Author(s): Akshat Jain
Paper Details: Volume 2, Issue 3
Citation: IJLSSS 2(3) 15
Page No: 151- 159
ABSTRACT
This paper explores the emergence and implications of woke culture, a modern socio-political phenomenon characterized by heightened awareness of social injustices, particularly racism and discrimination. Originating as a response to the decline of Christianity’s influence in the West, woke culture has evolved into a potent force shaping contemporary discourse. The paper examines the concept of “woke racism,” a form of racism disguised under liberal ideologies, often targeting non-Western cultures like India. It delves into the religious parallels of wokeism, likening it to Abrahamic religions with its own doctrines, such as cancel culture and the concept of original sin, manifested in the ideas of white privilege and Brahmanical patriarchy.
The influence of woke culture in Indian politics is scrutinized, highlighting its role in perpetuating identity politics and influencing academic institutions. The paper also addresses the impact of feminist woke ideologies on societal values, arguing that they undermine traditional family structures and social cohesion. The hypocrisy within woke culture, particularly in its inconsistent application of social justice principles, is discussed, along with its negative impact on Indian culture and traditions.
Finally, the paper suggests the need for a balanced approach to preserving societal values while recognizing the potential dangers of unchecked woke culture. It calls for a vigilant defense against the spread of cancel culture and the protection of free expression in order to safeguard societal well-being and cultural heritage.
INTRODUCTION
The word WOKE is an English adjective meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination”. Woke culture is something that has emerged in the vacuum left behind after the fall of Christianity.
As we take a peek at the past in 1980 when the pope used to visit any country in Europe or any Western country hundreds of thousands of people, men, women, kids, and elders used to line up on the streets and also terraces waiting to catch a glimpse of the pope and now if pope visits someplace there is no one on the streets, so that gives us the decline of Christianity and the way they are rejecting Christianity in the west because now people are getting aware of true history of Christianity that it had played a very major political role in Europe, it has been a real centre of power.
Soon Europe and the West woke up to this and they were leaving Christianity in mass.
WOKE RACISM
What comes to your mind whenever you think of things like racism? You usually think of White Supremacists, the Charlottesville rally, and skinheads, you think of Nazi Hakenkreuz.
But we are going to talk about a new type of racism. According to me, this type of racism is more dangerous than Right-wing racism because Right-wing racists are at least honest and open about their racist behaviour or racism. But this other kind of racism is usually hidden behind a liberal, woke facade.
2.1 EXAMPLES OF WOKE RACISM
Some months ago, an Indian correspondent of a very woke and liberal media organisation (NPR) funded by the American government tweeted a photo of a railway track which was covered by garbage and her tweet was “At first glance, I thought this was India.”
And we can see the downfall of NPR as they have just become so much woke that they say that a fat fitness trainer is all right.
What Miss Frayer did is not an isolated/unique incident. Many other so-called woke or liberal people and organizations have been openly racist towards Indians.
Remember when the New York Times newspaper showed an Indian space program as a man standing outside with his cow, this cartoon was also there in a Bollywood movie (Mission Mangal).
The Guardian newspaper showed an Indian-origin British minister Priti Patel as a fat demon with a nose ring and horns.
Another person from Silicon Valley named Melinda Byerley, a chief diversity officer at the Oswald Mosley Institute called Indian immigrants “Parasites” and Indian immigrants should go back to their own country.
This behaviour of the West towards India is not only confined to themselves, the woke Indian themselves also have the same attitude.
One Indian columnist said that all Indian immigrants are Termites and another Indian columnist called Northern India, a baby-making factory.
2.2 WHY WOKE PEOPLE HAVE SUCH BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS INDIA
The first aspect is, that they want social media engagement, they know if they share such opinions and articles, they will be destined to get some social media engagement. They also know that their views would be shared by woke people and anti-India people saying that the truth is being told about India and from the other side Pro-Indian/Indians will push back to defend India. That’s why the very prestigious organisation Washington Post invites Rana Ayyub as an Indian correspondent to write an article about India, the author whose books weren’t even considered by Indian courts for any small proof.
The second reason is how wokes see India. We have already seen how we see India ever since the secular icon Congress was replaced with the Narendra Modi government.
These wokes will not dare to behave the same way as they do towards India, they will never say such things towards woke black people, woke Mexicans, woke Native Americans and Muslims but they are happy to be hostile towards non-woke black people, non-woke Mexicans, non-woke Muslims and Non-woke Hindus.
WHAT EXPLAINS SUCH BEHAVIOUR?
RELIGION OF WOKEISM
A great explanation for such behaviour is told by American linguist John Mcwhorter, in his book woke racism. He said, that to understand such behaviour we first have to understand what is wokeism. According to him, Wokeism is an Abrahamic religion like Islam and Christianity. Wokes will often say that Hindus believe in superstitions and blind beliefs, However, according to John McWhorter, wokes also have blind beliefs, he has explained wokeism through a comparison with Christianity.
In Christianity, you have the concept of original sin. Everyone is born a sinner and by accepting Jesus, you can be free from your sins. In wokeism, the original sin is White privilege or in India’s case ‘Brahmanical patriarchy’ (Brahmanism).
The central tenet of Christianity is to spread the teaching of Jesus Christ and a central tenet of wokeism is to accept the power difference between different castes, races and religions. In Christianity, it’s about showing that you have full faith in Jesus, just same as this in Wokeism, it’s about having faith that racism/Brahmanism is everywhere in this society.
This concept was confirmed by one of the leading prophets of Wokeism. Author Ibram X Kendi has explained this in the same way, he says “An antiracist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups. By policy, I mean written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, processes, regulations and guidelines that govern people. There is no such thing as a nonracist or race-neutral policy. Every policy in every institution in every community in every nation is producing or sustaining either racial inequity or equity between racial groups.” In short, he is saying that every policy in any institution has racism in it.
One of the features of Abrahamic religions like Christianity is, those who do not believe in Christianity are called heretics and are prosecuted. Similarly, in wokeism, those people who are not considered woke are prosecuted in the name of “Cancel culture”.
In Christianity, the only way to go to Heaven and wash away your sins is to repent, Similarly, Wokeism believes that to wash away the sins of White supremacy and Brahminical patriarchy you have to repent. We have seen this during George Floyd protests when White protestors were repenting (apologizing) in front of black people for being white.
WOKEISM IN INDIAN POLITICS
The leftists have jumped into this vacuum by giving woke ideology. Woke ideology is all about moral high ground it’s about doing the right thing etc. but the so-called doing right thing is very distorted when it comes to woke culture, it’s all about identity politics it’s all about empowering a particular political ideology and that ideology is actually Marxism more specifically cultural Marxism it takes myriad number of forms it has a lot of different manifestations and woke culture is the latest manifestation which is all about diving societies among various identities and creating conflict between the identities in simple words spreading communalism and casteism.3
Recently we can see some changes in the politics of India, and as we know politics in India is majorly communal.
In India, the nexus between religion and politics has long been a contentious one. The Indian nation was split along religious lines when it was created, but it later established a secular style of government.
Since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) political affiliate Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) stormed to a parliamentary majority in 2014, becoming the first party to do so since 1984, this subject has attracted increased attention. In 2019, it accomplished the same accomplishment. The BJP’s political win was fuelled by a significant concentration of Hindu votes, whereas Muslims were barely represented among the party’s supporters or elected officials. And by this thing, the opposition has woken up to something that they expect to be successful and will make them win elections.
The “soft-Hindutva” approach has been the most prevalent among them, according to many. Political leaders openly identifying with Hindu religious symbols, such as visiting temples or even reciting scriptures during political campaigns, are characteristics of this. Since this strategy has had uneven effectiveness, it is also challenging to determine a cause-and-effect relationship. A small but outspoken minority also supports a radical strategy for challenging and weakening long-standing religious and cultural norms.
Woke culture is interfering with politics in India and we can see it as well because in India the leftists have a very big influence on politics in India and how taking advantage of this new culture the leftists are going to alter the politics or political conditions of India, we can already see it in institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University which are misguiding students.
Especially in the humanities department the students are exposed to this woke religion by the professors or we can say Marxist professors who were allowed by India to take over the academic system and due to these institutions the woke culture is getting exported to India.
FEMINIST WOKES’ NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OUR SOCIETY
Our society and systems have been invaded by the woke culture with its secular themes, but we should be cautious of their effect. According to a recent statement by Justice Chandrachud, a married woman has the right to sexual autonomy. He asserted that a woman has the freedom to engage in sexual activity with people who are not her spouse and that her husband does not have the authority to restrict her sexual orientation. All of this seems fascinating, but is it actually good? Undoubtedly, it is their choice to restrict someone’s rights, but doing so only serves to damage society and familial unity.
By imposing the failed Western culture, feminists and the awakened movement hope to undermine the social base of our family system. The stark reality that not everything that glitters is gold underlies the glitzy Western way of life. Western civilization lacks mutual respect and affection due to dysfunctional families and damaged individuals. Cultural Marxism, in which men are always the oppressors, has been imposed in India along with intersectionality theory. The leftist-woke have long painted women, children, and members of other castes as being oppressed and tormented. a methodical weakening of the social structure in an effort to topple it. The secular lobby tries to destroy family structures by interfering with them with malice.
SMACKS OF HYPOCRISY/PROBLEMS
According to researcher and social analyst Sreejith Panikkar, the lack of a precise definition makes wokeism difficult to understand. He asserts that there is no accepted definition of what being woke means. “Exponents, practitioners, and proponents abound. The majority of these individuals are frequently left-liberal, liberal, or very progressive. There are a variety of folks there. There are also a lot of hypocrites. Like someone who posts on social media that they don’t like Diwali fireworks yet blows them up at home or during a party.
“Such individuals — whether athletes or celebrities — are mockingly referred to as awakened. I believe that “woke” has evolved into everything that it was never intended to be.” Praveen Ravi, a social observer, thinks that wokeism has developed into a social problem. “Anyone who counters the narratives of the people who call themselves woke is attacked by a ‘mob’ and gets cancelled,” he says.
“As a result, there isn’t enough room for conversation. Take woke feminists as an illustration. One is immediately labelled as anti-woman if one criticises feminist narratives.
Not all “apostles of woke culture are genuinely woke,” according to Aleena. Within liberal, politically correct, and woke communities, she continues, “There are power disparities.” As an illustration, there are upper-caste, upper-class ladies who prey on the vulnerable women. Additionally, the saviour mindset is present.
WOKE CULTURE’S ENMITY WITH THE INDIAN CULTURE
It is regrettable that the Woke culture has influenced Indian culture and is having a bad impact on the next generation. While the recent event with Indian cricketers “taking the knee” in support of black lives demonstrated the growth of “woke culture,” tragically, similar action was never adopted by woke celebrities in opposition to the injustice meted out to Hindus in India under the pretext of religious extremism. When conservative British writers like Douglas Murray and Australian commentator Andrew Bolt brought up what happened on the cricket field and asked, “But what about the caste system?” it was a sad affliction on our accepted “woke society.”
Contrary to how it is marketed, the post-modernism trend known as “Wokeness” is damaging, hostile, problematic, and a restricting worldview. Because it encourages freedom of speech and ideas under the pretext of fostering freedom, every free democratic country in the world is sliding into its trap. The threat posed by these “neo-modernists” must be met head-on and without delay, due to the institutional hold it is tightening on India’s educational, political, and cultural systems through the academic path. Being politically aware doesn’t only mean being considerate to various groups of people. It is armed with weapons that may destroy nationhood and pre-existing cultures long before the neo-Marxist paradigm, which is precisely what caused the Soviet Gorgon mutation and the current resurgence of China’s Capitalist Totalitarian dictatorship. It is driven by malign purposes.
In a student magazine published at a University in California, a picture of a flaming-out Diya was included, commanding students to boycott Diwali. Since blazing out Diya is seen in our culture as an emblems of death and unfavorability, this was a direct attack on our rites and traditions. The United States constantly talks about combating racism. Nobody, however, dares to speak out against the Hindu genocide that is taking place in Muslim-majority nations like Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. But what kind of concern should we expect from the West, or more precisely the flag-bearers of “liberalism,” the Americans, who didn’t care for the locals or Red Indians?
ANY SOLUTION?
People must comprehend, value, and respect current social systems in order to live in a healthy society and as individuals.
Under the pretext of modernism, independence, or sexual freedom, irresponsible behaviour can’t last or be admired for very long. To avoid the negative emotional or physical effects of the traps established by feminist wokes, one must be cautious of them.
There is no such thing as a free lunch, thus it is high time that people became aware of the possible threat posed by these supporters of free speech. Everything has a price, and in this case, the price is just too high. It has restricted our ability to express ourselves freely and without judgement, endangering not only our society but also ourselves.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, this paper critically examines the emergence and impact of woke culture, highlighting its deep-seated roots in Western socio-political decline, particularly following the waning influence of Christianity. It argues that wokeism, akin to a modern religion, has infiltrated various aspects of society, manifesting in the form of woke racism, identity politics, and feminist ideologies that challenge traditional values and structures. The paper underscores the detrimental effects of woke culture on Indian society, particularly its potential to undermine cultural heritage, social cohesion, and freedom of expression.
The rise of wokeism in Indian politics, academia, and social discourse is presented as a cause for concern, with the paper advocating for a vigilant and balanced approach to address these challenges. While recognizing the need for awareness of social injustices, the paper calls for caution against the uncritical acceptance and spread of woke ideologies, which may have far-reaching negative consequences. It emphasizes the importance of preserving cultural values and societal integrity while ensuring that the principles of justice and equity are applied consistently and without hypocrisy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- YouTube- The Sham Sharma Show- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrVNN_05b4k
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