Why does 'wokeness' annoy people so much?

[twwindow]

Isn't it just trying to make the world a better place but making people feel accepted no matter their race, gender etc?

It seems to wind some people up so bad - and it's usually those that are part of a majority group that gets wound up most by it (usually white/men) - is it because they feel threatened?

Whenever anyone stands up for a cause they are automatically called woke - and it's now as if it's a bad thing.

It's sad, I see people fed up with 'wokeness' as code for 'we can't get away with our racist, sexist BS anymore as people are calling us out'.

Because I’ve never come across a woke person yet who is genuinely good and kind. It’s a cover for some of the most vicious, vindictive, spiteful and intolerant behaviour I have ever seen.

It's all very well to become awake to racism, and other injustices, but "the woke" are such bloody hypocrites

Eg premier League players "Taking the knee"(despite black players being the most over-represented group in the Premier League) during the world cup, when the latest world cup stadium has been built thanks to modern day slavery.

Impoverished migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal drop dead on the job, and FIFA rakes in the cash. Suddenly the woke are silent on that type of slavery.

Also, with all the woke standing up for "equality" women's equality is the biggest tabboo, and not to be talked about or stood up for fear of offending people with a penis.

@ItsLoisSangersFault

Maybe it would help if people could give me an example of famous woke people.

Emma Watson (also Rupert Grinch and Daniel Radcliffe but they aren't quite as loud about it) and her treatment of JK Rowling.

Wow. This is nuts 😮

Also- do woke people call themselves woke or is that something other people call them?

@LaurieFairyCake

YeH - wokeness doesn't appear to be about fixing structural inequality or poverty

Just virtue signalling on Insta/Facebook/tik Tok/various websites

It's just lazy bullshit

Let's keep it simple

If you didn't vote against Brexit you're a twat
If you don't get vaccinated you're an arsehole (barring disability)
If you try to hound J K Rowling off the internet for being (not at all) transphobic you're a wanker

Oh, the irony.

I have no time for the woke brigade, but left-wing GCs who have to signal that they're not like all those dreadful people who voted or exercised their bodily autonomy in a way the left disapproves of aren't all that much better. I expect writing literally millions of people off as twats and arseholes feels good and righteous, though!

I see it as the same as the #bekind campaign. Used by people who are assholes mostly. It's a fad, it will have its day and then the people following it will be distracted by something shiny.

It’s not the wokeness that irritates people, it’s the fact that a lot of it is so performative. If you look at the people in your life who are truly inclusive and not racist they are rarely the same ones who bang on about it all the time. Also, some groups do use it as a way to degrade other groups.

@BrightYellowDaffodil

Because the people I know who pride themselves on being woke are the ones who are so inclusive they’re utterly intolerant.

This has captured how I feel about it so perfectly - thank you!!

I have an issue with people making a thing out of it. I'm convinced so many people convince themselves of race issues that aren't there.

So the word woke is used in s grammatically incorrect context and that just undoes an argument straight off.

The bit where it is tearing down history, art, and individuals who offend this new religion of insane bullshit really bothers me.

It is mind-fucking anti-truth.

Because the so called woke use that horrible C word even when politely asked not to but expect everyone to say what they want to hear. Fuck that.

It's a real problem now how anyone who cares or acts on something around social injustice is labelled "woke" and summarily dismissed and tarred with all the problematic associations with the term.

As if cancel culture and wokeness are the problems - and not the underlying racism, corruption in our political system, lack of integrity displayed by our government, violence against women and any other number of awful inequalities. It's a convenient way to distract from the issues at hand to dismiss anyone raising them as woke. Similar to how young people and their issues are all dismissed as being "snowflakes".

I hate the terms woke and snowflake. They are horrible in how they are used to shut down conversations.

Yes England football players really were hypocrites, all that kneeling to highlight racism and then when a few black players miss a penalty there is a torrent of racism unleashed online.

Essentially being "woke" is thrown at anyone in order to discredit their attempts to make things better, usually alongside some kind of tu quoque fallacy.

@Circlesandtriangles that's a very good point.

@JaneJeffer

Because the so called woke use that horrible C word even when politely asked not to but expect everyone to say what they want to hear. Fuck that.

I feel really dim. What's the c word?!

All it will do is to make people who aren’t “woke” feel like they have to hide their views and not speak out against certain “woke” ideals that they don’t agree with. It marginalises people and is divisive.

@ItsLoisSangersFault

Thank you *@FactsAreNotMean*

However, it has now become a byword for a particular type of mainly online social justice warrior. They tend to have particular causes which they focus on at the expense of all others - and at the expense of common sense. They are often all about being performative, cancelling people, calling others out, policing language etc rather than actually engaging in meaningful action.

So an online social justice warrior. There is a huge array of people promoting many versions of social justice online. You say they have particular causes they focus on. Which causes are they?

Also, can a person be woke if they're not engaged with online discussion of their views?

To be truly woke you have to let everyone know how very fabulous you are. If you are just having these opinions and not giving other lucky people the benefit of them then your fabulousness is simply wasted.

@ItsLoisSangersFault

Thank you *@FactsAreNotMean*

However, it has now become a byword for a particular type of mainly online social justice warrior. They tend to have particular causes which they focus on at the expense of all others - and at the expense of common sense. They are often all about being performative, cancelling people, calling others out, policing language etc rather than actually engaging in meaningful action.

So an online social justice warrior. There is a huge array of people promoting many versions of social justice online. You say they have particular causes they focus on. Which causes are they?

Also, can a person be woke if they're not engaged with online discussion of their views?

If you are genuinely asking because you are not aware then this isn't the most sensible place to ask because you will only get singular viewpoints and the term is so broad and subjective that specific examples are going to be flawed. What one person considers woke (and it applies to a myriad of issues) another doesn't.

The definition for most is those who leap onto the bandwagon of any issue to attempt to shame others without actually creating change. Being irritated at "woke" for a lot of sensible people is because the damage the actual issues that need support.

You are getting jumped on because you come across that you may be pushing an agenda to get people to say things you will then attempt to disprove. If you are doing that you are doing it very badly.

If you are genuinely asking then you may wish to reword your questions slightly. You may get a better answer by looking at different sources. One forum is not going to be able to explain such a wide term in one thread.

@milkyaqua

You can't tear down history, you can take down a statue and create more history.

Which bits of art or people do you not think should have been reevaluated?

@LaurieFairyCake

YeH - wokeness doesn't appear to be about fixing structural inequality or poverty

Just virtue signalling on Insta/Facebook/tik Tok/various websites

It's just lazy bullshit

Let's keep it simple

If you didn't vote against Brexit you're a twat
If you don't get vaccinated you're an arsehole (barring disability)
If you try to hound J K Rowling off the internet for being (not at all) transphobic you're a wanker

You are part of the problem. You have a right to hold any views you please but reducing anyone you disagree with to a twat, arsehole or wanker is spectacularly unhelpful.

I don't have a problem with people being woke but usually woke people don't allow you to have an opinion, unless it is the same as theirs.

If you don't toe the party line then you are racist, fat shaming, transphobic, or some other "ist"

Hmmm... two threads about drinking, one about six figure salaries and one about wokeness. All in the last couple of days?!

I smell an empty Daily Fail desk.

Some examples of wokeness imo -

• road crossings being painted in rainbow colours for Pride. They are bad for blind people as they confuse guide dogs. Inclusion in this way usually means another group is excluded.

• the police having rainbows on their cars and lanyards to show how inclusive they are. Except the police are so homophobic that they didn’t properly investigate the murders of 4 young gay men and the men’s relatives had to do their job for them.

I have long suspected that whether they are consciously aware of it or not a lot of white people don't truly want racial equality. So rendering words like 'woke' a pejorative is one such crafty technique to ensure that it never happens.