Jun 272019
 

I recently discovered that the term “woke” originated in the African-American community and referred to awareness of police violence against black people, as well as other forms of structural oppression. In retrospect, I should have guessed at its origin simply by the beauty and fitness of the word.

It was such a good term that it was promptly co-opted by the Leftist forces.

I find it more than a bit amusing that the same group that loses their minds over any slight against racial purity by shouting “cultural appropriation!” have, in fact, appropriated a word that used to do meaningful work for an important cause, and now use it as a label for their catalog of slights.

I propose that we endeavor only to use the term “woke” in its original, helpful form. And whenever we see affluent white people expressing outrage that someone doesn’t have enough bloodline purity to eg: drink certain teas, or wear their hair in a certain way, or attend Yoga sessions, that we instead refer to that as “whitewoke.” To highlight that it’s privileged white people taking power away from a phrase that did real good and using it for their own outrage porn instead.

Yes, it should be a slur, used against those who deserve it.

  5 Responses to “WhiteWoke”

  1. This does feel like bait. If this is truly your honest opinions put forth in good faith then please state as much. I am legitimately confused about what you are trying to communicate.

    • I went away and came back. So this word you want to make seems to just be a stand in for ‘SJW’. I’ve yet to have much fun talking to people who use ‘SJW’ in sentences though. Do we really need another word which would be used in a similar way. And isn’t it a super terrible idea to add to this what would definitely be perceived as a racial aspect. I mean why the hell choose the colour white ? At least go for some colour that nobody identifies with. (or maybe don’t make new slurs?)

      I also went away and read about the term ‘Woke’ because I didn’t believe your assertions. You can get link heavy at times but I notice when you are saying random irresponsible things the links just melt away.

      https://www.okayplayer.com/originals/georgia-muldrow-erykah-badu-stay-woke-master-teacher.html . This is a link to an article about the origin of the word woke. The website appears to be entirely about African-American musicians so far as I can tell. It isn’t some political publication but an article actually interested in the culture surrounding music past and present I believe.

      Nothing else I was able to find really backed up your assertion about the word woke either. To all extents and purposes it appears as though you are shoehorning things to create a narrative. It is very disingenuous for instance to pretend that it was not a left wing term the moment it was made. It was a political term right from the get go. And the people who coined it and used it where definitely on the left side of politics.

      You can argue about the words misuse now, that’s fine. The way you are arguing and what you are arguing should be reconsidered. Really EB try not to take part in the coining slurs. Yahtzee forever regrets coining the phrase ‘PC Master race’.

      • I thought about it. I think saying that it is anything other than a far left term is disingenuous. The original users the far left of the time. Not even just the left but the far left.

      • Hey, sorry for the long delay. It was a busy week with trying to get the book out and everything, and then I took the 4th off entirely. :)

        I didn’t link source in part because I learned this from a recent Making Sense podcast (specifically episode #160), and it’s doesn’t really help much to say “it’s somewhere in this 90 minute podcast,” and also because it’s basically 2nd-hand info in this case anyway, because it’s what someone is recalling someone else saying. I admit, it’s weak. And so I thank you find tracking down that link. I read the article, and, as I read it, it basically confirms that this was originally a black-american term that (to quote the article) “Like anything created by black people, the phrase was appropriated by the masses, transformed into a trend term before ultimately mutating into a meme and becoming a form of irony.” I feel better about my claim now. :)

        The thing is, I’m not against the far left, necessarily. In my teen years I was borderline communist revolutionary (altho I don’t think I would’ve actually committed to it if it came down to it… more of an affectation). But I still think that violence can be justified sometimes, and that the government-sponsored terrorism of black people in the earlier decades of last century is a clear example of a time where violent uprising is morally justified. While I’m not nearly so sure anymore that violent protest by labor groups is legitimate, I still have some emotional ties to labor movements and the working classes.

        On the other hand, I despise the bougie “woke” people who spend all their emotional energy on policing everyone else’s vocabulary, gossiping about what’s “problematic”, and generally reeking of privilege. And it annoys me to no end that they took a word that was used by the actual downtrodden and now use it to #cancel people with the wrong hairstyle. That’s not fucking woke, that’s just being a puritanical prude.

        The racial thing is a part of it, IMO. These people are mostly white and come from well-off families. And you’re right… I guess it is basically a stand-in for SJW. I really like Social Justice though, I’m for Social Justice! Just now this bullshit “woke” version, which isn’t even woke as it was originally meant. grrrr.

        I guess I’m being grumpy and triggered. You’re right, creating new slurs is not a worthy endevour, and it is beneath me. I repent of this post. :(

        I had no idea yahtzee regretted “PC Master Race”! I find that term hilarious, and I still use, as do some of my friends. :) Why does he regret it?

  2. I like this idea, thanks for putting it out.

Leave a Reply to IAJAWL Cancel reply

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.