Is Woke Awake?

February 6, 2022 Sociocultural Issues No Comments

Many ‘woke’ people are so heavily against intolerance that they make an intolerant impression. This contradiction begs for insight.

Several wokenesses

‘Woke’ is a weak term. Behind it also lies a weak concept. There are very diverse kinds of being woke. Unsurprisingly, there are also various ways of looking at wokeness.

It’s not always the same concept. Strikingly and not surprisingly, however, is the lack of distinction made by woke people between ego and total person.

For instance, they tend to act against racism as if this would be one block.

Is it about tolerance?

The woke quest is for a world in which no group of people gets discriminated against. In race, religion, gender, etc, all differences – within humane boundaries – need to be tolerated.

This is, of course, excellent. In a world of Compassion, we would see the same. Still, in many cases, wokeness looks pretty different from Compassion. One way to know the difference is by looking at forgiveness.

Canceling someone as punishment is no act of forgiveness, as is no other punishment. It is about payment from one side, retribution from the other ― no Compassion.

Weird is, for instance, a non-Compassionate woke Christian, since the New Testament is all about forgiveness ― no punishment. In the story about the adulteress who was about to be stoned to death, Jesus dared to ask the mob with stones in their hands whether there was one without sin: “Let him throw the first stone.” That is Compassion, no wokeness of the retribution kind.

So, what is the source of woke intolerance?

This may lie mainly in a lack of deep respect. Respect, of course, has many faces. Respect for rules can be the opposite to respect for people. The latter is necessarily deep. The former has no depth unless the respect goes to the people concerned by the rules.

When Respect Ends, Manipulation Starts. With little respect for people, wokeness can be an easy ground to manipulate others ‘in the name of the righteous.’ That seems to me more like some kind of politically correct – but as to friendliness very incorrect – bullying. We might better get rid of that altogether. Opponents of wokeness may point this out while not seeing the same principle within their own ranks. That way, we don’t get anywhere.

This doesn’t mean there is no place for proper wokeness.

For instance, words can hurt more than used to be acknowledged. It’s good to point to this fact and ask accountability for the hurtful words people might use.

For instance, customs can change, making the once acceptable progressively less acceptable. Even more, it may not have been acceptable at any time, but only tolerated by peers.

Wokeness can awaken people to such issues, as it can/should also awaken the woke one to the in-depth consequences of his own woke actions.

Then, let the fully awakened throw the first stone.

He will not do so ― precisely because.

Interesting wokeness is eventually a question of deep respect.

This is also one of five Aurelian values. I guess, this way, AURELIS is very woke, but of a specific kind.

In the five values, each one is crucial towards the others. For instance, there is no genuine openness without respect, and there is no genuine respect without openness.

The striving – far-reaching and far upon the path – is exemplified in the Eastern idea of being an awakened person. This is no awakening towards information or knowledge ― for instance, about ‘racism is bad’.

It is an awakening towards oneself, thereby discovering what racism needs in order to grow beyond itself. The solution does not lie in bashing the culprit.

True wokeness is Compassionate.

It is respectful, tolerant, and forgiving.