Yesterday, Gallup released new polling that shows that support for keeping same-sex marriage legal is at an all-time high (71%)… holding steady from last year. “Gallup has recorded increases in support for same-sex marriage across all major subgroups over time. Today, majorities of all but two key subgroups— Republicans (49%) and weekly churchgoers (41%)— say gay marriages should be legally recognized.” Support among Democrats is at 84% and it is 78% among independents, Is making same-sex marriage illegal part of the anti-woke war Meatball Ron is promising if he wins the presidency?
Tim Miller noted (again) that DeSantis is trying to run to Trump’s right. He asks his readers to “consider the critiques the Florida governor has leveled against Trump out of the gate. He has not chosen to target Trump for his attempt to overthrow our democracy, his rampant corruption, the inhuman immigration regime, his Russophilia, or any of the other 100 reasons Trump is unfit to be anywhere in the vicinity of a federal building without an ankle bracelet. Instead, DeSantis’s opening salvo was to go at Trump for two of the very few good things the former president did: The First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, and Operation Warp Speed, which streamlined the process for the development of the COVID vaccine… If someone is aspiring to the presidency and their critical takeaways regarding the Trump administration are that Trump was:
Too deferential to experts on COVID
Too anxious to distribute a life-saving vaccine
Not harsh enough on immigrants who were brought here as children
Too adversarial to the prison-industrial complex, and
Not passionate enough about the need for a rhetorical attack on the “woke left”
Well, then you are going to have to forgive me if I come to the conclusion that you are a deranged lunatic.”
DeSantis’ and his Mafia Princess wife’s incessant war against “woke” is a war against America; it is the most divisive thing I’ve ever heard a presidential candidate spend months harping on. Let’s remember that the term "woke" originally emerged within the African American community to describe being aware of and actively addressing issues of racial inequality and social injustice. The DeSantii and other racists and fascists use the term to mock or dismiss progressive ideas, particularly those related to race, gender, and social justice, portraying them as a threat to traditional values.
The word “woke” didn’t appear in the Bible but Jesus’ message was all about being woke. Unlike Republicans, Jesus consistently emphasized the value and dignity of every individual, regardless of social status, gender or ethnicity. (Take a look at Galatians 3:28: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." and Matthew 5:3-12: “The Beatitudes, which highlight blessings for the poor in spirit, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers… “
• “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
• Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
• Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
He challenged societal norms and stood up for marginalized groups, advocating for their inclusion and fair treatment. His teachings promote the idea of equality and justice, which are core principles often associated with being woke. On top of that, he taught his followers to show compassion and empathy towards others, especially the poor, the sick, and the outcasts of society. He frequently reached out to those who were considered social outcasts and demonstrated a deep concern for their well-being. The emphasis on empathy and compassion aligns with the empathetic understanding encouraged by woke ideologies, but not with the DeSantis (or Trump or GOP) agendas. If Matthew 9:36: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" isn’t enough for you, how about Luke 10:30-37:, better known today as The Parable of the Good Samaritan, which teaches the importance of showing compassion and helping others in need:
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
More Bible the DeSantii need to read and think about? Matthew 23:27-28: Jesus' critique of the Pharisees, where he condemns their hypocrisy and highlights the importance of justice and mercy. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” I can keep going with this. I worked in a meditation center for nearly 4 years.
• Luke 4:18-19: Jesus' proclamation in the synagogue, where he quotes Isaiah and speaks of bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming freedom for prisoners, and setting the oppressed free. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
• Luke 15:1-7: The Parable of the Lost Sheep, where Jesus emphasizes the value of every individual and celebrates the return of the lost sheep.
• Matthew 6:19-21: Jesus' teachings on not storing up treasures on earth but focusing on treasures in heaven.
• Luke 12:15: “Then He said to them, ‘Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’”
That’s all woke, woke, woke… and has a lot to say about what’s behind conservatism, Trumpism and DeSantisism. Yesterday my favorite pastor, John Pavloviz, proclaimed Woke Will Win. “The leveraging of irrational fear is nothing new,” he wrote. “Throughout history it has been the go-to tactic of the worst of politics and religion. When you lack substantive ideas, you need an encroaching enemy to move and motivate people. When you have nothing redemptive to offer, you have to create a violent adversary for them to run from and push back against. When vulnerable people are placed in your path, you need to somehow turn those people into a threat to be exterminated. If you can’t or won’t engage in difficult conversations about complex issues, you turn words into monsters:
• Illegals. • CRT. • Plandemic. • The jab. • Groomers. • Woke.
“Turn on any Fox News show monologue, read any Right-wing hack news outlet, visit any MAGA influencer’s TikTok page, or sample any Republican politician’s social media account,” he wrote, “and you’ll find their latest ubiquitous boogeyman: ‘wokeness.’ They clumsily shoehorn the word into every televised conversation, every incendiary think piece, every pearl-clutching press conference. This tactic is designed to terrify their constituents, stir-up panic in the easily-manipulated, and to misdirect their from the reality that they have no actual platform outside of opposition to progress, resistance to diversity, aversion to equity, and evasion of justice.” Pavlovitz wants to help conservatives understand what “woke” means, since they have no real grasp on the meaning of the terms they throw around all the time.
• It’s woke to want fair elections. • It’s woke to want accurate American history taught to children. • It’s woke to believe LGBTQ+ human beings deserve to be acknowledged. • It’s woke to be anti-racist. • It’s woke to be anti-fascist. • It’s woke to trust Science. • It’s woke to wear a mask in a pandemic. • It’s woke to be the parent of a bullied child. • It’s woke to want to be addressed with the gender you identify with. • It’s woke to want a less-polluted community.
• Anything that brings equity gets this label from the Right because inequity is its only goal.
Republicans traffic in words like “woke” because those words require no quantifiable data, no measure objective reality, no definable parameters for their base. They are simply magical incantations that conjure up terror in the minds of a generation of uninformed people who have lost the ability to think critically and who desperately need someone to ratify their prejudices and give credence to their blind hatred of difference.
Watching Conservative America’s histrionics about the Woke Mob’s swiftly-advancing threat, I am greatly encouraged because I see how terrified they are. It tells me that they sense the arc of the moral universe bending toward justice, they see the progress on the horizon of history, they feel the demographics here moving toward a place where they will soon be the minority.
And woke will win because woke is simply the empathy that makes human beings human.
Yes, the Woke Mob is coming for them: the disparate, sprawling army of human beings who know that diversity makes us better, that compassion is the better path, that more voices make a sweeter sound, that everyone should gave the chance to have joy in this life.
And the bigots and the hate-preachers and the supremacists are right to be afraid of us because we in our “wokeness” are going to make sure that they do not have the final word here.
Kindness is woke. Compassion is woke. Generosity is woke, Love is woke.
At the heart of it all, to those who traffic in this latest war cry, to be woke is to be deeply human.
And that humanity will be the foe they cannot defeat and are right to fear.
Woke will win.
