’s often the thing that brings them apart….”well because it's just not right!”. Well then, what is right and why?
