The binary view of injustice in the woke debate undermines its cause

The first step in fighting inequality is recognizing it. Unfortunately, "woke culture" doesn't move past that step. While its goals are admirable, there are serious questions about its efficacy in affecting change. At the moment, woke culture has an undue focus on privilege and oppressive structures in society. That is why its critics primarily see it as a very loud practice in virtue signaling. It certainly hopes to create changes that dismantle oppressive structures, but their lack of policy and abundance of criticisms slows progress.^[1] In many ways, wokeness does not allow for any effective change due to its absolutist attitude on how to achieve it.^[2] Two social justice groups could both want to decrease poverty in urban minority communities, but if one does not fully fit into the progressive narrative, woke culture dismisses it as a right-wing shill. In reality, real change is gained through coalitions of groups with common goals. Woke culture, in its current form, does not allow for any compromise on how to achieve its goals, and that may come at the cost of those they defend. As former US President Barack Obama suggests, “People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids, and share certain things with you.”^[3] Whether its a restructuring of the movement or completely abandoning it, the left's proponents of wokeness need to adapt to the critiques of their methods. Without changes, perhaps critics are right in the cause's inability to create substantive changes in society.

[P1] Woke culture does not have any clear outcomes or policy goals beyond broad platitudes of "equity." [P2] Wokeness is too uncompromising in its worldview. [P3] Changes will likely need to be made to the movement for it to remain a viable path to reform.