The difference between progressives and the "woke"

 So, the term "progressive" gets thrown around pretty loosely these days, but there is ultimately  a difference between being progressive and being "woke."

Being progressive just means youre for  progress.  What's "progress", I'd define it as a state of gradually improving life for people over a previous state of being. Every generation needs to grapple with its social institutions and laws and being progressive is about changing laws to move in positive directions that improve life for people. 

Woke people are a specific kind of progressive. They hyperfixate on identity and critical theory issues, trying to specifically improve things within the realm of social issues for "underprivileged" races, genders,  and sexualities. 

However, I would say being progressive isnt the same thing as being woke. You can be progressive without being woke.  Doing so just means you tend to have a different metric of progress than "woke" people do.  This is what I basically am. I'm a more traditional modernist "progressive" with a more old school focus on what improves human life. My ideal of progress is different than a "woke" person's. Woke  people tend to reject modernism. They are POSTMODERN, believing that the modern is defined too much by white europeans and how we need to listen to people of other cultures. I may, in many instances, define those "other cultures" as regressive as many of them have roots in primativism, traditionalism, religion, and authoritarianism. They might also, at their core, reject the liberal idea of social equality, and it baffles me that "woke" people will defend that stuff.  Case in point, those guys defending Islam so much. 

For me, my idea of progress is tied to liberal democracy. Social  equality is part of that, but only the more moderate liberal approach that focuses  on legality. I have no intention of really untangling all  of their privilege  driven crap in practice or championing those social causes in more than mild ways compatible with my own ideology. 

I also think that economic progress  entails  improving life for everyone and doing it in ways that helps everyone. Woke people are literally only interested in improving life for  certain  people. Take their call  for reparations, a policy specifically targetted at descendants  of former slaves, whereas I want UBI, a policy that helps EVERYONE.

But yeah. Woke people are a form of progressive, but they're just one form of progressive in the umbrella of progressivism. They have one definition of what progressivism looks like and that doesnt necessarily align with other versions of progressivism.