This idea of purity, and you're never compromised, and you're always politically "woke" and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly. The world is messy; there are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting, may love their kids and, you know, share certain things with you. There is this sense sometimes of: "The way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, and that's enough." ...That's not activism. That's not bringing about change. If all you're doing is casting stones, you're probably not going to get that far. That is easy to do.
---Barack Obama
I haven't always agreed with our 44th President, but regarding "woke" culture, I think he pretty much said it all in this excerpt from a 2019 speech. The only thing I feel the need to add is that when folks say "woke" in this context they are almost exclusively referring to the political left and liberals. I, on the other hand, think there is an equally oppressive "woke" culture on the political right, one that allows for no dissent when it comes to their pet issues such as opposing: gun regulation, masking, vaccines and social distancing during the COVID crisis, kneeling before sporting events, reproductive rights, respecting sexual preference and identity, while obsessing on the border...and other issues. The tribalism of ideology is dividing our society as never before...if you don't mind, I'd like to just be able to be myself, warts and all, and let the chips fall where they may...and from my perspective, so can you! Pick your poison if you want to go down either the left or right politically correct road and be as smug as you want about how virtuous you are: but people need to feel free to express themselves without clowns coming down on them for using the "wrong" pronoun or expressing the "wrong" opinion.
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