Distancing Is the Wrong Correction
Suddenly some people who claimed in the past to be “woke” are now distancing themselves from it. That’s a mistake.
Not that Woke didn’t have mistakes within it. Often marketing mistakes. “Defund police”? It needed another slogan that better reflected what careful thinkers meant by it. Shifting some police funding to de-escalation helpers or training. To social workers to be part of responding to calls involving disturbed people, so maybe the end result is helping them instead of killing them.
“Black Lives Matter”? Absolutely true, and obvious, and a good slogan but which could have been better as, “Black Lives Matter Too”. It started because so many were being killed by police. But members of the opposition… Let’s digress briefly. How does anyone find themselves in opposition to a statement that Black lives, or any lives, matter? As the opposition grew, maybe some saw being in opposition as simply a way to be in favor of a law-and-order stance. But given the oppression and lost lives of Black people, clearly some come from a darker place where there really is opposition to Black lives mattering at all.
But to get back to the public statements of the opposition, the slogan was too easily treated as Black people asking for something special; to matter to an especial degree. Of course that was just the opposition playing reverse-sloganeering games, but it made it too easy to flip it and have a “Blue Lives Matter” sticker, or the attempt at the neutral “All Lives Matter”. All of those lives matter but the “Too” slogan would have been more to the point, and harder to flip.
Sometimes the canceling of someone went too far. Other times it was deserved. It’s very situational. Someone who feels reparations for slavery is impractical ought to be entitled to their opinion. Someone who claims some groups of people are inferior, well, they are entitled to their opinion but does a university want them teaching sociology? Does a prominent business want them as a high executive, casting a shadow on the business? To sort such cases out reasonably depends on both on how offensive the opinion is, and on the nature of the position they hold. There were certainly cases of people losing jobs simply for not holding the perfect set of opinions, and that was wrong.
But if better standards of behavior and accountability had been practiced all along we would be better at sorting those things out appropriately. When accountability slips then sometimes the backlash is overboard. Less the fault of those demanding a backlash than the fault of everyone who let accountability slip in the first place.
If woke means full respect for all people, hell yeah. If it means being against abusive police brutality and needless minority deaths. If it means being against the prejudice in the legal system that sends people of color to jail where a white person would have gotten less. If it means women shouldn’t have to put up with harassment and worse. If it means opposing people who create a modern version of something like the Ku Klux Klan. If it means canceling them as a far as not giving them an invitation to a campus rally, leaving them to just what we all have, the right to stand on the corner and espouse wrongheaded ideas. If it means everyone has the right to decide their own sexuality and gender and everyone else mind their own damn business. If woke means those kinds of things? Then, hell yeah.
If some of its former advocates want to improve it and iron out some of the marketing flubs, and the reactions that were sometimes over reactions, good for them. But they shouldn’t at all act like they are disavowing it or distancing from it. Because, imperfect and sometimes amateurish as it is, there isn’t a core piece of it that isn’t a legitimate reaction to something that needed to be reacted to. Amateurish? Well, when the pros don’t do their job and the amateurs have to kick up a fuss about it, that’s what we get. Three cheers for the amateurs. Those trying to distance themselves now should be proud of them.
Distancing sends the message that the opposition was right and the woke ones are slinking away. Wrong message. Distancing would become one more marketing flub. On the other hand refining it and pushing further for more change on woke issues sends a message that woke causes have been acknowledged. That they are a normalized part of public concerns that need to be dealt with. That it now is progressing to a more well thought out stage. Get the marketing right this time. Woke? Hell yeah.
FAQ: Woke Politics and the Debate Over the Term
What does “woke” mean in politics?
“Woke” originally referred to being alert to racial injustice and discrimination. Its political use has since broadened to encompass issues including police accountability, gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights and other forms of social inequality.
Why has the term “woke” become controversial?
Critics have used “woke” to describe progressive policies and cultural attitudes they consider excessive or intolerant. At the same time, some progressives have distanced themselves from the term because of its negative political associations.
What were some of the messaging problems associated with woke politics?
Slogans such as “Defund the Police” were easily interpreted more broadly than many advocates intended. Critics also point to instances of cancel culture in which consequences for controversial opinions appeared disproportionate.
Should progressives distance themselves from the term “woke”?
The argument of this commentary is no. Rather than abandoning the principles associated with woke politics, supporters should improve the messaging, acknowledge past excesses and continue advocating for equality and accountability.
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