To hate the term woke?

[lowgreyclouds]

I was reading a thread about a netball sponsorship debacle and someone posted an awesome tweet about people using the term "woke".

'Explain what you mean by Woke & then we can have the conversation'. Incredibly put by RakieAyola
This should be the response to every commentator, Journalist & MP who've become far too comfortable throwing the Term 'Woke' into every one of their dog whistle opinions

Does anyone else hate the term too? I only ever hear it used negatively on SM.

People who use it, used to say 'I'm not racist, but.....' or 'I'm not homophobic, but....'

Perhaps the reason this concept keeps coming up with different labels is because it's labelling something significant?
I would once have described myself as "woke", had that term existed when I was younger, and assumed anyone with concerns was simply a misinformed or narrow minded. I certainly sided with the "Politically Correct"
With adult eyes I realise people who want to "fix" the world by applying authoritarian control on language and public discourse are walking a dangerous path.
The scales fell from my eyes when I realised Political Correctness was mostly two groups of white(x) people arguing about what to call black(x) people because black people still weren't at the table to speak for themselves.
There is a trap "good" people fall into. With the best reasons, they want to stand up for a group they believe is being treated unfairly. They learn what the "right" things to say to support that group are. They adopt that group's enemies as their enemies. They lobby, they shout, maybe even fight, on their behalf. They feel anger, possibly even hatred, on behalf of the group - perhaps even more than people in that the group themselves because it's a "pure" emotion, unsullied by having to live with the actual challenges that are the reality for the group they are championing.
The trap is this: You can fight for someone but you can't compromise on their behalf. To compromise for someone without their permission is to betray them. And you can't evolve your position with experience and nuance, because you are not in reality living it to learn from.
So the more allies step out and take on the flight, the more they crystalise the divisions and the more they take away the power of the people they are fighting for to find their own resolution.
(x) or able-bodied/disabled people, or straight/gay people, or male/female people....

My stepfather has a deep relish for calling me woke because I don't like racism and feel that people should live equally.
I'm sure as a devout Tory he'll be absolutely reeling that we have a Hindu man now running the country.

Most knows what it means. [A form of communism, and no I will not debate that ad infinitum either]. And for anyone who genuinely dont, well, there is always the internet to inform you and educate you.

Reminds me of when Brexiteers had to say for 5 years or more why they wanted Brexit.

Interesting though that you use the term 'dog whistle' and 'woke'. Lately some of those who would class themselves as 'woke' on some topics use the term 'dog whistle' to shut down discussion.

Very well said. The purity part is important, and some of the people with the social "conscience" are definitely in it for the raging... the free pass to be hateful to "haters".

Agree with all this. Definitely the new "PC gawn mad!"

Same here.

True

Once your eyes are opened to "wokeness" though, it doesn't half wind you up.

That question was a barely veiled racist dig and Rakie Ayola responded absolutely brilliantly.

So you’ve just proved that posters point then

you're a bigot hence use the term

It seems to be used as a descriptor for the more ridiculous excesses of various aspects of the current social justice movement/obsession. Meanings change, it used to be word that was embraced by such types, but now has more negative connotations. I don't think it's use is necessarily indicative of a "bigot" or "racist". Some of the demands around SJ are absolutely ludicrous. It's ok to scorn them and make them look as silly, unrealistic and often "bigoted" in themselves, as they are imvho.

I definitely recommend asking someone what they mean by something youre not comfortable with. Most of them will come unstuck, either too much of a wuss to admit they're being insulting or admit they're using it because they saw it somewhere.

I'm coming at this from a different angle.........
I'm an absolute pedant when it comes to words and language.
(To be clear - I agree with PPs who hate the sneering way it is used similar to a "political correctness gone mad" insult. And the use of "woke" to describe people who care about social justice, to put it too simplistically, has been around for far longer than I realised).
But for me, "woke" is the past tense of "wake".
And I can't get past that!
I love language, and I cringe now when I hear the word used in the context we are discussing, because linguistically it just sounds all wrong, clumsy, manufactured, trying-too-hard, etc, etc....😩

Couldn't agree more with this. I get mildly irritated by the ubiquity of the mixed race family. It smacks of tokenism. And it's certainly not because I'm a closet racist, I'm part of a mixed-race family myself.

My peak was The Telegraph saying Strictly Come Dancing was "woke" because they had disabled people and same sex couples.🙄

How ironic.

It pisses me off when people use woke to cover up their obviously racist or homophobic agendas - but it also pisses me off that people cannot say anything without being called racist or homophobic even if they are stating facts. For example ethnic minorities and gay people have become over represented on tv - that's not being racist or homophobic it's a fact. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gays-and-ethnic-minorities-over-represented-on-tv-n7xcqftgz. But to me if you're woke then you're going to call someone homophobic or racist for saying that - because facts are irrelevant to (my definition of) woke people.

To me it also means virtue signalling without anything really changing on a deeper level. So for example a huge supermarket using black people in their advert because they think it's going to look good after BLM - but if you look at the people working for them then the board of directors are all white men, the next level down are a mix of white men and women and the only black people working for them are cleaners and check out staff, with no care or intention to change that.

@FlirtsWithRhinos I couldn’t agree with you more. I have in the past tried to communicate exactly what you have written but I was not as eloquent as you. Very well said.

Calling people names is the least effective way to change hearts and minds.

What is ironic now?

So using 'woke' is not okay but using 'dog whistle' opinions in the same sentence is okay.

i hate what it stands for, basically obey or else

I think people self-refer as woke? And yes they annoy me as they're usually impossible to have balanced conversations with.