Wokeness

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for the Nigerian politician, see Chukwuemeka Woke Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Wokeness is a name for an extreme left-wing, internationalist, and socially progressive attitude toward life and society. Originally an African American term meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination",[1] it became popular in the 2010s to describe a radical form of fashionable virtue signalling practiced mostly by upper middle-class (and above) white people, and some Asians.[2] The concept was brought to prominence by intersectional marchers in the Black Lives Matter movement.[3]

Origins

The phrase "stay woke" had emerged in AAVE by the 1930s, in some contexts referring to an awareness of the social and political issues affecting black Americans (who were then referred to as Negroes or Coloreds). The phrase was uttered in a recording by Lead Belly and later by Erykah Badu. Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader opposition to beliefs such as racism and sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for neo-Marxist ideas involving identity politics and social justice, such as the notion of white privilege and slavery reparations for African Americans. Following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, the phrase was popularized by Black Lives Matter activists.

Meaning

A "woke" person is highly aware of the scope of permissible speech as defined by the Overton Window, according to the latest doctrines of political correctness. Woke people will demonstrate their compliance with these tenets in their daily lives, as if they are cheerfully acting of their own will. They will express allegiance to the current victimhood hierarchy,[4] with woke white men accepting personal culpability for the suffering of non-whites worldwide.[5] They may even express indifference over or support for their own replacement.[6]

At the same time, wokeness is an expression of personal status or supremacy over non-woke people.[7] Wokeness is associated with student life at Western universities, young urban professionals, fictional heroes in Hollywood television shows and movies of the 2010s and 2020s, modern-day pop culture, online communities like Wikipedia, RationalWiki, ResetEra, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, and magazines like Esquire, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated, Time, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Playboy. Even "mainstream" or soft conservatives, such as the British "Conservative" Party, the Liberal Party of Australia, Damian Collins, Gavin Barwell, and various RINO politicians in the United States, aspire to wokeness.[8]

Great Awokening

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The Great Awokening is a term given to the ongoing cultural evolution of left-wing politics in Western countries, though most commonly attributed towards American Democrats.[9]

Causes of wokeness

Criticism

According to right-wing and traditional left-wing opponents, wokeness is also the expression of what they call The Cathedral, the dominant culture of the modern Western world. As such, wokeness is claimed to be encouraged by the so-called Shadow Party, which is said to influence or control Western society. There has been staunch opposition to wokeness, including protests against restrictions imposed by mostly left-leaning governments and slowly increasing support for highly controversial past and present political figures largely disliked by the mainstream media and by other organizations supporting various forms of political correctness.

The opposite of being woke is sometimes called being "based". This term was coined by rapper Lil B before being co-opted by alt-right and right-wing activists.[11] These activists also describe themselves as being Red Pilled.[12]

See also

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References