Things suddenly designated "woke"

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https://youtu.be/rK_5cJpM06k

"Woke" seems to have become the "Red Pill" of the Ultra-Left -- at least according to some of my neo-con acquaintances.

Sadly, the neo-cons' version of "woke" seems to go beyond self-awareness and self-correction, veering off into just about every conspiracy theory involving "librulz" you can imagine -- and maybe a few that would surprise you.

The big question is when did an (originally) African-American term for being self-aware of your oppression in the US become appropriated by the neo-cpns and turned into a pejorative?

The answer is nobody knows? there was a collective push by the republican party against critical race theory. which led to the three seminal events that are worth mentioning historically
1,At the 2020 Republican National Convention in August, right-wing Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) scolded “woketopians,” grouping them together with socialists and Biden supporters, as though the definition of a “woketopian” was self-evident.
2. Former President Donald Trump stated in 2021 that the Biden administration was "destroying" the country "with woke",
3.The 2022 Stop WOKE Act, a law that limits discussion of racism in Florida schools. A program of eliminating books by LGBT and black authors from schools was conducted by the Florida government and by vigilantes calling themselves "woke busters.

The anti-trans movement has taken a life of its own. Republicans obsessed under the guise of their children's safety from critical race theory, LGBTQI books, shared toilets/bathrooms.

But it leave us with the question where did this all begin? was it social media feed on right wing reddit sites? 4Chan? Foxe News? was this all linked to the rise of QAnon?

Bethany Mandel's treatment may appear unfair but that's how public debates work. Whether it be a presidential debate or some random homeless person standing on a soapbox in the central business district, people judge you on your public performance.

In any case she knew after the interview she stuffed up. She told her children that this was a teachable moment. She has subsequently come forward with a short definition of Woke here it is....

a radical belief system[ suggesting that our institutions are built around discrimination, and claiming that all disparity is a result of that discrimination. It seeks a radical redefinition of society in which equality of group result is the end point, enforced by an angry mob.

The problem with this definition is that it lacks being operational (and I suspect Bethany knows this)
1.It is not radical to acknowledge there is systemic and systematic discrimination within institutions. There is an intellectual basis for it (its not based on opinion which is what the definition alludes to)
2. institutional discrimination is not a belief - there is literally thousands of scholarly works that demonstrate/provide evidence for its existence
3. the definition does not distinguish which institutions and whether some are worse > others? For example the US police are notorious for historic systemic discrimination (no amount of mental gymnastics from Mandel will change that), many institutions openly admit/acknowledge discrimination e,g, education and health systems and that dealing with the vestiges of that is ongoing process. Every single taxpayer funded institution in the US was built on discrimination. Mandel's definition a, deliberately ignore historical precedence and b, carries its own belief system that discrimination does not exist now
4, The endgame of the wokemob is a radical redefinition of society - this assumes that those who seek to address equality are part of a monolith which classic conservative US values invokes communism. This is perhaps the biggest lie. Those who Mandel label as "woke" are active participants in the US social experiment of neo-capitalism. They have no intention to radically re-define society. They represent single issue campaigns.

The vast majority are one-issue driven (for example climate activism has many socially conservative supporters who otherwise have no interest in oppression or social justice). The majority of African Americans who fight police brutality are socially conservative and are against gay rights or trans rights. Many who fight for the disabled community and want change in the public discourse of disability are again one issue groups who have otherwise normal mainstream views that don't fall into Mandel's monolithic belief system.

5. Mandel uses the angry to caricature this mythical woke mob. I am sure she will draw on BLM, Antifa or climate activism as proof. While there are "angry mobs" are they a. representative of the wider left wing population? and b. is destruction of public property or terrorising the vulnerable the domain of the left? according to the FBI right wing groups represent the biggest terror threat in the US. If you are gay or black then there are large tracts of the US which are dangerous to travel. Lots of angry white folks in middle america (we saw them as "angry" and in a mob on Jan 6).

All this demonstrates is that anti-wokeness is a fluid and developing concept that lacks intellectual rigor. Anti-wokess is ultimately about resisting change.

I think it's worth reminding people that "woke," along with other slang words, is misused AAVE.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/woke

Definitions 2 and 3 are what I'm specifically focusing on here. This word has been used in this context for decades, one of the earliest uses being in the 1960s. Many "hurr durr gen Z" words are misused AAVE terms as well.

^^^
Yes that's why I was sifting through when the historic appropriation of AAVE "woke" took place and couldn't find a single point where it became a pejorative (on social media the success of it's appropriation is in how many younger African Americans use the term "woke" in a pejorative sense meaning the cultural appropriation of the word from it's AAVE roots is almost complete).

In 2020 Matt Gaetz used the term to claim those on the left wanting to radically redfine society (at that time critical race theory had become a major election issue) had an endgame to create a "woketopia". But actually rumblings had long taken place. Universities had long been labelled "hotbeds" of socialism but Hollywood and the media also started getting labelled with the same brush. For example when the movie the Hunger games was released at the box office in 2012 there was massive shock at the online backlash against diversity casting although I can't actually recall the use of the word "woke" at that time.

People have the right to resist change when they never asked for it to begin with.

Being "woke" is to be anything other than ableist, ageist, classist, racist, sexist, or xenophobic.

Who defines this?

The ableists, ageists, classists, racists, sexists, and xenophobes.

Funny that you mention ageist considering how many "woke" gen z kids hate boomers and millenials and call them evil. I want you to stop and think about the irony in that for a second instead of being snarky for once.

Yeah well it's not just about resisting change. it's also about hiding/re-writing history. A significant number of US states have outlawed teaching of race or gender. The laws are purported to be on behalf of the state voters but according to academics are designed to restrict knowledge about US history.

Harvard historian Donald Yacovone has demonstrated how textbooks in the US have been designed to teach white supremacy
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/ ... supremacy/

According to Yacovone “White supremacy is a toxin. The older history textbooks were like syringes that injected the toxin of white supremacy into the mind of many generations of Americans.”

So the current move to outlaw teaching of new research into race or gender in the US is specifically designed to maintain the status quo. It's political in its motives and is designed to hide America's true foundations.
It's literally the foundation stones on which the US nation was built.

Last edited by cyberdad on 25 Dec 2023, 1:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

... Even if the change being called for is an end to something truly evil?

The house of cards that is the anti-woke movement is getting more and more flimsy
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67706835

Brigette Zeigler who leads "moms for Liberty" fighting for teaching conservative family values in schools was caught in a sex scandal
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-mom ... al-2023-12

Define good and evil.

Depends what the change is. If it's towards a fairer society, they probably don't have a right to resist it. To the extent that the "woke" thing is about recognising institutional unfairness with a view to putting it straight, anti-wokeness isn't a right.

My thoughts.

I don't know if woke is good or bad, but anyone who feels threatened by it has their own problem to deal with.

You can either get on with people or not. Or choose not to. Your decision.

I am white. I feel neither proud nor ashamed of that. I feel no pride or guilt over being white. It's not a personal accomplishment. However, any white person who denies white privilege is intellectually stunted. They'll be OK though, because white privilege.

I was going to say where I'd be today were it not for white privilege, assuming I were here at all. But decided it might not be safe.

Changes that are in line with historical trends are legitimate and those that pursue equality. Opposition to change is bound to exist, and it will gradually become smaller over a large period of time. Radical reforms are harmful, moderate reforms are correct, moderate conservatism is foolish, and radical conservatism is evil. Whether you support reform depends on what you get from the existing system, and whether you win depends on whether this system is recognized by the majority of people.