IS "WOKE" ETHICALLY INTELLIGENT?
Were Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler Among the First Wokesters?
What others have said
American academia has abandoned empiricism to make way for wokeism. This does not bode well. Science without empiricism is nothing but religion by another name. — A.E. Samaan
The Soviet Union never ended. It reformed itself as the Woke West, a totalitarian liberal, rather than communist, nightmare. Big Brother became Non-Binary Elder Sibling. — David Sinclair
Look around. Understand that the very people and civilization you are here to rescue from themselves are also, temporarily at least, and through no real fault of their own, our sworn enemies. — Sol Luckman
Go woke, go broke. — Anonymous
Disagreement is necessary in deliberations among mortals. As the saying goes, the more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right. — Steven Pinker
Humans are antifragile; exposure to discomfort and uncertainty -physical, emotional and intellectual- is necessary. — Heather E. Heying
The term ‘hate speech’ is typically code for our hatred of the truth, not the speech. — Craig D. Lounsbrough
In recent years, the term “woke” has been widely used to describe those who’ve attained doctrinal purity in regard to the social justice movement. While that movement is secular, it seems to fulfill many of the psycho-spiritual appetites once served by religion. — Sky Gilbert
Cancel culture is not actually about justice. It is about control. People use cancellation to force conformity to ideals. — Teal Swan [1]
About
This week we wade into our angry and troubled cultural waters as we discuss the postmodern concept of “woke.” It almost seems quaint that, up until 2016-2017, the Oxford English Dictionary defined the word “Woke” as the past participle of the verb “wake.” Here is where this week’s article fits into our Ethical Intelligence Pyramid.
Our discussion of “Woke” fits into both the Awareness and Worldview Window tiers of our pyramid. First, let’s make sure we are on the same page about our subject by specifying the definitions of terms.
Woke and its variants
Here is a short list, with definitions, of the various words used within the “woke” milieu.
Woke: Is an awareness of social issues and describes a movement against injustice, inequality, and prejudice. [2]
Weaponized Woke: Is a term used as praise, but far more commonly as an insult, depending on the situation. Or, it is a term that has dethroned ‘politically correct’ and ‘snowflake’ as the insult du jour for many internet trolls wishing to mock the hypersensitivity of the left [or right]. [3]
Wokeness: Is an awareness of unfairness in the treatment of others. [4]
Wokeism: Is a system of thought and behavior characterized by intolerance, policing the speech of others, and proving one’s own superiority by denouncing others. [4]
Cancel culture: is a manifestation of Wokeism. [5]
Wokester: Is a person who believes in and practices Wokeism.
Urban Wokester: is an easily offended 20-something idiot who believes the word ‘woke’ legitimizes their self-centered view of the world.
There are many narratives about the origin of the currently usage of “Woke” and its variants. Here is one narrative of many that summarizes the origins of the word “Woke.”
Black Americans in their ongoing fight against racism and social injustice have used the term ‘woke’ at key moments of history.
In literal terms, being woke refers to being awake and not asleep. One Urban Dictionary contributor defines woke as “being aware of the truth behind things ‘the man’ doesn’t want you to know.” Meanwhile, a concurrent definition signals a shift in meaning to “the act of being very pretentious about how much you care about a social issue”.
The Oxford dictionary expanded its definition of the word “woke” in 2017 to add it as an adjective meaning “alert to injustice in society, especially racism”.
In the 1942 first volume of Negro Digest, J. Saunders Redding used the term in an article about labor unions. Twenty years later, a 1962 New York Times article was titled: If You’re Woke You Dig It: No mickey mouse can be expected to follow today’s Negro idiom without a hip assist.
On June 14, 1965, Martin Luther King Jr, gave a commencement address called Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution at Oberlin College:
There is nothing more tragic than to sleep through a revolution […] The wind of change is blowing, and we see in our day and our age a significant development […] The great challenge facing every individual graduating today is to remain awake through this social revolution. [2]
Here is where we get off track on the usage of “woke.” In Dr. King’s day, “Woke” and “Awake” were more or less synonymous. I can say this with certainty because I was “Woke” back then and a supporter of Dr. King and his fight against racism. In fact, I am still “Woke” using the definition [Woke is an awareness of social issues and describes a movement against injustice, inequality, and prejudice.] I have offered previously. I also believe “Woke” and “Wokeness” is not only desirable but also ethically intelligent.
Dr. Karson describes it well.
Wokeness, in my view, is a good thing, as I have often blogged. Awareness of unfairness in the treatment of others not only makes the world a better place and us better people, it creates a culture in which the marginalized receive empathy instead of blame. Everyone has marginalized thoughts, feelings, and desires. Everyone has a history of managing unfair expectations and humiliations. A woke culture would be a pleasure to live in for everyone. [4]
This type of awareness is exactly the quality we desire in a mature ethically intelligent person. We should be aware of everyone and cognizant of any unfairness society or societal groups have visited those individuals or groups of individuals. This kind of awareness is also indicative of an open and clear worldview window. We should "see" everyone and accord them the rights and respect flowing from their membership in the human race.
Seeing, acknowledging and respecting the insignificant is the hallmark of a mature ethically intelligent person. This seeing, acknowledging and respecting applies to both humans and nonhumans. We look past the outer shell of something or someone and recognize its essence and its purpose. For example, a certain tree may be insignificant in value to me, but I recognize its value to creation, anyway.
Similarly, we should accord the same respect to the "insignificant people” in our lives. I define "insignificant people" as those who can add little or no value to your life, but, nonetheless, are due our acknowledgment and respect because every human has value. When we are "Woke" we see and acknowledge these people even though they cannot "do something" for us.
The bottom line is we should all be “Woke!” It’s the mature ethically intelligent behavior we should prize and champion. The problem we see throughout history is “Woke” morphs into “Wokeism.”
Wokeism and its aftermath
Wokeism is a blight on society, and it has led to some of the most horrific human rights abuses imaginable—especially genocide. Wokeism is not new. It’s simply a new name for familiar horrendous practices founded in hate that eventually leads to violence.
Forensic psychologists know that the key supports for violence—the ultimate form of hate—are dehumanization and desensitization. Hatred is deflected when its objects are humanized, which is why wokeism won’t stand for the idea that everyone deserves sympathy and respect, that everyone is marginalized sometimes—that no one is ‘more equal than others.’ Hatred is encouraged when those around us take expressions of hatred, such as wokeism’s humiliation of white people and men, in stride, desensitizing the group to the maltreatment of others. [4]
The operative word in Professor Karson’s statement is “desensitizing.” Another word for the same practice is “dehumanizing.” When you strip away a person’s humanity, you can treat them in any way you like because the subject of your hate no longer has any human rights. I have researched this phenomenon extensively because of its importance to ethical intelligence and ethical judging.
Once you demonize someone, they no longer appear in your worldview window. If you cannot “see” them, they disappear as a stakeholder in your ethical dilemma. In his research on slavery, Terry Price defined the idea of “scope exclusion.” His scope exclusion involved diminishing the selfhood of the other person to such an extent the person ceased to merit consideration in the ethical judging process, which is how we get slavery.
A human can enslave another only through selfhood reduction. The reduction occurred when the slave master diminished the selfhood of the slave. Once the slave possessed shrunken personhood, the slave master created a scope exclusion and justified enslavement. Such was the manner that slavery entered the United States. [6]
Dr. King described the process this way.
The first time that I had been seated behind a curtain in the dining car, I felt as if the curtain had been dropped on my selfhood. . . . I could never adjust to the separate waiting rooms, separate eating places, separate restrooms, partly because the separate was always unequal, and partly because the very idea of separation did something to my sense of dignity and self-respect. [7]
Professor Karson also added the idea of “context free” thinking. I have added the bolding.
Nietzsche put it like this: ‘Digressions, objections, delight in mockery, carefree mistrust are signs of health; everything unconditional belongs in pathology.’ Thinking unconditionally, or un-contextually, characterizes wokeism. Behavior is condemned regardless of its reasons: if you feel offended (and you’re not a white guy), you were offended. A patient sought therapy because her sex life with her husband was tense, and the therapist had to sensitively manage the patient’s trauma history. Upon presenting the case [to his psychology class], some of the students ignored the context of trying to help the woman and concluded that the therapist thinks women should serve their husbands sexually! [4]
King Solomon said there is nothing new under the Sun. In the case of “Wokeism,” he was right. We’ve seen this movie before. The Holocaust and the Tutsi genocide come to mind as examples. So, here are the answers to the questions I posed.
Is “Woke” ethically intelligent. Absolutely, YES!! [Just make sure you understand our definition.]
Wokeism is abhorrent, and is certainly NOT ethically intelligent!!
Were Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler Among the First Wokesters? Technically, NO. They were all Wokesters, but not among the first!
What do you think?
Next week, we continue the journey.
Remember, you cannot lie and be ethically intelligent.
Until then, Shalom!
Portions of this post were taken from my book Ethical Intelligence: The Foundation of Leadership. my doctoral dissertation Exploring Ethical Intelligence Through Ancient Wisdom And The Lived Experiences Of Senior Business Leaders
References
Unless otherwise noted, quotations are taken from A-Z Quotes, Goodreads, Quotes & Sayings, and Brainy Quote.
Mirzaei, A. (2019). Where ‘Woke’ Came From And Why Marketers Should Think Twice Before Jumping On The Social Activism Bandwagon. The Conversation. Retrieved August 17, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/where-woke-came-from-and-why-marketers-should-think-twice-before-jumping-on-the-social-activism-bandwagon-122713
Morris, N., & Larbi, M. (2022). What Does Being Woke Mean And Is It An Insult? ‘Wokeism’ Explained. Metro 50. Retrieved August 17, 2022, from https://metro.co.uk/2021/10/30/what-does-being-woke-mean-and-is-it-an-insult-wokeism-explained-2-15509986/
Karson, M. (2021). The Psychology of "Wokeism" - Hate requires the obliteration of context. Psychology Today. Retrieved August 16, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/feeling-our-way/202108/the-psychology-wokeism
Velasco, J. C. (2020). You are Cancelled: Virtual Collective Consciousness and the Emergence of Cancel Culture as Ideological Purging. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 12(5), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.21659/rupkatha.v12n5.rioc1s21n2
Price, T. L. (2006). Understanding Ethical Failures in Leadership [Book]. Cambridge University Press.
King Jr., M. L. (1958/2010). Stride toward freedom: The Montgomery story. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. (Original work published in 1958)
August 18, 2022, Volume 2, Issue 33
John,
Your article this week should cause all of us (me) to examine what and how we react to words we hear and read today but don’t really think about. Personally, I don’t use the word. Are the four you bring up are not first wokesters - not even in the same crowd. Thought provoking as usual.
Liz