Woke Nation-Wake Me Up When It’s Over

I am marooned between “Trump only” republicans whose priority seems to be to swear undying loyalty to a golden calf and the far left who are utterly convinced they have all the answers regardless of their propensity to remain in a constant state of lockstep subjectivity. At the risk of being judgmental, throwing noodles against the walls of society and waiting to see what sticks just doesn’t feel like a good strategy to me. 

Woke – “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)”.  - November 2022, merriam-webster.com 

The term originated in black communities and in an alarmingly hypocritical act of appropriation, was adopted by young predominantly white liberals. Though the movement may have begun with good intent, it has turned into just another example of the abbreviated, “emojified” and devolved society we all live in now. What a glorious delusion though: When encountering unsanctioned opinions, one must merely state “my truth” and of course, find enough followers on social media to pummel the rest of us into submission. 

Don’t tell me…I know. I am fully expecting a tsunami of outrage brought upon by my incendiary forthrightness and audacity to share an idea that is not approved by party upper brass and lovingly enforced by the trigger police. Oh, I almost forgot: 

TRIGGER WARNING: 

The following may upset you. I’m not sure why that should matter, but consider this a warning, nevertheless. You may also want to consider asking yourself why it should matter and what unintended devastation to free speech and thought that may cause. But wait…that act of introspection may also trigger you. Do I need to put a trigger warning on my trigger warning? Oh dear… moving on. 

Let us assume for the sake of this editorial, that those who consider themselves woke are interested in convincing the rest of us that their ideas warrant consideration and implementation. If this is so, I have a few questions. I’ll break them down one issue at a time. 

Defining our terms 

“Equality” for example. There is much that is not equal or fair in the world, but let’s not give the butcher a scalpel and expect him to be able to perform a heart surgery. Do we want impulsive hands on the levers of societal change or thoughtful and moderate ones? Equity cannot be achieved with a tit for tat free-for-all, avenging an unchangeable spotted history led by “whim-of-the-day” influencers and the politicians and companies that fear them. The 21^st century “boy who cries wolf” now lives in a fortress buttressed by gender and skin color politics and guarded by perpetually offended keyboard warriors, catapulting the tired and over used carcass of “racism” at anyone residing outside the castle walls who believes equality is much simpler than some would like you to believe. Equal opportunity after all, is a right. Equal outcome, however, is not.

De-funding the Police 

Walk me through what this would look like. Will there be a proportionate causal relationship with a decriminalized populace? And when asking the criminals to “stop criminalizing” doesn’t work, do we call in the military or just depend on an organized vigilante system made up of enthusiastic wrist slappers? Because from where I sit, thousands of years of history have shown that as a species, we really have not changed that much. Though technology has made us appear smarter, there is still an unquenchable thirst in some for money and power on both a micro and macro level. Looking from space, we are still nothing more that cavemen playing with lasers. 

Seriously though, how will this work? And wouldn’t we be putting the cart before the horse by de- funding and then seeing what happens? I’m trying to dissuade my fingers from typing so sarcastically but they seem to have a life of their own. 10 apologies. 

Gotcha 

A truly objective conversation cannot be had if one or more of the participants has already decided the outcome and is only waiting for their “gotcha” mic-drop moment. I no longer wonder why honest politicians have receded into their caves, unwilling to speak to constituents or answer a question. Any metaphor, idea or expressed frustration is never carefully stated or “woke” enough to be seriously considered. How could it be while one is only listening for subconscious micro-aggressions, “mansplaining” or political correctness? 

My Truth 

If we are all really seeking truth, then the answers must be truthful, not necessarily comfortable. They must of course also be coed, multicolored, and objective or at least be recognizable by the sane majority of real flesh and bone people instead of the on-line consensus of an emotionally driven, easily persuaded binary peanut gallery. 

We cannot allow conversations to be derailed by the assertion of someone else’s presumed or invidiously assigned intent. A scripted conversation will yield nothing of lasting value. Is it not more important to be correct than it is to feel that we are right? If an apology or an expression of approval is met with an indignant “I don’t need your apology or approval”, all there is left to say is, “I know you are but what am I?” Where do we go from here? The principal’s office where we are forced to shake hands before we are allowed to finish recess? 

The woke movement has become a semantics hall monitor convention bent on discussing anything but the point of the subject at hand. How one discusses a topic has now become more important than the topic itself, winning has become more valuable than seeking truth and “owning” your fellow human being has now reared its too recently interred ugly head in the digital world. 

It boils down to this: If my truth and your truth are not remarkably similar, then someone brought a tennis racket to a golf game.

Lifelong musician, music producer, writer.