Skipping tonight!

 May 27.

We are camping in Spokane this weekend.  Sorry, but there is no meeting this week.

Woke Culture

I remember when my kids started using the word "sick" to mean that they liked something, or that a thing was cool or good.  At least that was what I thought they meant.  So, when the work "woke" showed up I was prepared to ignore this as some kind of counter cultural phrase that served someone else's purpose, but not mine.  What did it mean to be "woke"?  I had no idea.

Something happened this week to change my understanding of what the current use of the word woke means, and how it applies to me.   I've learned what being woke is, and how supporters and detractors of the phenomenon of being woke use the term to rally around with folks that think like they do, or how others use the term to denigrate and criticize those that think differently.  As a cultural movement, being woke is associated with other movements like cancel culture, #metoo, and more.  It has become the norm that speaking frankly about ourselves leaves an opening that others can criticize from many angles and perspectives.  

I first went after the concept academically.  I found an article written about Wendy Brown, a professor at Princeton University, discussing the idea that free speech and the free exchange of ideas in a university environment are under attack by society in general, and the politically right in particular, who use the ideas of white privilege and woke cultural norms as a way to bring political perspectives into a classroom.  She argues that politics belongs outside on the quad grass, with university classrooms left for discovery of new ideas and arguments that will change your mind, not reinforce your preconceptions.  The movement to restrict what is taught in schools has traction in the K-12 arena as states like Kansas and Florida ban books and dictate what can and cannot be taught in grade school classes.  The politically right, Brown argues, is putting church into the early education classrooms, and are banning free thinking and new ideas.

I encourage you to look for other sources and writings that pertain to this topic.  There are many.  How has the term woke been weaponized by both sides of the debate?  What does being woke mean with respect to cancel culture?  What does being cancelled mean?