Kerby Anderson

For decades, the left has been willing to redefine terms to win a debate and convince the public of their views. Tomorrow I will provide some examples of that linguistic sleight-of-hand. But today, I want to talk about a new strategy. Leftists claim that the word “woke” and “wokeness” cannot be defined since so many politicians and commentators are using those terms in a negative way.

Are some people using the term “woke” without understanding what it means? That is inevitable in a world where people are misusing terms like “racism” and “white supremacy” as epithets. To counter some of that misunderstanding, I devote the beginning section of my booklet on A Biblical Point of View on Wokeness to explain “what woke is not.” You can find a complete list in the book Christianity and Wokeness by Owen Strachan.

Defining what “woke” is isn’t difficult. Wilfred Reilly recently wrote about “How to Define Woke.” He says that the “woke person” or a “social justice warrior” is someone who believes that “(1) the institutions of American society are currently and intentionally set up to oppress (minorities, women, the poor), (2) virtually all gaps in performance between large groups prove that this oppression exists, and (3) the solution to this is equity — which means proportional representation regardless of performance or qualifications.”

He also provides an excellent definition of “woke” from James Lindsay, who I have quoted in previous commentaries. Reilly also explains that these definitions are not ones that the conservative authors have created. Essentially, they are merely summaries of the writings of leftists who have been promoting wokeness and critical theory for the last few decades.

He concludes by noting that sometimes “woke” policies can be complex to discuss, but they aren’t hard to define. Don’t stop using a word that is accurate and descriptive.