My two millennial daughters enjoy calling me, a white retired Boomer, an old white dinosaur, every time I express an opinion that is not “woke”. Increasingly I find that I do not have a cogent come-back, and the more I read about woke culture, the more I agree with their characterization of me. My ideals, while positive in many respects, need to be updated to match where society is evolving to, or I will find myself socially ignored, or worst, not being invited to Sunday family dinners.
Source: Staci’s blog
The core of the argument is that we are not born racist, unequal, sexually defined, insensitive, or religious. Nature, while realizing that a small percentage of births do have medical issues that can impact a child’s development, normally births us as a clean slate. It is the Nurture component that leads to the perceived evils of our society, like racial hatred, LTBGQ concerns, class distinctions, and the like. This “faulty” nurturing leads us to many of the societal issues that plague us today. Woke culture, as I define it, is a younger generational attempt to fix, or re-program these faults out of us, to make our society a better place.
It is an inspirational goal, and has not been easy to implement. Politically, many parents react negatively to school kids being taught things like racial differences do not exist, that being gay is a choice, that we are all the same. It goes against their own ideal and teachings, or against their family, or against their religious beliefs. Also, funding programs that reward a minority that has been perceived to be victimized is not popular with a large swatch of the population. Additionally, invoking negative phrases like, cancel culture, critical race theory, or compliance society is not helping.
Frankly, while I agree with the goals of the woke culture movement, I disagree with some of its tactics. Changing how our young are taught so as to try and stop racial stereotyping is an admiral goal, but if all you do is piss off the people you are trying to change, then you will fail in your attempt. I say keep the goal but, like any social media program, determine why it’s failing, and try another tactic. Figuring out what approach might work is beyond the scope of this blog, but realizing that this current plan is not working must be examined.
So, the next time you are see or hear someone lament a progressive opinion that challenges the status quo, take a moment and analyze your reaction ? In the comments below, let me know if you have the same types of reactions as I did, or do you think that woke culture is a bad thing. After all, maybe I just woke up, but you are still faulty ?
Twitter: Do you think that “woke” culture has any merit, and do you pay attention to cancel culture ? #wokeculture #criticalracetheory #cancelculture. Check out my new blog: https://bit.ly/3yZJNSE
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As a product of the 70s, I, too, sometimes have to catch myself based on a misunderstanding of the message or gauge my reaction to avoid offending. I think it is most definitely a result of how we were raised. Smile and nod is my approach these days in order to avoid getting into an in-depth argument that will ultimately lead to hurt feelings or end a friendship. Great Blog!!!