What do you think about "wokeness?"

[LAS14]

I am often troubled by threads on DU where any attempt at a thoughtful look at a problem is attacked as being "concerned" (not in a good way). This article from the NYT perfectly articulates what it is that concerns me (in a good way). How many of you DUers agree that "wokeness" as described in this article is not a good thing in most situations. I add that caveat because I do believe there are times when firing up righteous indignation is the right thing to do. But as an exception, not a rule.

This mental habit is closely related to what we now call “wokeness.” In an older frame of mind, you try to perceive the size of a problem objectively, and then you propose a solution, which might either be radical or moderate, conservative or liberal. You were judged primarily by the nature of your proposal.

But wokeness jams together the perceiving and the proposing. In fact, wokeness puts more emphasis on how you perceive a situation — how woke you are to what is wrong — than what exactly you plan to do about it. To be woke is to understand the full injustice. (It will be interesting to see how many respondents totally ignore my caveat.)

.....

There is no measure or moderation to wokeness. It’s always good to be more woke. It’s always good to see injustice in maximalist terms. To point to any mitigating factors in the environment is to be naïve, childish, a co-opted part of the status quo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/opinion/wokeness-racism-progressivism-social-justice.html

[LuvLoogie]

1. Pretty much this:

[uppityperson]

2. Becoming aware of an issue is step one. Working together to come up with

a solution by taking time to consider the problem, its causes, those causes, and respectfully talk is the next step.

I don't like the word "woke" as it seems too often simplistic jargon meant to trivialize the process or prove someone is part of a group who is better than anyone else, like an "in" word.

Perception is an important step, only the first step.

[dameatball]

3. Phrases come and go, so I don't have a problem with it. I seldom hear it used in real life.

I used to listen to Mark Thompson a lot on my morning commute. "Get woke" was used a great deal. I think it had a "rally the troops" intent and urged people to become more aware and more active. However, most people that listened to the show were well aware before that. In other words, I am ambivalent which leads me to ask myself why I replied to the OP? Put me down as "undecided".....

[marble falls]

4. More jargon. But thats what builds and evolves our language.

[LAS14]

5. These last three responses give me a boost! Thanks. nt

[Garrett78]

6. Fuck David Brooks.

As if advocating awareness means one isn't also advocating for and taking action. As if those are mutually exclusive.

And his example of "contradicting truths" is absurd. They aren't contradictory. Does he not know what the word means? I should have known better than to bother with a David Brooks article.