Calling everything you disagree with or want to politicize “woke” is getting old fast. The dictionary defines woke as “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” So, being informed and aware of the complexities of modern life in a selfless manner is a bad thing. One political party is working diligently to bastardize the word “woke” into something that is seen by a portion of the citizenry as negative. In the US, one major political party historically, at least over the last 50 years, has been very good at governance and not so good at the game of politics. Yes, politics is a game because we talk about winning and losing and winning margin. The other major political party is historically, again the last 50 years, very good at the game but often not very good at governance.
The political party that excels at politics has latched on to making being woke something negative and framing much of what the other political party does as being the negative connotation of woke. Recently the use of the word woke was being associated with recent bank failures. Got to give the more politically adept political party credit for latching on to something, however absurd, and making it, through nauseating repetition, central to their overall political strategy. It is truly amazing how everyone falls in line uses woke whenever possible so that media, at the very least the right-wing leaning media, readily accepts the term in its convoluted manner.
Our political process is supposed to be the exchange of ideas, policies and philosophies from candidates seeking elective office. Informed voters, (there lies the biggest problem – having knowledgeable voters), are to select the person to represent their intersects based on ideas, policy positions and expressed philosophies. Recently political campaigns are focused on culturally sensitive issues designed not to inform the voters about what candidates will do on their behalf, but to play on their emotions to garner their political support. Is it any wonder why those elected to represent their constituents’ interests often take actions that do not reflect what most of the people they represent want done from government? There are many issues that a sizeable (60-70%) portion of the public wants changed or addressed which get no attention by politicians who use cultural issues of little real substance to get themselves elected.
There was a recent survey that brought home how poorly informed and knowledgeable most people are about a variety of topics. US citizens, according to a recent survey, believe following when compared to reality. People surveyed believe that 20% of households have a $1 million household income when the reality is less than 1%. They believe that 30% of households are Jewish when the reality is 2%. They believe that 30% of individuals are gay or lesbian when the reality is 3%. They believe that 36% of workers belong to a union when the reality is 4%. They believe that 21% of individuals are transgendered when the reality is 1%. People believe that 41% of individuals are black when the reality is 12%. They believe that 54% of individuals own a gun when the reality is 32%. There were several other issues or topics, but this gives some idea as to how misdirected, uninformed or ignorant the public is about the US.
Whenever a politician uses “woke” to describe anything, they are trying to hoodwink you and are being lazy, using a single word to explain things to the voters without having to inform and educate. Why explain your policy positions when you can just use a word to describe any issue or problem. Hopefully, these crass politicians will grow weary of using the word woke to describe things, but I am sure they will find some new one-word catchphrase to continue the con job.
