John Pavlovitz: To Republicans, Decency is "Woke"
"The politics of fear is nothing new. We've seen it throughout history. It's a well-worn playbook. When you lack ideas, you need an enemy. When you have nothing redemptive to offer, you have to create a monster to push back against. When you are devoid of decency, you need to vilify it and somehow turn that decency into a threat. That's what we're seeing right now in America." --John Pavlovitz
On a blog I read, where the topics tend toward Christian doctrine and theology, the term "wokeness" is now as common as the term "liberal" once was, when used in attacks on the wrongness and error of Christians who are drifting to the left, or who are already there. When I ask exactly what that means, I get a repeated use of the terms, statements about Critical Race Theory being "unbiblical", a comment or two about Antifa and Black Lives Matter and that's about it. I'm tempted to ask what is wrong with being anti-Fascist, since that seems like a good thing to me, especially if you're Christian, and if you're opposed to Black Lives Matter, does that mean you think they don't matter? But I'd have to do that anonymously.
So Let's Start by Defining the Terms
Woke. verb. The act of coming out of sleep. The point during which a state of subconscious activity fades and a state of conscious awareness occurs.
adj. A term used to describe individuals who have an understanding of the roots of racial injustice, particularly in America, and who desire to participate in a movement which advocates government using its resources and power to educate people about racial injustice and work toward eliminating it. A term describing an individual who is an activist working toward full equality in civil liberties, individual rights and economic opportunity for those who have been disadvantaged by racial injustice.
Liberal. adj. 1. One who is willing to accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas. 2. Relating to or denoting a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy and free enterprise.
noun. 1. A supporter of policies that are socially progressive and promote social welfare. 2. A supporter of a political philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy and free enterprise.
The act of defining terms and expanding vocabulary is an educational exercise. One of the outcomes of getting an education is clearing up misconceptions, discerning errors and misinterpretations or manipulations of ideas, and giving those who receive it the ability to think critically. These are "dictionary definitions," so to speak, so their application and use in modern vernacular may vary slightly from these definitions. Still, it is difficult to see where being woke or liberal is a bad thing, even in the strange and twisted world of modern American politics. Unless there is a racial, religious, social or economic bias in the perception, which is usually the case, there's nothing to see here.
But bias produces fear and fear is the motivating factor that gets a lot of voters to the polls. So the use of this kind of terminology, by the right wing media as well as by those who commented on the blog I mentioned, is fear mongering. Oh, I know all the rebuttals about code language and hidden agendas, and all of the alleged loaded meanings behind the use of terms like "social justice" or social welfare and racial reconciliation. But a lot of the extremes and the hidden agendas come from the imagination of the critics, or are distorted and misrepresented media talking points they got from Carlson, Hannity or Breitbart.
The Sticking Points
One of the key words in the definition of the term liberal is the promotion of democracy. I think that's really the sticking point for most far right conservatives. We've completely lost the negotiating, the "give and take," the compromise and the mutual respect across the aisle that are requirements for a democracy to work. That's been a deliberate shift on the part of GOP leadership over the past thirty years, promoted by extremists in the right wing media like Rush Limbaugh. Stacking courts with activist judges while whining about liberal justices "legislating from the bench" as a smokescreen for the duplicity, gerrymandering state legislative districts and congressional districts, changing long-standing rules to their own advantage when they control the committee leadership positions, are all signs of an anti-democratic movement on the part of the Republican party.
There's no better example of this than Mitch McConnell's declaration that a sitting, lame duck President should not nominate a Supreme Court Justice, denying President Obama the appointment that was constitutionally his to make, then going ahead with the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett just months before Trump lost an election. McConnell has never exhibited any sense of decency, moral values or ethical behavior in his life, even before he was elected to the senate. He's also clearly an enemy of real democracy. Everything he has done since he was elected to office has pointed to his being a fascist with personal ambitions to be the dictator.
The other issue embedded in all of this right wing distortion and rhetoric is racism. To be woke is to be actively working to make change, which means that there is still racial injustice, discrimination and bigotry in society and its institutions which cannot be ignored and must be addressed. Conservativism, by its very nature, resists change and denies there is a need for it, or insists that it can't really happen and so the status quo must be preserved. There's no denying that we have made a lot of progress, but progress is not the end result and there are new threats from some old ideologies that have infiltrated the political/religious right that threaten to reverse the progress that has been made.
And I'm going to interject this thought here. Of all of the cultural institutions and influences we have as Americans which have the ability to deal with racism, Christianity should have been the most progressive influence. Jesus set the example by crossing ethnic, racial, religious and language barriers and the early church, prompted by some spiritual experiences of the apostles, was dynamically inclusive. As predominant as Protestant Christianity has been throughout American history, the church should have set the example by bringing all races and ethnicities together instead of being one of the most segregated cultural institutions. There are individual churches that have succeeded at this, though it is rare to find a multi-ethnic, multi-racial congregation where the Caucasian members submit to the leadership of a non-white pastor and church elders.
One of the sharpest criticisms of Critical Race Theory by some Evangelicals is that it ignores the biblical narratives addressing racism, whatever those might be according to them. O.K. Then come up with something that is consistent with Christian doctrine and start addressing racial reconciliation. Ed Litton, the most recent past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, is one of the first to announce that he is working on a racial reconciliation initiative. The response to that announcement, from his critics among the conservatives in the denomination, was to accuse him of going "woke."
Being Woke: A Comparison
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has annointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor...
This is a prophetic passage from the book of Isaiah which Jesus read in the synagogue in Nazareth, where he grew up. After noting that he was the fulfillment of this prophecy, their response was to get angry, and drag him up to a place outside of town to throw him off a cliff. The term "woke" wasn't in common use back then.
On another occasion, responding to a question from John the Baptist, who was in prison, but who had heard about everything Jesus was doing, Jesus said, "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
There's nothing offensive about wanting free and fair elections, wanting to have the same rights as every other citizen does regardless of racial, ethnic, language or economic and social differences. There's nothing tyrannical about a government taking measures based on the best scientific medical advice provided by some of the best experts in the world.
Thank you, John Pavlovitz, for doing such a great job of pointing this out.
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