- May 1st, 2021, 1:47 pm
#625595
I’ll take issue with a couple of things in this article, because that’s my job around here.
I don’t like the use of the term “woke” to describe “anything progressive I don’t like.” The way Cooper uses it here is making the term essentially meaningless.
Woke means suddenly aware of (awake to) injustice. That’s how it has been used for a long time before it became hijacked as a pejorative. Let’s not forget that the God of the Bible is deeply concerned about injustice. When used sarcastically or pejoratively, it can mean someone who over-diagnoses or overcorrects on matters of justice.
Now, what Cooper is really taking issue with is post-modern relativism. However, I’d want to be careful here. I believe in objective truth and objective morality. That does not mean that traditional understandings or morals are those objective truths. For how many years did Christianity teach that slavery was either a moral good or at least morally neutral? How many would say it is now?
There’s a progressive revealing at work here, and there’s a tendency to overcorrect on both of these points:
Don’t be so “anti-woke” that you become blind or apathetic to injustice.
Don’t be so “anti-postmodern” that you’re fearful of new ideas or understandings.