According to a posting I read on the Nextdoor app, "woke implies social activism, nationalism, and collectivism.  It suggests rage, passion, resistance, action; seeking to draw a line against the unacceptable."  "Woke is being alert to injustice and discrimination in society, especially racism."  So, what's wrong with being "woke"?

This is a wonderful word salad of platitudes...but what do they really mean, and how are they to be implemented?  Let's take a look.

Being woke means:

• supporting Critical Race Theory and all the other ideologies and movements that advocate white privilege and insist that those born white are automatically racist
• rioting, mayhem, robbery, assault, and murder are acceptable behavior for supporting woke ideology
• lowering educational standards so that lower-performing groups can pass
• eliminating AP high school courses because not enough minorities gain seats based on merit (considered to be racist), enforcing equality of outcome
• supporting race-based admissions to college, independent of merit and ability, regardless of how many others have demonstrated higher merit and ability
• blaming the pencil for not passing a test
• math and Shakespeare etc. are racist areas in education (see above)
• if I didn't listen in school and study hard, it's your fault I got bad grades; likewise, if I come from a poor single-parent family, it's your fault that I can't learn or don't want to learn, etc.
• merit is racist.  In a meritocracy, the cream rises to the top; in a "woke-ocracy," the cream is skimmed off and discarded.  Who wants a doctor admitted by "woke" standards doing serious surgery, or the woke engineer designing a major bridge?
• unearned equity and equality of results must replace equality of opportunity and hard work
• those with talent, work ethic, perseverance, drive, intelligence, etc. should be penalized and their largesse spread to those without these qualities
• making legitimate observations on performance, etc. is racist
• if I'm not P.C., I'm a racist
• all problems are due to racism, and thus racism is the excuse for low performance (victimhood)
• giving illegal aliens free subsistence and tuition while not providing assistance for children of veterans disabled or killed in battle
• everything is free for illegal aliens but not for Americans citizens.  Look at the homeless in major cities being ignored while the illegals are welcomed with open arms — and given food, clothing, shelter, cell phones...
• self-defense is not permitted if the attacker is a minority; you must retreat; take a beat-down; be killed; or watch your property be destroyed, vandalized, or looted, or else you'll be charged with murder or using unnecessary/excessive force. 
• I hate America, and its founding was illegitimate
• the 'US' was founded in 1619 instead of 1776
• those who advocate freedom of speech are fascists
• males who call themselves females should be permitted to compete against females (fortunately, the NCAA has woken up on this one)
• working is optional

And the latest claims of wokesim: 

• you support a multitude of pronouns that are evidently changeable based on how a person feels that day
• conservative ideology is fascist (it is doubtful that a woke individual can properly define fascism)
• you support a national (secret) police force, nationalized elections, eliminating a republican form of government, one-party rule, defund the police, packing the Supreme Court, admitting D.C. and Puerto Rico as new states, eliminating cash bail requirement for release after arrest for serious felonies, police are racists, free speech as long as it agrees with woke ideals...and an unlimited supply of related et ceteras
• if you vote Republican, you're destroying our democracy.  The operative word is "our," meaning the left's view of democracy — i.e., you voted incorrectly.

It is this writer's opinion that if you're so "woke-inclined," you have difficulty with accountability and rational thought.

None of this means there are no problems in the U.S.  There will always be a small minority who advocate racism.  But look at the progress made in the last fifty years, which enabled an African American (AA) man to become president and an AA woman to become vice president.  Nor are millions of immigrants flocking to China, Cuba, North Korea, Venezuela, Russia.  They are coming to the good ol' U.S. of A.  Why?  It used to be equal opportunity and equal treatment under the law.  Now it's a plethora of free stuff.

Our Founding Fathers gave us an incredible document, the U.S. Constitution — the likes of which the world had never seen — and were provided with a method to change or update it as the case requires (twenty-seven times and counting) and became the world's only superpower in about 160–170 years.  Yet being woke means I hate the Constitution, even with the corrected original flaws.

No one should be deprived of basic needs — adequate food, proper clothing, safe shelter, and a good education — if he is unable to earn the means for these needs that should be provided.  But any able-bodied and mentally competent person should work for his needs.  And a good education does not mean lowering standards, as the woke have done.

If you're busy being "woke," you're too busy to be productive in society.  You're being a victim or preaching or supporting victimhood when you could be a producer or gain the skills and knowledge necessary to be a producer.

A new word is introduced, sent to me by a friend, that helps define wokeism or being woke:

Ineptocracy — 1) a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.  Contrast this to the Peter Principle: in a hierarchy, all people rise to their level of incompetence.

2) a system of government whose main characteristic is incompetence in all areas.

Looking at our elected officials, who best fits these definitions?

Image: JMacPherson via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.