THE "WOKE" ENIGMA

Politicians have a tendency of reducing complex concepts to simple catchphrases designed to mystify rather than clarify. Many of these ultimately become so-called "dog whistles," coded messages communicated through words or phrases commonly understood by a candidate's political base and intended to solicit unquestioned support. The objective is to appeal to the greatest possible number of electors without alienating those in the margins. Australian political theorist Robert E. Goodin argues that this process undermines democracy, because voters often have difficulty understanding what they are voting for or against during an election. In other words, a political base may be conditioned to react a certain way to the catchphrase, without actually understanding what it stands for. Throughout the course of our political history, politicians have repeatedly employed "dog whistles" to cement a following and instill a subtle fear of their opposition. Richard Nixon invoked "law and order," "thugs" and "welfare queens" among others. Donald Trump equated Mexican immigrants with drug dealers and rapists - a characterization he continued to use to depict migrants when defending the building of his wall. In addition he incorporated "thugs" and "looters" to demonize African Americans protesting in the wake of George Floyd's killing. "Cancel culture" and "critical race theory" come to mind of "dog whistles" which were generally misunderstood but which were used, more or less effectively, in political campaigns during the past few years. A recently emerging concept, decades old but freshly anointed, is "WOKE." Even though most struggle to define what they mean when using the term, many of our current politicians appear to have little trouble uttering the word and adopting the mantra. At a basic level, the word "woke" simply refers to the past tense of "wake." It is not an acronym. Use of the concept dates back to the 1930's when African American songwriter Lead Belly used the phrase near the end of a recording of his song "Scottsboro Boys," which tells the story of nine black teenagers accused of raping two white women, suggesting: "Best stay woke, keep [your] eyes open." "Woke" became an adjective meaning "well informed or aware of racial discrimination or injustice." As such, the word was eventually added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2017. It became entwined with the Black Lives Matter movement, and developed from just signaling awareness to becoming a word of action . Conservative politicians rapidly latched onto the "woke" mentality in a crusade to "deliver America from the scourge of a host of progressive ideas" they oppose. They turned "wokeness" into a pejorative synonymous with the demise of everything good and white about America. Somehow, to be pro-woke became anti-American. In 2022, a modern-day blend of McCarthyism and white grievance became the focus of the current right-wing campaign. Leading the charge is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In anticipation of his expected run for president in 2024, the governor used his January inaugural address to warn of "the woke mob," and its "woke ideology." "We fight the woke in the legislature ... the schools ... the corporations." "We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die." He authored the "Stop Woke Act," a legislative prototype that would prevent educational institutions and businesses from teaching anything that would cause anyone to "feel guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress" due to their race, color sex or national origin. DeSantis is by no means alone. Conservatives of all stripes are hitching onto the bandwagon. Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee on Military Personnel, blames military recruitment challenges on the "Left woke agenda." Newly minted Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, while delivering the Republican Party's response to the State of the Union, accused President Biden of surrendering his presidency to the "woke mob." Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, while announcing her 2024 bid for president, tweeted: "Strong and proud - not weak and woke - that's the America I see." Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex) described "Wokeism" as "cultural Marxism," but projected a murky notion of what that actually meant. A Newsmax reporter recently asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre: "Is President Biden woke?" And during the budget battles unfolding in Congress, GOP leaders are taking aim at, however ill-defined, "Woke spending" and "Woke waste." This newest dog whistle is obviously intended to weaponize a concept used to undermine efforts of social movements, to demonize Democrats and to unify some of the Republican base. Nevertheless, participants in focus groups have displayed difficulty defining the word even in the most general terms.This appears to be a strategy intended to cater to the most gullible, those most easily indoctrinated and too lazy to think for themselves, among us. We should not be so ambivalent debating salient issues on their merits, rather than have these manipulated catchphrases define them for us. Theo Wierdsma