The problem of "wokeness"

Oxford English Dictionary: woke, adjective: Originally: well-informed, up-to-date. ...Now chiefly: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice; frequently in stay woke.

In my estimation, there are several things that are wrong with being woke. In order to present them in an organized manner, I will divide the problems with the given term into the following categories; ethical, philosophical, societal.

1.   Ethical - from an ethical point of view, being woke is problematic as its main goal doesn’t seem to be the moral act itself, but the personal gain received by claiming moral superiority. Such an attitude (i.e. choosing to do a moral - woke - action solely for individual gain) is ethically questionable even without going into the discussion whether "wokeness" itself is moral or not. There are many illustrations of this nowadays; from the ever-present virtue signaling on social media, to the growing trend of discrediting the other side of the debate by defining them as “less moral”. Indicatively, the discussions in which this happens most frequently are those that deal with the same topics as “wokeness” does. What usually happens is that the “woke” person a priori claims the moral high ground and henceforth uses that gained pseudo-morality as a weapon in further debate. Not only does this minimize the possibility of a healthy discussion, but it instrumentalizes ethics which is a reprehensible idea.

2.   Philosophical - “wokeness” as a phenomenon didn’t develop by itself; it is a consequence of a philosophical school of thought that goes under the name of postmodernism. This philosophy is at the base of theories such as the critical race theory, gender ideology, political correctness, modern feminism, etc. One of its main points is to deconstruct the established societal organizations and point out the different forms of oppression in them. Similarly, it disregards the possibility of a dialogue (which is, in its best form, the search for truth) by stating that truth and meaning are merely a construct of the language and can, therefore, be used only as a means to power. This is the exact antithesis of the traditional western philosophy from which many of the best things in our culture have developed (a good example of this being freedom of speech - with the postmodernist mindset, why would we be free to speak if the only goal of it is to gain power? Perhaps that is why free speech is so threatened nowadays). In essence, “wokeness” isn’t the main cause of the problem, but one of the consequences of a much deeper problem.

3.   Societal - as somewhat of a synthesis of the two previous points, being woke is bad on a societal level as it (1) instrumentalizes ethics by emphasizing boasting of one’s virtues rather than the virtues themselves (i.e. shifts the focus from acting rightly, simply because it is right, to gaining the upper hand), (2) limits the possibility of a free discussion by using pseudo-morality as a means to demonize the other side and disregard their arguments, (3) implicitly forces the “woke” people to adopt a worldview which is primarily concerned with group (race, sex, sexuality) power struggle (hence, the growing trend of interpreting every part of our society - movies, sports, politics, etc. - through the lens of the currently trendy “woke” ideas) which directly hits on the western values that are in the basis of our society which focuses primarily on the individual by seeing him as a unique being rather than a part of a certain group.

Finally, consider the quote of one of the pioneers of the struggle which “wokeness” claims to be a part of and contrast it with the “woke” outlook;

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

-Martin L. King

“All White people are racists and/or act racistly to maintain their White interests.”

-Marley K., Medium