Thread by @MagicPeaceLove

This silly "definition" from DeSantis' lawyer deserves all the scorn. Also true: "wokeism" can be defined pretty concretely. But to parse the definition requires acknowledging two separate, in many ways adversarial, definitions of "woke." 1/

https://twitter.com/elfsternberg/status/1599223334642012160

As far as I recall -- may be wrong -- the term "woke" emerged from Black Twitter (way pre-Floyd) to describe the cognitive shift from the mainstream narrative around blackness in America to a new narrative of cognitive freedom and reset. 2/

Essentially, to become "woke" meant to wake up out of a consensual trance, out of a narrative matrix that had been handed to you throughout culture and society. 3/

A lot of white liberals, especially, began to use the term to describe their own cognitive shift, as they realized the ways a subtle layer of white supremacy coursed through every aspect of their lives and the larger culture. 4/

Almost everyone of our social and cultural systems still has an in-built bias that privileges whiteness over blackness. Social science research across multiple domains has confirmed this over and over. 5/

So that's the original definition of "woke," a cognitive awakening to systemic bias and narrative control systems that previously prevented us from seeing clearly. 6/

In that definition, to become "woke" is to expand your perceptual field, to see what you couldn't previously see, and to enlarge your circle of care and concern. 7/

But, as inevitably happens when dealing with human beings, people began using "woke" as a badge of honor, a way to signal their cognitive superiority. 9/

Rather than expanding compassion as an invitation to others, "woke" became a cudgel against those who didn't see the world way you did. 11/

An example of how the two definitions conflate and work at cross purposes: the "trans issue." (Here I go, wading into treacherous waters) 12/

I'll start by stating my bias up front. I believe the vast and overwhelming majority of Americans have nothing but love for transgender people and wish them to be able to live their best lives however they see fit. 13/

I do not believe that half the country hates trans people, or gay people, or Jews, or blacks, or [insert oppressed group here] 14/

That a large swath of the country apparently *does* believe that about their fellow Americans is perhaps a much bigger and more dangerous problem I've addressed frequently elsewhere. 15/

Suffice it to say, because people have that belief, and because our perverse media incentives reinforce that belief, it's increasingly difficult to have good faith discussions around many of our most pressing issues. 16/

So, getting back to the transgender issue: trans people were essentially invisible in our culture until around 10 years ago. When I was growing up, the only trans representation of any kind in media was either a figure of ridicule or a pedophilic serial killer. 17/

When transgender as as an issue exploded into the culture in a big way 10 or so years ago, many liberals began to understand how their previous biases had prevented them from seeing trans people with full compassion. 18/

This is the good definition of "woke:" "Oh, now I realize that even though I consider myself a Liberal I never really understood the lived trauma that transgender people live under. Now I have awakened to it." 18/

"Now I see what I did not, or could not, see before. I wish to be an ally to [X marginalized group] now that I understand the suffering and injustice they live with." 19/

This is a Very Good Thing. The ability to be exposed to perspectives outside of your own, and to even take on others' perspectives, makes us all more compassionate and loving. 20/

But humans being humans, we always filter our knowledge through our own pathologies, neurosis, and insecurities. 21/

Inevitably, some people who began to embrace, say, transgender rights, also began to become intolerant of those who couldn't see what they could see. 22/

The desire to protect transgender rights, born of a healthy intention, led people to embrace some downright silly ideas. 23/

For instance, the declaration that "Trans women are women" has led to the pathological and silly contention that trans women should be able to compete against women in every sport. 24/

This is a pathological view that requires the person promoting it to ignore both the history of activism on behalf of women in sports, and the clear and unambiguous science that men and women have vastly different physical capabilities. 25/

And, when people are pushing a pathological view, their response to those who disagree tends also to become pathological. 26/

So people who quite reasonably pointed out that trans women, who had the biomechanical advantages of a male body, should not be able to compete against cis women, these people were immediately smeared as "transphobes." 27/

If the discussion had remained between those two ideological camps, it may not have become such a big issue. But unfortunately, partisan media incentives on all sides privilege "outrage for clicks." 28/

As reasonable people began pointing out pathologies among those who consider themselves "woke" (and were attacked for it), the term itself began to take on this secondary meaning. 29/

Besides the definition of "awakening to an understanding of a perspective that was previously invisible or actively suppressed," woke also came to mean, "pathologically pushing for a worldview that's irrational and based on virtue signaling rather than facts." 30/

A key point is that *both of those definitions have validity.* The Right is often blind to the first, as they tend to have a blind spot in general for pluralism and perspective taking. 31/

But the left seems to have a major blind spot for the latter issue. Namely the ways in which their attempt to be pluralistic and embrace all worldviews can lead them into a very rigid ideological dogma that's intolerant of those who disagree. 32/

The Left, which imagines itself to be the more pluralistic side of the political divide, has become extremely Manichean in their worldview. 33/

I actually think the biggest factor hindering the evolution of progressive thought is their, not only blindness to, but active hostility to, evolutionary stage theories like Spiral Dynamics and Integral Theory. 35/

With a solid grounding in evolutionary theory we can begin to understand the mental constructs that form our opinions, as well as those of our ideological opponents. 35/

(oops, that last should have been 36)

An understanding of evolutionary stage theory makes us more compassionate towards all people, and less inclined to project ill intent on our ideological opponents. 37/

At any rate, DeSantis's lawyer could have defined "wokeism" as: "A pathological privileging of identity over all other values, a black and white worldview that hides behind the cloak of pluralism to push a rigid and often regressive ideology." 38/

Within the frame of stage theory, the Integral perspective is one that acknowledges people's individuality, their racial, gender, and sexual identity, their nationality AND their status as global citizens, privileging each of those domains as appropriate to the situation. 39/

To be "woke" (healthy) is to have compassion for all people and to recognize the specificity of each person's suffering. To be "woke"(pathological) is to filter all people in all situations through the lens of some aspect of their identity... 41/

... and to attack anyone who rejects such a totalizing framing. #StayWoke 42/42