Plenty of mainstream conversation surrounds the topic of "woke" but few can actually define it.
Some want to declare that "woke" is another term to describe a leftist. However, is that an oversimplification? Might it be possible that being woke can be a characteristic of people on the right as much as it can be for people on the left?
Bryan Sharpe, a podcaster and entrepreneur better known as Hotep Jesus, has talked about the Woke Right and how to define it. What I found interesting about his insights is that, for one thing, he described why the Ron DeSantis Presidential campaign failed.
But what is the Woke Right? And how does it compare to the Woke Left?
Here's a segment in which Hotep Jesus goes over 12 characteristics of the Woke Right — many which would describe the Woke Left, though in different ways.
First, Hotep Jesus talks about what "woke" means: Being conscious, awake and aware of something, or what some may call "the red pill." The term "woke" originated in the black community, usually among blacks who were skeptical of the government and what it really does for them.
As for "woke right," it's what he calls a mirror image of the Woke Left (or leftist, if you prefer) but the complaints are different.
Let's go over the 12 characteristics he describes.
1. Victim Mindset (complainers): They portray themselves as a victim but do nothing but complain, rather than offer specific ideas or become actively involved in implementing ideas.
2. Inequality (DEI): Though the Woke Right doesn't embrace DEI initiatives, you hear them talk about how, for example, Donald Trump should pick a woman or a "person of color" to be his vice president pick. They also complain about how white men get treated.
3. Racial identity: They embrace their own version of identity politics. One example Hotep Jesus gave: They identify as "white" rather than "American."
4. Cancel culture: They participate in it as much as the left does.
5. Sexual liberation: While they complain about pornography, they would defend a calendar for which sex appeal is the main draw.
6. LGBT: They will accept homosexuals and transgenders so long as those people say things that support their ideology.
7. No goals: They don't have ideas, they just cite problems.
8. Unprincipled: Ties in with point seven. They don't have consistent principles, but change them to suit their narrative.
9. Statist: They look to the state to solve problems. They don’t look at themselves (how to persuade) and they don’t look to the church. (Example: They won’t do the work to discourage somebody from getting an abortion but just push the state to ban it.)
10. Corporate/collegiate: They were educated in the same universities that the left attended and are detached from working class and middle class people. They also have the corporate mindset.
11. Vaccines: They didn’t question the COVID-19 vaccines and called people who didn’t take the vaccines “idiots.”
12. Sheep (banal topics): They simply respond to what the left does but don’t talk about things like the economy, immigration, foreign policy and monetary policy. Or to put it another way, they make everything about the culture war.
Points 1 and 12 are definite characteristics of the Woke Left. Point 6 also applies to the Woke Left as they will only accept homosexuals and transgenders who back their ideology.
And most of all, Point 9 applies. Rather than do the work to persuade people about reconsidering a particular action or approach, they just want to ban it.
What his assessment of the Woke Right got me thinking about is how elites act in America and elsewhere. It's worth noting that a lot of people who are "woke" happen to be elite.
I'll talk more about what I see as the characteristics of elitism in the future, but I do recommend you check out what Hotep Jesus has to say in "The Woke Right Strikes Again" on Rumble for more of his insights.