{"id":789,"date":"2026-06-22T19:39:49","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/?p=789"},"modified":"2026-06-22T19:39:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T02:39:49","slug":"on-wokeness-and-its-opposite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/on-wokeness-and-its-opposite\/","title":{"rendered":"on wokeness, and its opposite"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

to be woke is to have a visceral sense of justice, as reliable as the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and cognition\u2014that allows one to recognize that the current language of justice is inadequate, as justice is not applied equitably across all who would access it; and to participate in creating language that leads to equitable application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

to be a woke ally is to recognize that one lacks the visceral sense of justice; to believe those who experience it; and to use the other senses to fill the gap, trusting that the language will mature if allowed to do so\u2014to be blind, but willing to coexist with the sighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to be anti-woke is to deny the existence of the visceral experience of justice; to belittle those who would enrich its language\u2014to be blind, to deny the existence of sight, in the most literal sense, and to refuse to coexist with the sighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

only a person who has had the sense of justice bred out of them can own humans or force them through contract into unpaid labor; deny them equal access to the right to vote; justify and continue to fund genocide; or accumulate wealth while others starve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

knowing that the path of the ally is available, one follows it to redemption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

never suspecting that justice is lived experience, the whole world becomes one’s adversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

to be woke is to have a visceral sense of justice, as reliable as the senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, and cognition\u2014that allows one to recognize that the current language of justice is inadequate, as justice is not applied equitably across all who would access it; and to participate in creating language that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"on wokeness, and its opposite","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,27,124,28,14,26,15,9,39,30],"tags":[316,317,323,302,311,305,100,299,320,310,318,300,301,313,312,321,314,322,308,304,307,309,306,315,303,319],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicle","category-didactics","category-education","category-ethos","category-neurodiversity","category-personal-narrative","category-politics","category-reflection","category-work","category-zen","tag-bred-out","tag-calibration","tag-cause","tag-denial","tag-diagnosis","tag-epistemology","tag-equity","tag-faculty","tag-fidelity","tag-inarticulable","tag-justice","tag-language","tag-maturation","tag-negotiation","tag-paranoia","tag-perception","tag-proprioception","tag-redemption","tag-sense","tag-signal","tag-standing","tag-symptom","tag-testimony","tag-transmission","tag-visceral","tag-woke"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paor1p-cJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":792,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/23\/education-v-indoctrination\/","url_meta":{"origin":789,"position":0},"title":"education v. indoctrination","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"June 23, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Education builds bridges to new understanding. (educare: to bring up; to nurture). Indoctrination burns bridges and prevents new ones from being built. (endoctriner: to instruct; to imbue with an idea or opinion). Education makes the world bigger. Indoctrination keeps one sequestered in a silo. 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Why don't you just lighten up and hear what we mean, and not worry so much about how we say it?\" Why, thank you for being brave and vulnerable, and for speaking up when you feel the need arise.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chronicle"","block_context":{"text":"chronicle","link":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/category\/chronicle\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0336-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0336-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0336-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0336-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/img_0336-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/ryk.groetchen.com\/blog\/2025\/07\/29\/connection-attraction-hyperfocus-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":789,"position":5},"title":"connection\/attraction\/hyperfocus\/community","author":"Ryk Groetchen","date":"July 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been thinking for some time about certain dynamics and patterns in the spaces I move through, and having a difficult time finding the right framing to bring these ideas up in conversations with colleagues. 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