Woke

[Inchy]

Up until a few months ago I’d never even heard of this word, however recently I keep hearing it all the time. It’s usually used as an insult to someone that screams offence for everything.

The definition of woke according to google is “ alert to injustice in society, especially racism”.

I’m no soft tart but if that is the definition of woke then maybe I am woke. I don’t like racism and I believe I am “alert to injustice”.

By definition Is being woke just being a decent person?

[Burnley1989]

Never heard it said in that context

[thatdberight]

Up until a few months ago I’d never even heard of this word, however recently I keep hearing it all the time. It’s usually used as an insult to someone that screams offence for everything.

The definition of woke according to google is “ alert to injustice in society, especially racism”.

I’m no soft tart but if that is the definition of woke then maybe I am woke. I don’t like racism and I believe I am “alert to injustice”.

By definition Is being woke just being a decent person?

Yes. And anyone who uses it pejoratively is literally Hitler.

[CombatClaret]

A new word was needed after the term 'Political Correctness' gained ground and became seen as well... correct.

So 'Woke' is the new term to demonize common decency to legitimise bigotry.

[Bertiebeehead]

White wine and coke.

[CombatClaret]

Itchy if you have 10 minutes I recommend this video on the Alt Right play book is to 'Never Play Defense'

https://youtu.be/wmVkJvieaOA

It includes the need to put people in boxes eg: woke.

"When you say something cogent they don't believe in they need a reason not to listen so they reach for a box to put you in (eg: woke) because no one in those boxes is worth listening to"
Why ask what you believe when they can tell you what you believe and make you correct them. And if you ever don't go to the trouble of correcting them it must be because they are right..."

[thatdberight]

Whereas labelling everything and everyone you disagree with bigots, racists, alt-right is just common sense. That's the difference. That's why we're right and the alt-right, reactionary, racist bigots like Phillip Schofield will never prevail.

[CombatClaret]

Yes. And anyone who uses it pejoratively is literally Hitler.

Whereas labelling everything and everyone you disagree with bigots, racists, alt-right is just common sense. That's the difference. That's why we're right and the alt-right, reactionary, racist bigots like Phillip Schofield will never prevail.

Here's a good example covered in the video about the flow of the conversation and always being on the attack and making you defend your position.

- You give your long detailed thoughts (like OPs post)
- He gives a short quipy response and picks a single point and attacks that as the new subject

He's being acting and making you be reactive which gives impression of 'winning' without actually engaging.

[thatdberight]

Here's a good example covered in the video about the flow of the conversation and always being on the attack and making you defend your position.

- You give your long detailed thoughts (like OPs post)
- He gives a short quipy response and picks a single point and attacks that as the new subject

He's being acting and making you be reactive which gives impression of 'winning' without actually engaging.

Too right.

Now, if you'll forgive me, I've got to go and finalise my plans for National Socialism.

[Damo]

Rather than looking at it's original meaning, it's worth looking into how it became "an insult to someone who screams offence for everything"
As you say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a decent person, who stands up to racism, homophobia and other social injustices. But when people became embroiled in a competition to be seen as more and more woke than the next person, it began to be used as an insult.
Obviously, it's not very insulting to be described as a right minded person, so clearly the people offended by it think the uber liberals are a bit embarrassing too.

The first time I saw it used as anything other than it's original meaning was by a satirical twitter account named 'Godfrey Elfick'
Elfwick posted some fantastic stuff, that seemed to offend both the far left and the far right. But like everything else that offends someone or other on twitter, the account was ultimately silenced

https://www.spiked-online.com/2018/07/2 ... y-elfwick/

[Inchy]

Whereas labelling everything and everyone you disagree with bigots, racists, alt-right is just common sense. That's the difference. That's why we're right and the alt-right, reactionary, racist bigots like Phillip Schofield will never prevail.

Labelling racists and bigots racist and bigoted is fine by me. Remember the vast majority of people are sensible. It’s just that the nutters on both sides (if it is sides) shout the loudest

[Inchy]

Rather than looking at it's original meaning, it's worth looking into how it became "an insult to someone who screams offence for everything"
As you say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a decent person, who stands up to racism, homophobia and other social injustices. But when people became embroiled in a competition to be seen as more and more woke than the next person, it began to be used as an insult.
Obviously, it's not very insulting to be described as a right minded person, so clearly the people offended by it think the uber liberals are a bit embarrassing too.

The first time I saw it used as anything other than it's original meaning was by a satirical twitter account named 'Godfrey Elfick'
Elfwick posted some fantastic stuff, that seemed to offend both the far left and the far right. But like everything else that offends someone or other on twitter, the account was ultimately silenced

https://www.spiked-online.com/2018/07/2 ... y-elfwick/

If people are competing to seem more and more woke clearly woke isn’t the right term for them. Moronic, possibly bigoted, gobsh*te etc are far more apt terms.

It’s a bit like using liberal as an insult. The vast majority of people have liberal views. Even those with right leaning views have liberal views on the majority of things IMO

[thatdberight]

Labelling racists and bigots racist and bigoted is fine by me.

And by me. The only thing to remember is that not everyone has the same definition.

[4:20]

I watched quite an interesting video on the term this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYc12MHqH4

[jojomk1]

At my age, I'm glad I WOKE up this morning still breathing

[Bfcboyo]

Woke
A load of hippy ******** for losers.

[Buxtonclaret]

I once woke up after a hangover.
Have I missed something?

[Bosscat]

Never heard it said in that context

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

[thatdberight]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

Interesting article (although obviously just a wiki).

This bit made me laugh out loud.
"In The New York Times Magazine, Amanda Hess raised concerns that the word has been culturally appropriated, writing, "The conundrum is built in. When white people aspire to get points for consciousness, they walk right into the crosshairs between allyship and appropriation.""

[Burnley1989]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

I’ve no idea why I’ve never heard it used in that context or should I say, aware that it was used

[Bosscat]

I’ve no idea why I’ve never heard it used in that context or should I say, aware that it was used

Snap B1989 I looked it up and thats what it said .... on wikipedia.

I have heard the "woke generation" talked about and didn't have a bloody clue..... now we have to be bloody careful criticising it or we will be classed Racists or something ffs....

What is this world becoming ..

[dsr]

Up until a few months ago I’d never even heard of this word, however recently I keep hearing it all the time. It’s usually used as an insult to someone that screams offence for everything.

The definition of woke according to google is “ alert to injustice in society, especially racism”.

I’m no soft tart but if that is the definition of woke then maybe I am woke. I don’t like racism and I believe I am “alert to injustice”.

By definition Is being woke just being a decent person?

It's used as an insult in cases like Emma Thompson who hired a private jet to fly from Los Angeles to take part in one of the London climate change demos. As an insult, it refers to people who say the "right" things about injustice in society without meaning them. And of course the insult is often directed at people who believe they have all the answers and that all who disagree are wrong; not all the people who disagree with the likes of the newly-awoken, accept that the newly-awoken are 100% infallible.

[Rileybobs]

Is it similar to being a do-gooder?

[thatdberight]

It's used as an insult in cases like Emma Thompson who hired a private jet to fly from Los Angeles to take part in one of the London climate change demos.

To be honest, I wouldn't think (could be wrong) that it would be used as regards climate change other than by climate change 'sceptics' trying to co-opt support.

[Jakubclaret]

Nonsense new word, woke to me just means you are conscious & associated with finishing sleep & getting out of bed awakening.

[thatdberight]

Is it similar to being a do-gooder?

No.

[CrosspoolClarets]

I remember the term started to be used in the Black Lives Matter stuff that Colin Kaepernick got involved in that led to his spat with Trump. In that sense the original African American use of the term is indeed a noble one and one we can agree with, being alert to discrimination or any other kind of social injustice. I agree with Inchy’s OP in that sense.

The problem is that things have been hijacked by two groups. One is the obsessive, usually white, hyper liberal who has an unhealthy streak of paranoia in seeing offence and injustice everywhere. The second is the corporate world who have naively failed to recognise those hyper liberals are in the minority and pitch their whole advertising campaigns in that virtue signalling direction (e.g. Nike with Karpernick).

So when “woke” is used as an insult, it tends to be normal people fighting back against those two groups. I have long since thought that those hyper liberals aren’t doing injustice any favours because it drives away the middle ground people due to its extreme nature. It leads to individuals hurling abuse on Twitter at others, simply for expressing a traditional viewpoint, and it leads to companies acting unfairly such as newsreader Alistair Stewart sacked this week for what many feel was a perfectly reasonable Shakespearean quote.

One things for sure though - the age of peak hyper liberalism is over, hence this fightback Inchy refers to hearing about. Time for normal, decent, tolerant, moderately liberal, democratic Western values again.

[Giftonsnoidea]

Dyche is Yolk

[dsr]

To be honest, I wouldn't think (could be wrong) that it would be used as regards climate change other than by climate change 'sceptics' trying to co-opt support.

It was certainly used at Emma Thompson at the time of that incident. Whether it was intended as a compliment or not, I doubt. It's hard to imagine that her ideas that flying to Los Angeles for a birthday party before flying back (first class) for a protest against flying, would be taken as a positive either by climate change activists or climate change sceptics.

[ClaretMoffitt]

there are two kinds of people in the world.

Good people "woke"

and nazis.

[Bfcboyo]

Is it similar to being a do-gooder?

Is it not just a term for that bunch of no it alls that get really offended on behalf of those who really do not want people to get offended for them.

[Bfcboyo]

I remember the term started to be used in the Black Lives Matter stuff that Colin Kaepernick got involved in that led to his spat with Trump. In that sense the original African American use of the term is indeed a noble one and one we can agree with, being alert to discrimination or any other kind of social injustice. I agree with Inchy’s OP in that sense.

The problem is that things have been hijacked by two groups. One is the obsessive, usually white, hyper liberal who has an unhealthy streak of paranoia in seeing offence and injustice everywhere. The second is the corporate world who have naively failed to recognise those hyper liberals are in the minority and pitch their whole advertising campaigns in that virtue signalling direction (e.g. Nike with Karpernick).

So when “woke” is used as an insult, it tends to be normal people fighting back against those two groups. I have long since thought that those hyper liberals aren’t doing injustice any favours because it drives away the middle ground people due to its extreme nature. It leads to individuals hurling abuse on Twitter at others, simply for expressing a traditional viewpoint, and it leads to companies acting unfairly such as newsreader Alistair Stewart sacked this week for what many feel was a perfectly reasonable Shakespearean quote.

One things for sure though - the age of peak hyper liberalism is over, hence this fightback Inchy refers to hearing about. Time for normal, decent, tolerant, moderately liberal, democratic Western values again.

Come off it talking a load of sense on here.

[tim_noone]

Woke
A load of hippy ******** for losers.

peace and Love man...

[Spiral]

Latest in a long line of phantom enemies for people to swing at. Word has its origins in the US civil rights movement and as mentioned, resurfaced during BLM. Read somewhere that the word was increasingly proliferated online around this time through the enterprise of Russian sock puppet and troll social media accounts (sorry, can't remember the article) as a part of Russia's hybrid war strategy to divide western countries. Sour folks lap it up because they f.ucking love their enemies, but 'wokeness' is merely a 21st century incarnation of the kind of hippy culture that right-leaning folks have been antagonistic towards for decades. Due to it being an American import I've only really seen the word used pejoratively, if I'm being honest, so congratulations, I suppose, to the perpetually indignant (not the wokies, I mean the other flavour of perpetually indignant) on railing against an antagonist you yourself conceived.

edit-well, perhaps not conceived, but elevated through enmity.

[thatdberight]

Latest in a long line of phantom enemies for people to swing at. Word has its origins in the US civil rights movement and as mentioned, resurfaced during BLM. Read somewhere that the word was increasingly proliferated online around this time through the enterprise of Russian sock puppet and troll social media accounts (sorry, can't remember the article) as a part of Russia's hybrid war strategy to divide western countries. Sour folks lap it up because they f.ucking love their enemies, but 'wokeness' is merely a 21st century incarnation of the kind of hippy culture that right-leaning folks have been antagonistic towards for decades. Due to it being an American import I've only really seen the word used pejoratively, if I'm being honest, so congratulations, I suppose, to the perpetually indignant (not the wokies, I mean the other flavour of perpetually indignant) on railing against an antagonist you yourself conceived.

edit-well, perhaps not conceived, but elevated through enmity.

No harm done then by railing against it since it doesn't exist. If anything, thank goodness that it stops these malign influences going after something real.

[Devils_Advocate]

No harm done then by railing against it since it doesn't exist. If anything, thank goodness that it stops these malign influences going after something real.

That depends, if this tactic was used successfully to discredit and silence genuine concerns and important opinions then there is harm done.

I guess for me thats the danger with identity politics at both ends of the political spectrum as it really stops good debate where common ground can be found for the better of society as a whole

[Spiral]

People fight over language, and their little caricatures, and make value judgements, and have done since forever, and some folks are reasonable and measured (to the extent that such a thing can ever be considered objective, but whatever) and some others aren't as much. This isn't novel. But there's a streak in some folk that motivates them to find enemies.

[Spiral]

That depends, if this tactic was used successfully to discredit and silence genuine concerns and important opinions then there is harm done.

I guess for me thats the danger with identity politics at both ends of the political spectrum as it really stops good debate where common ground can be found for the better of society as a whole

What the f.uck do I know but in the West (I'll keep to Britain for the sake of argument) licence to define what is [insert country]-ness is held by the conservatives in those countries. Obviously. That's not entirely surprising. That licence is so ingrained in the consciousness of both conservatives and liberals (urgh...monolithic descriptors again, forgive me for being reductive) that a right-leaning person might look at an injustice committed by the state, or at the behaviour of a foul individual presuming to speak for 'the British', to represent 'Britishness', and say, "this behaviour is un-British", whereas a liberal will say (in sentiment, if not explicitly) "I dislike Britishness and thus Britain because of this behaviour". The licence to define 'Britishness' is held by the right with virtual monopoly - and with the complete consent of liberals, too. Harm can be done when that licence is used to exclude people, I agree. In making hostility towards those holding views which are, at their most considered and thoughtful, on the vanguard of cultural and social thought (but, admittedly, occasionally ridiculous), a situation is created whereby folks holding such views are made to feel like strangers in their own country. In it's most malignant form, those people are framed as enemies, or traitors and such. That kind of unfettered chauvinism both feeds on and inspires a cycle of conflict, and it's why, if forced at gunpoint, I'd side with the outraged lunatics on twitter than the chauvinists. It'd be nice if folks could be at least aware that they're playing that game, though. Or, at times, being played themselves, either by forces with vested interests in culture war/conflict; by their own near-pious, often arrogant sense of outrage run amok; or by their own sheer boredom. Take the higher ground, for Christ's sake. The hippies win in the end, progress marches forward one funeral at a time and all that etc etc etc, but things don't need to be so bloody hostile.

[Claret-On-A-T-Rex]

Is it similar to being a do-gooder?

American version.
A very crap word, I would never use it.
It doesn't seem to fit right in any context, even simply put, "he's very woke", is like a very bizarre way of expressing it.
Sounds terrible with our accent too.
Imagine one of the swarthy, squat, brutish, thick-fingered, criminal-browed town centre dwelling lasses stretching out an... "ee's well woke inty, Brad Pitt!?"
Bluerk.

[Wile E Coyote]

Up until a few months ago I’d never even heard of this word, however recently I keep hearing it all the time. It’s usually used as an insult to someone that screams offence for everything.

The definition of woke according to google is “ alert to injustice in society, especially racism”.

I’m no soft tart but if that is the definition of woke then maybe I am woke. I don’t like racism and I believe I am “alert to injustice”.

By definition Is being woke just being a decent person?

saying you dont like racism doesnt mean anything.

[Claret-On-A-T-Rex]

It's like "candy", I've heard Americans say "candy" and it doesn't sound so bad but when we say it it sounds wrong and bizarre.

[Bfcboyo]

peace and Love man...

After a 1 month message board ban I have had time to reflect and respect others as you can see.

[Damo]

Wokeness is seriously under threat today after a judge ruled against the thought police's ability to defend the offence junkies
https://twitter.com/DBanksy/status/1228 ... 76096?s=19
I'll be glad to see the back of this particular movement
https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... court-told
Freedom of speech should be upheld no matter how abhorrent you find it

[TheFamilyCat]

Wokeness is seriously under threat today after a judge ruled against the thought police's ability to defend the offence junkies
https://twitter.com/DBanksy/status/1228 ... 76096?s=19
I'll be glad to see the back of this particular movement
https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... court-told
Freedom of speech should be upheld no matter how abhorrent you find it

So that's what Blackrod looks like.

[Devils_Advocate]

Wokeness is seriously under threat today after a judge ruled against the thought police's ability to defend the offence junkies
https://twitter.com/DBanksy/status/1228 ... 76096?s=19
I'll be glad to see the back of this particular movement
https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... court-told
Freedom of speech should be upheld no matter how abhorrent you find it

Does this mean we can call people racist and thick without all the racist thicko's on here getting all offended?

[timshorts]

It's like "candy", I've heard Americans say "candy" and it doesn't sound so bad but when we say it it sounds wrong and bizarre.

Agreed. And other ugly words that they have invented when there are perfectly good ones available.
Let's face it, they pinched 90% of their vocabulary from us in the first place and once you remove Mexican, Hispanic, French and germanic words, they've only invented about 2% - and even then they are rubbish at it. Fries, cookies, movies, candy canes? Ugh.
And why don't these woke mericans have issues with all words of colour. Brownies? What's that all about. Its just a stodgy chocolate cake that some xxxx thought it would be a good idea to xxxx up by putting nuts into it.
Corona virus too. I loved corona. Particularly the cream soda and the cherryade. All gone thanks to inferior imports like 7-up.

[Damo]

Does this mean we can call people racist and thick without all the racist thicko's on here getting all offended?

No, it means you can call them racist and thick and they can still get offended.
They just cant get the police to arrest you.
They can still get you banned from twitter though

[tarkys_ears]

Does this mean we can call people racist and thick without all the racist thicko's on here getting all offended?

If that's the limit of your intellectual capabilities, crack on. You'd be no different to any other leftie.

[Devils_Advocate]

No, it means you can call them racist and thick and they can still get offended.
They just cant get the police to arrest you.
They can still get you banned from twitter though

Great stuff next time they get themselves worked up at us nasty sandal wearers for stifling their free speech I'll send them your way so you can explain their own stupidity to them

[Stayingup]

Up until a few months ago I’d never even heard of this word, however recently I keep hearing it all the time. It’s usually used as an insult to someone that screams offence for everything.

The definition of woke according to google is “ alert to injustice in society, especially racism”.

I’m no soft tart but if that is the definition of woke then maybe I am woke. I don’t like racism and I believe I am “alert to injustice”.

By definition Is being woke just being a decent person?

A term applied to virtue signalling, we know better than you racist thick bigots, vegan, easily upset, apologists for our history of teaching the world about government, football, cricket rugby etc ., Metropolitan Elite types. Thats about a half of it.