The left has morphed "woke" from a quest for heightened awareness of racial inequities to a political tool for wreaking vengeance on the "system".

Woke, an adjective derived from Afro-American vernacular English, was an initiative originally advanced to heighten awareness of latent racial prejudice and discrimination.  The woke initiative has now been seized by the left and, like most leftist initiatives, has morphed into a deceptive and disingenuous political ploy.

The progressive woke mantra — DIE — projects outwardly the noble goal of attaining societal coexistence and inclusivity.  Woke behavior, however, constitutes the antithesis of the DIE mantra.  In practice, DIE is exclusionary and punitive.  Its underlying tenet is that any inequities suffered by the "disenfranchised" elements of society are resultant primarily of subjugation and oppression by privileged white males.  Oppressors have been expanded to include conservative thinkers, heterosexuals, and misogynists.  The vilification of black conservatives clearly demonstrates, however, that conservatism, not race, is the principal underlying target of woke progressivism.

Woke has been convoluted and expanded into a political tool by the elitist leftist cabal to establish unchallenged dominance of the Democrat party.  The political persecution of Donald Trump clearly depicts this perturbation — the anti-woke xenophobic fascist being vengefully attacked to silence his political voice.  Woke applauds the verbal and physical assault on conservative speakers by woke activists at academic institutions.  It stands behind the firing of corporate and academic figures for exercising free speech critical of woke objectives.  It condones rioting and destruction of private property in support of the woke agenda.  A recent article in Esquire boasts that "Greg Abbott Gets the Swift Kick in the Jewels He So Richly Deserves" when legislation the Texas governor proposed was deemed unconstitutional by a district judge.  Revenge runs deep in woke activism. 

Backlash against woke inanity is thwarted by the "deviance down" concept, attributed to D.P. Moynihan, which infers that societies have a tendency to respond to destructive behavior by lowering their standards of tolerance.  Radical behavior becomes acceptable.

Why has the party become such an avid advocate of the new "woke"?  Voting is a personal matter, and what the woke initiative does is make voting an emotionally based rather than an issues-based process.  It does so by swelling the ranks of the oppressed, preying on the smoldering discontent of underachievers, the "disenfranchised", minorities, those not achieving their anticipated level of achievement.  College campuses, and now K–12 school systems, have become recruiting grounds for spawning discontent in the young.  The party has a strong base to work with.  Discontent with the nation's direction runs high.  Income inequality worsens.  Depression, anxiety, drug dependency, suicide burgeon.  The American Dream is fading.  Focusing on, channeling, and directing such discontent against a system rooted in white male supremacy is the key to swaying public support.  Resolution of generic socioeconomic issues doesn't matter if personal revenge is attainable.  A vote for the party is a vote against the oppressive system, a system that has treated you unfairly.

Adult white males, the principal woke target, constitute ~30% of the adult (>18 yrs.) population, and many are Democrat voters.  That leaves over 70% of the electorate to manipulate.  If enough of them can be convinced that adult white males are the cause of all their real or perceived failures and oppression, Democrat party dominance at the polls is assured.  Vote your personal vengeance, and if that incurs some unwanted consequences — immigration chaos, threats to free speech, etc. — so be it.  You probably won't be affected by that anyway.

But the party has a problem.  Woke progressive initiatives are becoming increasingly unpopular with the general public.  A groundswell of opposition to open borders, cancel culture, defunding the police, race-based advancement, unrestricted abortion, K–12 autonomy, going green hysteria, "gender-affirming" surgery is palpable.

The outcome of the 2024 election will hinge upon which attitude among the uncommitted prevails: a vote for revenge against the system or a vote against the inanity of woke overreach.

Image: JoslynLM via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.