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Original poster

Why does 'wokeness' annoy people so much?

999 replies

twwindow · 27/12/2021 20:18

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'.

OP posts:
littlepeas · 27/12/2021 22:21

Older people are not all bigots ffs. There are just as many tolerant, intelligent older people as there are younger people and they have the additional benefits of life experience and wisdom...

I am 'only' 39 and as I approach a big birthday I am very aware of all the things I thought were important in my teens and early twenties that I now view somewhat differently as a person with greater life experience. Most especially related to feminism.

sweetbellyhigh · 27/12/2021 22:23

@VladmirsPoutine

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.
Absolutely this.
HunterHearstHelmsley · 27/12/2021 22:24

For me, gender "wokeness" takes away my sex based rights. It's scummy to pretend you are accepting when willingly maligning another group. I work with some who insists adding her pronouns to her email signature is an easy way to be inclusive. I refuse to allow my sex to be ignored because some fools believe a social construct is more important.

MarieKlepto · 27/12/2021 22:24

It's shouting and shrieking on social media platforms, foaming up about perceived slights, without doing a single useful practical thing about any of it, all to make yourself look good. It's pushing us further apart not closer together. Before this silliness lots of us were challenging prejudice. Race was not an issue, The transgender community were not an issue. I worked in the relevant fields, I campaigned. I didn't think that having a daft statue removed was anywhere near as important as working with the here and now.

bordermidgebite · 27/12/2021 22:27

Did you not see the agism and ignorance expressed earlier?

"young woke people want to fight the injustice of the older generations"

I think if you could fight against all isms that would be fine, and leave our slogans and buzzwords that distract from the message

Instead you are hooked up on the slogan

PlanetNormal · 27/12/2021 22:27

I have enough grey hairs to remember when the political Right was pro-censorship, anti free-speech and obsessed with policing language. Remember Section 28? If you don’t, it was a law passed by Thatcher’s Tories which outlawed ‘the promotion of homosexuality’. This was one of the main reasons I was strongly attracted to the liberal Left, which was pro-equality, anti-censorship & pro-freedom.

Now, it’s 2021 and I’m a lot older, but my basic political views haven’t changed: centre-left on the economy and live & let-live liberal tending toward libertarian on social issues. My problem is that politics has flipped 180 degrees around me. The Left’s fixation with toxic, divisive identity politics have made it pro-censorship, anti free speech and obsessed with policing language while the Right argues for freedom.

How did the Left lose its way so badly?

HunterHearstHelmsley · 27/12/2021 22:28

@VladmirsPoutine

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.
Absolutely not.

It may suit some peoples narrative to believe this. I don't know why they want to believe it. In my experience, the vast majority of white people don't realise there isn't already equality. Most white people have zero issue with other ethnicities, why would they?

However, I was told I was 'bordering on racist" on this site because I was unhappy with my own hair type. That's clearly utterly ridiculous.

JohnHuffam1812 · 27/12/2021 22:28

"I didn't think that having a daft statue removed was anywhere near as important as working with the here and now"

You are aware that the Colston statue has been a subject of debate and controversy in Bristol for a long time now?

The other statues that were removed in the US tended to be put up by groups that supported segregation and black people not having equal rights decades after the civil war for political reasons.

JohnHuffam1812 · 27/12/2021 22:29

"In my experience, the vast majority of white people don't realise there isn't already equality. Most white people have zero issue with other ethnicities, why would they?"

Fuck me that's some white privilege right there.

bordermidgebite · 27/12/2021 22:30

Some people think all white peoples are hateful

And can't see how that is propogating hatred

To be truly woke spread love not hate

JaneJeffer · 27/12/2021 22:30

Old people hate young people trying to challenge order of things, even if it's trying to make positive change.
Read some history and stop being so ridiculous.

Inthesameboatatmo · 27/12/2021 22:30

@Broads93

It seems like the older generations don't like being held accountable for their wrong actions/views on things. "Woke" really isn't an insult, just a sarcastic little dig from the oldies.
That is the biggest load of shit I've ever seen .
WhiteXmas99 · 27/12/2021 22:32

The ones I have met behave like religious fundamentalists.

Believe what I say. Do as I say. Or burn in hell.

bordermidgebite · 27/12/2021 22:32

It may be more accurate to say that older people have learnt that it's a lot harder to change the world and might hope that more might be achieved if the younger generation listened and tried understand what has happened in the past , what worked and what didn't

donquixotedelamancha · 27/12/2021 22:33

Old people hate young people trying to challenge order of things, even if it's trying to make positive change.

That's almost litterally the slogan of Mao's cultural revolution.

RJnomore1 · 27/12/2021 22:35

I worry that woke us now at least partly about removing history and if we forget our mistakes we are doomed to repeat them in one way or another.

donquixotedelamancha · 27/12/2021 22:35

It seems like the older generations don't like being held accountable for their wrong actions/views on things. "Woke" really isn't an insult, just a sarcastic little dig from the oldies.

Yeah, fucking bastard old people. Why can't they see that demonising particular groups of people is wrong?

HunterHearstHelmsley · 27/12/2021 22:36

@JohnHuffam1812

"In my experience, the vast majority of white people don't realise there isn't already equality. Most white people have zero issue with other ethnicities, why would they?"

Fuck me that's some white privilege right there.

Wow.
Interrobanger · 27/12/2021 22:36

Because it’s intellectually lazy and insincere.

JohnHuffam1812 · 27/12/2021 22:36

Do you not get why?

JohnHuffam1812 · 27/12/2021 22:38

"I worry that woke us now at least partly about removing history and if we forget our mistakes we are doomed to repeat them in one way or another."

Which bits of history are being removed?

I think its interesting that how changing values means that history has to be erased. Who is saying it should be? Taking down statues or changing street names is not changing history, we don't record history in statues and street names.

IcedPurple · 27/12/2021 22:39

@Omicrone

Most 'woke' people tend to be the most intolerant people around. If you don't agree with them on absolutely everything then you are a terrible person and you and your impure thoughts need to either be 're-educated' or 'cancelled'.

Its bullshit.

Yes. They demand adherence to their idea of 'ideological purity' even from models, actors or footballers. Or else they'll be 'cancelled'.
JohnHuffam1812 · 27/12/2021 22:41

Its interesting that the people who are accusing the woke of being intollerent on this thread appear to be the least tolerant.

BTW can you name me an actor or artist who has been cancelled because they aren't "woke".

MistletoeHolly · 27/12/2021 22:43

@SlashBeef

It's often very jarring. When I speak to other black or brown people I know the general consensus is that we're a bit weary of it all. The token BAME person being shoe horned into every possible advert, film or TV series reboot for example, becomes a bit patronising.
This ^ it’s mostly white young people (late teens to late twenties) who say this country is racist. The black and Asian people I work with (and I work with a lot) say that they think this is a great country to live in with regards to lack of racism. Of course, they’re are always the odd one or two racist jerks, but no different to there are always the odd one or two Arseh@les that laugh at mentally disabled people. There are bad people everywhere unfortunately, but as a whole we are a very tolerant and inclusive nation. The whole BLM movement is creating more division than solving it, and all because of something that happened in America not here.
MarieKlepto · 27/12/2021 22:45

@JohnHuffam1812 Yes, I certainly was aware and totally get where you are coming from. I just feel that when you are working at ground level though it seems a waste of time, resources and people's energy when so many more basic things need addressed - for all, whoever they are.