It's not "racially gated," lol. It's a word that was popularized and primarily used by black activists, just like how "bikeshed" as a verb was invented by and mainly used by software engineers.
"Woke" was a word invented by black activists in the context of civil rights activism and is now being used disparagingly by people who are against modern forms of progressive activism. (I didn't use the word "white" once in the comments you're replying to, and you can CTRL+F me on that.)
I also think it's telling that a lot of people like to die on the hill of "retarded used to be a clinical term!" but far fewer people are willing to die on the hill of "mongoloid used to be a clinical term!", despite both being true in roughly the same context.
> There are a lot of words that were utterly benign a few decades ago and now are capital offences.
It's funny, I can't think of one. I think that might have to do with a difference in what the existentialists would call facticity.
> Turning this into a racial grievance is incredible, really, and is very woke in the sense that PG is citing. The overwhelming use of woke as a pejorative is targeting whites, particularly the endless offended "ally" sort. And of course, in no universe are females a minority if that is your argument (51.1% of the US). And I mean, worldwide white males are one of the smallest minorities, yet somehow they are the target of almost all actions and rhetoric.
I think this is one of the divides -- so in the interest of open conversation: As you see it, it's probably true that woke is referring to some imagined pink haired middle manager, living in Seattle or Portland, who is really into land acknowledgments.
But when I look at the broader right-wing ecosystem, that's not what it means. Woke is when a city like Baltimore has a black mayor. Woke is when the fire department is headed by a lesbian. Woke is when female video game characters don't have a large enough cup size. Woke is when activists suggest that maybe we have a negative police culture in America. Woke is when there are too many POC in a given incoming college class.
And it's not surprising that people would be against that definition.
Dwarf, midget, retarded, idiot, oriental, cripple, gypsy are just a start. Facticity doesn't actually seem to be on your side.
>As you see it
Woke to me is when people are doing performative moralizing that benefits absolutely no one, all to achieve moral supremacy, and often to the ends of white shame (only ever targeting whites, particularly white males). The "cargo cult" article that might still be on the front page is the perfect example.
It's is absolutely true that there are right wing groups that think a woman existing in media is "woke". A woman not having adequately large breasts in a video game is "woke". But on the flip side, there was a "woke" push that meant that every lead character everywhere had to be female, even better a minority female, even better a lesbian minority female, maybe with a handicap. Every commercial had to feature a mixed race or same sex couple, etc. When that becomes obvious and apparent to everyone, people do naturally start to suspect and see ghosts everywhere. It is an incredibly obvious outcome of pushing something to the points of parody.
> Dwarf, midget, retarded, idiot, oriental, cripple, gypsy are just a start. Facticity doesn't actually seem to be on your side.
That's not quite what facticity means in the existential sense. It's a reference to "intractable conditions of human existence", or those things about yourself that you're born into and cannot change, like race, class, gender. They shape your worldview and position in life. Existentialists account for this because the rest of the philosophy is concerned with what one can do for themselves, for society, through their own actions. Anyways, case in point: of the words you've listed, they were quite literally all offensive to someone before the 80s and 90s. You just weren't privy to the cultures where that was the case. Leftist politics haven't actually changed that much, its just gotten massively more popular as our societal conditions have declined and the percentage of minorities increase. In a way, the rise of "woke" is a response in the dialectical sense.
> But on the flip side, there was a "woke" push that meant that every lead character everywhere had to be female, even better a minority female, even better a lesbian minority female, maybe with a handicap. Every commercial had to feature a mixed race or same sex couple, etc. When that becomes obvious and apparent to everyone, people do naturally start to suspect and see ghosts everywhere.
There was never a point in time where every commercial or every lead character was female, or a minority, or whatever else. It's simply that more are now than was the case in the 80s or 90s or whenever you feel that things were better. The question is: why does that matter? If there is a conspiracy, how does it affect you? What are you actually taking offense to? Any time I dig into this with people who hold your positions, I can never get to something substantive that doesn't essentially boil down to wanting to see less representation.. to no apparent end.
It's not "racially gated," lol. It's a word that was popularized and primarily used by black activists, just like how "bikeshed" as a verb was invented by and mainly used by software engineers.
[flagged]
> Did I misunderstand?
Yes, and perhaps deliberately so, lol.
"Woke" was a word invented by black activists in the context of civil rights activism and is now being used disparagingly by people who are against modern forms of progressive activism. (I didn't use the word "white" once in the comments you're replying to, and you can CTRL+F me on that.)
I also think it's telling that a lot of people like to die on the hill of "retarded used to be a clinical term!" but far fewer people are willing to die on the hill of "mongoloid used to be a clinical term!", despite both being true in roughly the same context.
1 reply →
> like how "bikeshed" as a verb was invented by and mainly used by software engineers
How dare you occupationally gate this term! (if it's not clear /s)
[flagged]
2 replies →
> There are a lot of words that were utterly benign a few decades ago and now are capital offences.
It's funny, I can't think of one. I think that might have to do with a difference in what the existentialists would call facticity.
> Turning this into a racial grievance is incredible, really, and is very woke in the sense that PG is citing. The overwhelming use of woke as a pejorative is targeting whites, particularly the endless offended "ally" sort. And of course, in no universe are females a minority if that is your argument (51.1% of the US). And I mean, worldwide white males are one of the smallest minorities, yet somehow they are the target of almost all actions and rhetoric.
I think this is one of the divides -- so in the interest of open conversation: As you see it, it's probably true that woke is referring to some imagined pink haired middle manager, living in Seattle or Portland, who is really into land acknowledgments.
But when I look at the broader right-wing ecosystem, that's not what it means. Woke is when a city like Baltimore has a black mayor. Woke is when the fire department is headed by a lesbian. Woke is when female video game characters don't have a large enough cup size. Woke is when activists suggest that maybe we have a negative police culture in America. Woke is when there are too many POC in a given incoming college class.
And it's not surprising that people would be against that definition.
>It's funny, I can't think of one.
Dwarf, midget, retarded, idiot, oriental, cripple, gypsy are just a start. Facticity doesn't actually seem to be on your side.
>As you see it
Woke to me is when people are doing performative moralizing that benefits absolutely no one, all to achieve moral supremacy, and often to the ends of white shame (only ever targeting whites, particularly white males). The "cargo cult" article that might still be on the front page is the perfect example.
It's is absolutely true that there are right wing groups that think a woman existing in media is "woke". A woman not having adequately large breasts in a video game is "woke". But on the flip side, there was a "woke" push that meant that every lead character everywhere had to be female, even better a minority female, even better a lesbian minority female, maybe with a handicap. Every commercial had to feature a mixed race or same sex couple, etc. When that becomes obvious and apparent to everyone, people do naturally start to suspect and see ghosts everywhere. It is an incredibly obvious outcome of pushing something to the points of parody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev373c7wSRg
> Dwarf, midget, retarded, idiot, oriental, cripple, gypsy are just a start. Facticity doesn't actually seem to be on your side.
That's not quite what facticity means in the existential sense. It's a reference to "intractable conditions of human existence", or those things about yourself that you're born into and cannot change, like race, class, gender. They shape your worldview and position in life. Existentialists account for this because the rest of the philosophy is concerned with what one can do for themselves, for society, through their own actions. Anyways, case in point: of the words you've listed, they were quite literally all offensive to someone before the 80s and 90s. You just weren't privy to the cultures where that was the case. Leftist politics haven't actually changed that much, its just gotten massively more popular as our societal conditions have declined and the percentage of minorities increase. In a way, the rise of "woke" is a response in the dialectical sense.
> But on the flip side, there was a "woke" push that meant that every lead character everywhere had to be female, even better a minority female, even better a lesbian minority female, maybe with a handicap. Every commercial had to feature a mixed race or same sex couple, etc. When that becomes obvious and apparent to everyone, people do naturally start to suspect and see ghosts everywhere.
There was never a point in time where every commercial or every lead character was female, or a minority, or whatever else. It's simply that more are now than was the case in the 80s or 90s or whenever you feel that things were better. The question is: why does that matter? If there is a conspiracy, how does it affect you? What are you actually taking offense to? Any time I dig into this with people who hold your positions, I can never get to something substantive that doesn't essentially boil down to wanting to see less representation.. to no apparent end.
10 replies →