Thread by @LoganLancing

I’ve seen various content claiming that “Woke Right” is a stupid name because “Woke” just means “awakened to and forwarding critiques of social power."

Woke is much more than that. I can't tell if they still don't know that, or they're aware...

Let's define "Woke" again.

🧵

“Critical Constructivism” is the technical term for Woke. “Critical” for the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt school and offshoots (there’s a million “critical theories” now, Critical Race Theory and Queer Theory being the ones people are most familiar with).

To quote Woke educator Joe Kincheloe, "Critical constructivism is grounded on the Frankfurt School's formulation of critical theory."

So why Critical Theory?

Again, to borrow from Kincheloe, "Critical theory is concerned with extending a human's consciousness of himself or herself as a social being in light of the way dominant power operates to manage knowledge."

"Critical constructivism thus promotes reflection on the production of self."

So, critical theories extend an individual's consciousness. They help individuals "awaken" to the fact that they are "social beings" produced by dominant power through knowledge.

What does this mean? It means that critical theories critique systems of power and seek to demonstrate how systems and structures of power CREATE YOU as a product. How "systemic power" alienates you from your true self (in the same way Marx would argue it).

Critical theories "awaken" you to the fact that what passes as "neutrality" or "objectivity" or "common sense" are really just value-laden ideologies and "approved knowledge" that brainwashes you into accepting an unjust and oppressive status-quo.

Critical theories "awaken" you to the idea that you've been "atomized" and separated from your true social(ist) and collectivist nature by being convinced that their is a "Truth" out there.

For them, there is no "Truth" out there. What passes as truth is only what the dominant regime has decided is true through manufacturing knowledge and "regimes of truth" that support their claims and suppress others. It's Michel Foucault's "power knowledge," for those familiar.

To return to Kincheloe, "critical theory...is always concerned with the ways power operates and the way various institutions deploy power in the effort to survive, shape behavior and gain dominance over others."

Critical theories "awaken" you, granting you an "emancipatory source of authority" because you see how the world really works; you see what those in power have suppressed and hidden from you.

Marx Horkheimer, the guy who created Critical Theory, said Critical Theory is chiefly concerned with "emancipat[ing] human beings." Emancipating them from their "dogmatic slumber," as Kant put it.

Critical Theory is the "red pill" in the movie The Matrix.

Critical Theory isn't just critique. It's also normative, but in a backwards way. Horkheimer said that the ideal society (communist) couldn't be described from within the confines of the current society - the current society's terms make it impossible to envision alternatives.

But, he said, we can critique those aspects of society we wish to change. We can critique them endlessly as unjust and oppressive. We can tear away endlessly and eventually we'll reach our ideal society through subtraction.

So, the Woke have "awakened" to "the truth" about how the world really works and, guided by their "emancipatory source of authority" they critique everything as parts of unjust and oppressive "structures" and "systems" of power.

Now the constructivism comes in. It's too much to get into here, but people like Piaget and Vygotsky are clearly important.

Returning to Kincheloe, he says "Constructivism asserts that nothing represents a neutral perspective--nothing exists before consciousness shapes it into something perceptible."

This is a fundamental building block of the entire WOKE worldview. What does it mean?

It means that there is no objective way of viewing the world. None. It means that, as Kincheloe states, “No truly objective way of seeing exists…what appears as objective reality is merely what our mind constructs.”

So, whatever "reality" is, it's a construct of humans. Humans construct the world in our minds, but some humans enforce their constructs and values on the rest of us unjustly, hiding the power dynamics in things like "facts" and "truth."

Awakened to this, the Woke say what Kincheloe does: "Critical constructivism is a theoretically grounded form of world making."

"As critical constructivists remake and rename their world, they are constantly guided by their critical theoretical system of meaning, their emancipatory source of authority.”

So, Woke isn't just "critiquing things" or "noticing things." It's an entire "weltanschauung, a worldview that creates meaning on the nature of human existence."

So, to be Woke is to have "awakened" to "the truth" about how the world really works and, guided by an "emancipatory source of authority," leveling critiques against all that exists as parts of unjust and oppressive "structures" and "systems" of power.

To be Woke is to have "awakened" to "the truth" that you are a "world builder" that can "rename" and "remake" your world as a "social being" in solidarity with those that share your grievances.

It's not just "critiquing social power."

It's an entire worldview with an accompanying metaphysics, epistemology, politics, and ethics.

Real oppression exists. There are legitimate grievances. Critiques can be legitimate. But the Woke count on you thinking that's what's going on when in reality they are denying reality itself in favor of mysticism and magic.