I almost feel bad for them. Even though I know it's a valuable lesson that they need to learn sooner rather than later, every time I see a well-intentioned – even if not critically thinking – individual attempt to espouse a woke-approved position publicly, only to be bludgeoned for being insufficiently woke, I just want to pick them up, dust them off, and tell them there's such a better way to live.
The latest example – and they tend to be accumulating daily now – is singer Matthew Smith from the artist collective "Indelible Grace." The group's mission is to write new melodies to set to the lyrics of old hymns, making those timeless words and rich doctrine palatable to a new generation. Matthew himself apparently has his own personal mission to receive the applause of men by desperately appealing to the spirit of the age.
This became self-evident a few days ago when he wrote what he likely hoped would be a viral indictment of those on the cultural/political right who dared use the word "woke" in a pejorative sense.
Those are the hopeful words of an inexperienced man who has apparently spent very little time observing this movement unfold. You can never be woke enough. It's impossible and there's no sense in trying.
His effort was commendable by the standards of our modern race narrative. He was "punching right" and was making a valiant attempt to demonize and malign anyone who dared question the unimpeachable value and wholeness of being woke.
But he made one critical error in typing that tweet. He never paused to look at the skin tone of his hands as he was feverishly punching the keys. As a consequence, he never saw it coming:
Once this response had been offered, there was only one reasonable reaction for anyone wanting to maintain a shred of dignity and credibility within the world of the woke. He needed to delete the original tweet, buy a couple copies of How to be an Anti-Racist, voluntarily sign up for racial sensitivity training, and hide away from his keyboard for a few weeks until the PC vultures had found another hapless carcass to devour.
But Matthew is apparently new to this world, and thus attempted to defend his honor, blissfully unaware that participation in the games of society's neo-racists debases you and deprives you of any honor.
I must admit that at this point, I was fully invested. I found the promise of what was to come almost as enticing and enthralling as watching Independence Day in the theater when Will Smith gets in a jet to fly solo into the hornet's nest of angry aliens.
This poor, sweet child. I grab a Snickers at this point, glued to the screen futilely screaming at Matthew, "Abort! Abort! Get yourself out of there!" But it was too late. The other UFOs had found our daring Will Smith and were closing in fast.
Matthew tried to offer a conciliatory redirect.
STOP. TYPING. MAN.
Greg quickly rushed in to try to help.
Truthfully, at this point I lost interest mainly because Matthew had five or six other argument threads going that had spun off from his original tweet – nothing had gone the way he had hoped it would go, the suspense was gone, and the rout was on.
It's a mystery how doe-eyed progressives like Matthew don't yet realize this is how it will always end. As much as they may want to believe it is an act of grace to appeal to neo-racists in some prostrating, self-degrading, penitent manner that shows you are better than all the whites who won't do the same, it's not. It's fueling neo-racism, and it's willfully denying grace to others you callously accuse and slander in the hopes of scoring brownie points with the in-crowd.
There is a better way. A way where acceptance and justification arrive not through persistent striving and straining to scratch the world's ever-itching ears, but through the free gift of salvation offered to all. Here's to hoping Matthew finds that better way in some of those old hymns.
