Right-wing Republicans, at the behest of their meme masters at FauxNews, are loudly fighting a war against “wokeism.” As usual, they do not bother to define the term. They simply use the terms “woke” and “wokeism” as weaponized catchall terms to represent the fictional nefarious program of the imaginary “evil libs” that they fear.
The intent behind this rhetorical manipulation is to get people to spend their time ranting about meaningless buzzwords rather than having serious conversations about real issues. (Remember the phony war against Critical Race Theory?)
Awareness is better than ignorance or indifference
Reasonable people understand that words have real meanings. Being “woke” means to have an active awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices that affect various groups of people – especially ethnic, racial and sexual minorities. Woke people believe in taking action to challenge and change these unfair structures and practices.
The opposite of woke is asleep. If people are not aware of systemic injustices and prejudices, they will never be addressed. They will continue to harm and oppress those who are marginalized and disadvantaged by them. Being asleep means being ignorant, complacent, or indifferent to the suffering of others.
Christians must be awake
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, I do not and cannot believe that we should close our eyes to the suffering of others. I do not believe that “Saints” can, in good conscience, support these loud-mouthed, manipulative, authoritarian, “anti-woke” politicians.
As Christians, we are called to be woke. Jesus taught that we should care for the poor and the needy, and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. He also confronted the religious and political authorities of his time, who were corrupt and oppressive. He denounced their hypocrisy and injustice, and he challenged their power and privilege.
Being woke is not a political or social trend. It is a biblical and moral imperative. It is a way of following Jesus and living the values he taught. We show our love for God by the way we treat other people.
Then wake up and do something more
Have I Done Any Good? Hymn #223
Than dream of your mansion above.
Sources:
Cristina Kim, “Let’s talk about it: What does ‘woke’ actually mean?“, KPBS, San Diego, March 11, 2022.
Ashley Parker and Liz Goodwin, “Republicans use ‘wokeism’ to attack left – but struggle to define it,” The Washington Post, February 21, 2023.
Yes. Good insights. A good test for whether a source of information is viable is whether the information provided enlarges the soul, as opposed to contracting it, and then whether those professing behave with integrity, or hypocrisy, whether they let “truth cut its own way,” or rely on guile and manipulation.