Racist compared to what? the myth of white wokeness

ABSTRACT

Citizens of the contemporary Unites States are faced with the cognitive dissonance of a society which claims to reject the racist, sexist, homophobic and ableist ways of our ancestors, while daily experience betrays the inaccuracy of that world view. When confronted , those in privileged positions have learned to lean on social scripts in which we compare our behaviour to some of the worst examples we can conjure up, and in so doing we position ourselves as moral compared to that person. Chronic wokeness is a symptom of the incurable human condition of wanting to be a good person. Our cultural willingness to ignore obvious evidence in favour of a story that makes us feel better about ourselves has become our legacy. We are a country floating on the intoxicating cloud of permanent denial, thriving on narratives that present us as thoughtful, self-reflexive, and progressive – in a word, woke.

KEYWORDS:

• White supremacy
• racism
• privilege
• colour-blindness
• whiteness
• chronic wokeness

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Clearly the competition to select the most racist and/or misogynistic President would have numerous entrants (Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Johnson top my list), but none have managed to play a dog whistle symphony as loudly and proudly as Mr. Trump.

2. Although John Kennedy was Catholic, the tenants of the faith are similar enough to most Christian denominations that I feel comfortable ignoring the distinctions made by people of faith.

3. This piece is based, in part, on research done for the author’s Ph.D. Dissertation, Discourses of Deception: (Re)Examining America’s War on Drugs, (ProQuest, 2018).