AIBU to wonder why people use the term "Woke" as an insult?

[Canada4321]

What is the problem with being woke?

One of the worst things about it being co-opted as an insult is that it originated in AAVE in exactly one of the communities where it has the most importance.

As PP have said, when used scornfully it is a useful shibboleth to alert you to a certain kind of person.

@Lubeyboobyalt

Woke as an insult... it's the new 'oh it's PC gone maaaad' crew

People who can't handle taking 2 minutes to understand something so as not to hurt other people and preferring to stay in their comfort zone. Ignorant, fragile luddites.

It really, really, really isn't. Anyone who thinks that isn't actually aware of what is going on right now. Just this week a whole group of people, mainly with BLM in their profiles mounted a campaign to get a black actress fired because she posted about protecting women's sports on her Instagram. We recently had a woman in the UK lose her dance company because she expected the biologically male and female dancers to dance in their respective male and female parts of the dance they were hired to dance in.

It's become a massive, massive outlet for bullies to hound people out of their place in life because you disagree with them. My extremely abusive, (emotionally, financially, physically) ex-husband is currently a darling of the woke. He leads campaigns against wrong-thinkers all the time, often for 'feminist' causes and has many thousands of followers cheering him on. And all the while he is a nasty, misogynist abuser who has just found a new outlet to direct his abuse now that he doesn't have me. Except this time, society is so fucking moronic and devoid of critical thinking that he gets literally cheered on while he does it.

I don't think I am dickhead or a twat but I probably would think "wanky wokery" if I read about there being 125 genders or someone identifying as a cat and needing to be taken seriously. I am perfectly able to distinguish between genuine understanding of different races / sexuality / culture etc and of being respectful of such. But I am not going to participate in this Emporors New Clothes crap that is going on at the edges and the "woke" camplaigners aren't doing themselves or anyone else any favours by doing so.

I remember when the term 'do gooder' was an insult.

DesOP and anyone who still doesn't know why 'woke' is so hated as a word by so many now get over to the feminism threads and then you may understand. It used to mean awake to injustice which was good but no longer. There is a current thread rightly slating M and S for allowing in the name of being woke a man to review their period pants as so comfortable and absorbing when he wears them to ejaculate into. By being woke you are allowing companies, schools, shops, hospitals etc. to trample all over women and their rights. How can you be so naive.

Because most “woke” people can’t agree to disagree with you. You’re either with them or against them. There are not up for a debate/compromise, they’re just interested in you agreeing with their truth.

“Woke” usually means “I’ve read something (usually on the internet) and I haven’t done any research to see if it’s actually true, but I’ll defend it with all I have”

Because its a silly word for just being tolerant and accepting

Because it's been colonised and had it's use twisted. It started off as a term for recognising structural and cultural racism. It has now been applied to everything on the far left seen as an injustice.
Some like disability rights people are on board with.
Some like men in women's prisons, refuge and sports less so.

It's also come associated with virtue signalling, people who splash how much they 'care' on social media who do nothing to address said injustice on a structural level, who just use it as an excuse to police language or bully people into their way of thinking, often whilst ignoring the voices of the actual people they supposedly champion. Minorities, women, lgb, working class.

@DuckyNoMates

Because its a silly word for just being tolerant and accepting

Although the woke are only tolerant and accepting of the approved list. No one else. They're not very tolerant or accepting at all really. And at the worst end of it, quite vindictive, spiteful and dangerous (yes those who try to destroy people's lives by hounding them out of their jobs / destroying their reputations / issuing threats. The very worst of the woke)

So tolerant and accepting that we just lie down and let people walk all over us eh. FGS do you not see how this is eroding women's rights and we are letting it happen. Wake up to that!

Just this week a whole group of people, mainly with BLM in their profiles mounted a campaign to get a black actress fired because she posted about protecting women's sports on her Instagram.

So supporting BLM means you must never, ever disagree with a black individual?

I love the fact that this thread has proved exactly why woke us being used as an insult now and is a far cry from its original origins.
Apart from the excellent comments about the trans issue every single person defending the term is insulting and disparaging others, labelling others and generally being sanctimonious and judgemental. All while proclaiming themselves the kind, tolerant, enlightened ones.

I pay no attention to the madness and carry on as usual. I let the virtuous fight it out among themselves.

@DuckyNoMates

Because its a silly word for just being tolerant and accepting

Ha ha ha, the people it is mostly used to describe are anything but tolerant and accepting!

They may be for anyone connected to the causes they are championing, but while they dish out the rape/death threats and indulge in the mob with pitchforks mentality against anyone that disagrees with them, there is no way they can be described as tolerant and accepting

I use it as an insult

The tedious humourless oh so virtuous woke are excruciating to be around

I try not to use it as an insult to be honest because
A) I understand its origins and don't want to be disrespectful
B) Am trying not to resort to insults. Kind of think my argument should stand without them.

It is hard though. I used to be very much team woke until recently when I realised that losing the nuance and ability to communicate harms people, but my old woke methods of self righteousness take some quashing. I have to actively try not to polarise but think it generally will make me more tolerant in the long run so I persist.

You say using woke as an insult - What meaning does woke have other than an insult?

Is it using woke as an insult, meaning woke has a different interpretation or is it that woke is an insult and refers to people who jump on the latest 'cool' thing and shout loudly then quietly hop off and on to the next 'cool' (and often contradictory) thing not because they genuinely hold these beliefs but because they want to be seen to be right on and popular.

For me it’s a word that signifies people who jump on a bandwagon to virtue signal rather than actually thinking about the issue itself.
So woke could be, for example, a straight man or woman, coin Twitter to support trans women competing in womens sport aka Lia Thomas, without really thinking about whether in that case it’s actually appropriate and thinking about the consequences for women sport as a whole.

It’s quite a helpful wanker detector.

@DuckyNoMates

Because its a silly word for just being tolerant and accepting

That’s an awful smug way to describe it. Self described woke people are often the least tolerant and accepting of anything outside their ticklist of prescribed matras. Agressive bullying/ lobbying by woke warriors is why we have a large man winning womens swimming races, male sex offenders in womens prisons and young confused women having their breasts cut off/ losing their fertility.

To me it includes people like a friend of mine who agreed with a fb post about Lia Thomas that said as her testosterone level was no higher than it should be in the day of the race, it was all fine and fair. Absolutely no awareness of the male puberty issue or any of the many other nuances of that case. But she perceives herself as very 'woke' and is sneery to those that hold a different view.

@WomanStanleyWoman

Just this week a whole group of people, mainly with BLM in their profiles mounted a campaign to get a black actress fired because she posted about protecting women's sports on her Instagram.

So supporting BLM means you must never, ever disagree with a black individual?

It's gone beyond mere disagreement when a bunch of virtue signalling piranhas are launching a campaign to remove a woman's job for the 'crime' of 'wrong think'.

But whatever you think about that, it’s got bugger all to do with her race.

The Libs Of Tik Tok Twitter feed is my favourite place to take the piss out of the woke

twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1506359042838446083?s=21

Libs of TikTok is very disturbing. Although a useful glimpse into the mindset of some of these people. Why anyone would want to align themselves with the woke, and adopt their required narcissistic spiteful behaviours, I do not know. Unless of course, that narcissistic spite is one of their personality traits and now they have found their tribe. (until the tribe turns on them that is)