The original idea behind wokeness - what many true believers still pretend is all the meaning there is - is that we should be awake to the effects words and actions might have on groups of people. How would this sound to an older black person? Does this solution work for disabled people as well? It's a fine idea, a generous idea to remember as many aspects as one can about those within the sound of our voice. It's insensitive for those gathered to complain about their jobs in the presence of the person who just lost theirs. Or worse still, about the foibles of spouses to widows. You don't have to be obsessive about it, but it is good to make sure no one is excluded by how the group photo is posed. If all the white employees are in front and all the Filipino ones are in the back, someone is going to interpret that as a statement.
I would just call that politeness, but you do you.
Odd, then, that the woke so consistently and gratuitously throw in insults about privileged groups. It's almost as if...
Well, here's an example. On Holidays . It finishes on a fine sentiment, though it is a bit milk-and-water for my taste. Common humanity. Showing kindness. Connecting with others. The comments are gushing about how deeply moved people are. Except for my comment, of course.
Because...
The first seven paragraphs are unnecessary to those supposedly central ideas, yet pointlessly insulting to people celebrating Christmas. It gets the historical facts wrong (yes Virginia, Christmas was important to Americans before WWII); it blithely and confidently misreads the motives of those complaining about the "war on Christmas;" it instructs the main group of people actually showing seasonal generosity in how they should observe their religion if they really meant it. Sure. There are lots of Kwanzaa groups going out caroling at nursing homes. Wiccans everywhere are standing in the cold ringing bells to request donations for the poor in the spirit of Solstice.
Episcopalians and Fundamentalists are at odds with each other about many things, but they are both doing food distributions, winter clothing drives, and all Angel Tree/Samaritan's Purse toy collections. They do things like this all year, too. And as near as I can tell, dude, you are not.
I wouldn't be so annoyed if it weren't all so cliched and tiring, the people who went to church when young and think they therefore know all about what it's like there. It is not usually the atheists who write these things, it is the post-Christians. Jews came up with a good solution. They took a minor holiday of their own and elevated it to higher status, imitating the things from the surrounding culture that they liked (or could at least stand, like a Chanuka Bush) and pointedly leaving out the rest. When they protested it was about limited and specific aspects of community observance at schools and government areas that they couldn't go along with.
The post-Christians say their point is to include everybody (not like you bigots), but are then quite clear about who they are excluding. So kind, so sweet. So community oriented. It is parallel to that large fraction of antiwar protestors who revealed over time that they weren't so much antiwar, but on the other side. When you understand this, you see why these essays are not streams of clear water into which a measure of unavoidable poison creeps in. If you lead with the poison gratuitously, then the poison is the real point. The clear water is the cover, the disguise.
Now consider what that means for all the gushing comments. Most are people who like the clear water - we hope. But so many of them seem to like it better when it has that taste of poison in it. Tangy. Sophisticated.
Two weeks ago I noticed that I was not reprinting The Sadness of NPR Christmas this year and couldn't see a reason to. Ah well, maybe next year.
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