Politics, "Wokeness" and Absurdity

[TheProgressivePatriot]

Quit spreading misinformation. This is onion reading. Lol. Talk about a pile......................

Thank you for that brilliant and thoughtful commentary. Your mental and emotional limitations considered. But I must ask. What misinformation are you referring to exactly?

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Thank you for that brilliant and thoughtful commentary. Your mental and emotional limitations considered. But I must ask. What misinformation are you referring to exactly?

Your entire liberal rag op ed hack piece.

 

[TheProgressivePatriot]

Your entire liberal rag op ed hack piece.

You are so articulate !! I am indeed impressed. You should send that in to the NYT as a guest collumnist , Now wipe the spit off of your chin and pull yourelf together. Find a safe space and don't do anything stupid.

 

[TheProgressivePatriot]

Your entire liberal rag op ed hack piece.

You just keep validating everything that I have said about you anti wokers and you're not even bright enought to know it-leave alone being able to craft a cogent response. Maybe you should get an adult to help you. You are a mess indeed.

 

[Orangecat]

What you posted is aired on constant repeat 24/7 all over conservative media. We've all seen and heard it a million times.

You sound addicted to conservative media. Either that, or you’re full of shit.

 

[Foxfyre]

You people are truly amazing. It is clear that you know nothing about the history and origin of the word “woke”. It means to be aware....aware of social issues and injustice. A woke person is one who does not have blinders on or has their head up their ass. Yet you have managed to turn it into a dirty word. Something nefarious and subversive.

A woke person is not afraid of truth and knowledge or to confront uncomfortable realities of the past or present. Not surprising that conservatives hate and fear it so much.

Conservatives' have consistently shown that they preferce to knowledge, lies and distortions to truth and honesty and denial of the reality of social in ignoranjustice to an honest dialogue . Most egregiously, you accuse those who embrace woke of seeking to shame whites and divide the races, while denying the collective responsibility for the shameful history of this nation which is the very essence of divisiveness and a barrier to healing. Woke is progress. Anti woke is being stuck in a fictitious past largely constructed on a foundation of lies, denial and fantasy .

What is the history of the word ‘woke’ and its modern uses? | The Independent





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So here we have the foundation of the term Woke as a jumping off point to try to understand it’s current usage and the partisan vitriol that it engenders

From the same link:




So there you have it. But what is it exactly ? What is the operational definition and does it look like in terms of specific words, deeds, policies and even thoughts and why is it so controversial?

Lets look at what specific policy positions of Democrats, liberals and progressives-collectively referred to as “the left” while making little or no distinction between Communists, autocratic socialism and Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.

The big hot button issue has become Critical Race Theory. While CRT as a philosophy is not actually taught below the college level, it has become a catch all term to mean an honest and complete understanding of our racial history beginning with 1619, through the Civil War, reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement . It also includes the critical analysis of the lingering systemic and institutional racism that permeates society today.

It is not- as those on “the right” will have you believe- an educational approach that makes white kids feel guilty about being white and hate themselves, that tarnishes the history of the country and further divides the races. It has even been suggested that woke people have the temerity to believe that African Americans have the same intellectual potential as European Americans. Well, yes they do believe that and it's true. These Anti Woke people have the nerve to call the rest of us racists, while embracing scientific racism!

While Germany makes a point of honestly confronting their shameful history, there are those in this country who want to burry ours, In doing so, they are short changing our children, demeaning those who have suffered and stifling and chance of a true racial reckoning

It comes down to this:

The idea is that racism is not a matter of individual bigotry but is systemic in America. Recently critics have made C.R.T. a catchall target for opposition to equity efforts, affirmative action and “wokeness” in general.

What Is Critical Race Theory? - The New York Times

But the opposition to Wokeness has gone beyond racial issues and now has seeped into matter of gender and sexuality as well. There is this from the Heritage Foundation which is basically a denial of the reality of gender dysphoria in an attempt to marginalize and trivialize the real pain that transgender people experience, especially in the absence of support and medical care and blaming “Woke Culture” for the emergence of the phenomena.

Woke Gender | The Heritage Foundation

And, the anti woke fervor has infected a myriad of other social and political issues such as climate change, economic inequality, criminal justice and just about every contentious issue that is on the table. And in each case, conservatives align with the “anti woke” hysteria. “Woke is evil” “Woke is un-American” “Woke is just stupid” Yes, I have heard all of that and more. But let me remind everyone of the original meaning of “woke” ….to be awake. To be aware. So really it fits.

By touting their anti wokeness', conservatives are acknowledging and celebrating their denial of social and economic inequality . They are embracing the denial of women’s reproductive rights and agency over their own bodies. They are promoting climate change denial and ignoring the scourge of gun violence. They are pretending that these pressing issues are just manufactured by “the left” to divide us.

Ron Desantis, the Führer of Florida is the personification all that is wrong with those who oppose wokeness. He is laser focused on punishing Disney Land over their opposition to his draconian policies towards LGBT people, suppressing voting rights attacking the teaching of black history, censoring reading materiel, even at the college level, and wiping out Covid mandates of all kinds, all in the name of wiping out wokeness. Meanwhile, Florida has one of the worst health care systems in the country in terms of the percentage of uninsured and the disparity by race- largely due to the governors refusal to expand Medicaid, a higher that average poverty rate of 13.1 % , a higher than average crime rate, and a byzantine and inhumane criminal justice system that incarcerates too many people for far too long and disproportionately incarcerates and disenfranchise people of color and those with fewer resources. Yet Desantis’ priority is his war on Mickey Mouse, Education, and drag queens. He wants Florida to be known as the place where woke goes to die. Thanks to him Floriday is where truth goes to die. It is where dignity goes to die. It is where hope goes to die It is where people go to die I’ll take woke. Woke you Ronnie
__________________________________________________________________________
A final word on WOKENESS
As we know “woke” became a political football in 2014 following the death of Michael Brom at the hands of police. It was brought to prominence by black people. As I previously documented:
In 1971, the phrase was used in a play by American playwright Barry Beckham titled Garvey Lives!, in which he wrote: “I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr Garvey done woke me up, I’m gon’ stay woke. And I’m gon’ help him wake up other black folk.”
It also entered popular culture thanks to singer Erykah Badu, who used the phrase “I stay woke” in her 2008 song Master Teacher. David Stovall, a professor of African-American studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago, told the New York Times that Ms. Badu’s use of the phrase meant “not being placated, not being anaesthetized”.
There are those who have charged that it has been coopted or culturally appropriated by while people who expanded it’s usage to other forms of social injustice and oppression. But those others issues- gender discrimination and transgender issues. sexuality, economic disparity effect people of all races.
The bottom line is that the woke vs anti woke divide is not along racial or ethnic lines but rather reflects the difference between those who seek truth and enlightenment and those who fear it. Of course those who fear it will not admit to fear, When it comes to a full and truthful account of the dark underbelly of American history, they justify the glaring omissions as being anti American. My OPINION about that is that it is anti American to turn a blind eye to history rather than take the opportunity to learn from it, no matter how uncomfortable that might make some people feel. My OPINION is that we must we must confront the past so that we can learn to do better going forward. Those who rail against woke OPINE that such teachings divide the races and instill guilt and self loathing in white people. But those are just OPINIONs.
Having said that the FACT is that to ignore, or worse deny history is to embrace the darkness of ignorance. The same can be said of many other issues that have come to be caught up in the debate about wokeness. Gender and sexuality are hot button issues today. Transsexuality especially sits upon a major cultural fault line. There is no dearth of OPINIONS on all sides about why people are trans and how to address the issue ; medically, legally, socially or psychologically . But the fact is that those who invoke the evils of woke in order to disparage trans people ignore the facts of science, once again embracing ignorance. They are quick to invoke the mantra of “there are only two genders” and call trans advocates “anti science while ignoring and denying the clear scientific evidence that not everyone is clearly male or female, and that many transgender people may have been misgendered at birth. Once again they embrace ignorance and darkness.
On issue after issue, the anti woke mob repeatedly use equivocations to blur the lines between opinion and fact in an attempt to paint their opponents' as the ones who are out of touch with reality. And it is no small matter that those who rail against “woke” are consistently on the side of reactionary politics, promoting inequality and oppression. They know that truth and awareness..that which wokeness promotes is their enemy. In the face of such truth, they have nothing to stand on
Woke is awareness
Woke is knowledge
Woke is compassion
Woke is empathy
Woke is open minded
To oppose wokeness is to proclaim a commitment bigotry, lies and to repeating past mistakes and crimes against humanity. That is a fact that cannot be denied. The anti-woke mob does not even try to deny it. They are proud of it

;

I'm not going to read all that.

But if you're going to use history as your foundation:

Marriage was historically defined as a contractual and/or spiritual union between a man and a woman. Progressives demanded that we change that definition.

The First Amendment historically defined that the government would not interfere with the people's nativity scene or the Christmas pageant or prayers before sporting events. Progressives demanded that definition be changed.

Gender historically based on biology once defined that creatures with gender were born either male or female. Progressives changed that definition.

And on and on and on.

So it should come as a surprise to nobody that the current definition of 'woke' means something far different from its historical roots. And those claiming to be 'woke' are pretty much opposite in their attitudes, beliefs, positions from what you describe.

 

[TheProgressivePatriot]

I'm not going to read all that.

But if you're going to use history as your foundation:

Marriage was historically defined as a contractual and/or spiritual union between a man and a woman. Progressives demanded that we change that definition.

The First Amendment historically defined that the government would not interfere with the people's nativity scene or the Christmas pageant or prayers before sporting events. Progressives demanded that definition be changed.

Gender historically based on biology once defined that creatures with gender were born either male or female. Progressives changed that definition.

And on and on and on.

So it should come as a surprise to nobody that the current definition of 'woke' means something far different from its historical roots. And those claiming to be 'woke' are pretty much opposite in their attitudes, beliefs, positions from what you describe.

How is all of that gibberish supposed to refut what I wrote and yu did not bother to read?

 

[Foxfyre]

How is all of that gibberish supposed to refut what I wrote and yu did not bother to read?

It refuted it quite well from what little I read.

 

[TheProgressivePatriot]

It refuted it quite well from what little I read.

"From what little that I read" Thank you very much. I rest my case. You are willfully ignorant and limited to concrete and ridged thinking. Woke is a concept and not limited to gender, religion marriage or anything else. It’s about awareness and active thinking about the world which you clearly are incapable of .

 

[frigidweirdo]

I'm not going to read all that.

But if you're going to use history as your foundation:

Marriage was historically defined as a contractual and/or spiritual union between a man and a woman. Progressives demanded that we change that definition.

The First Amendment historically defined that the government would not interfere with the people's nativity scene or the Christmas pageant or prayers before sporting events. Progressives demanded that definition be changed.

Gender historically based on biology once defined that creatures with gender were born either male or female. Progressives changed that definition.

And on and on and on.

So it should come as a surprise to nobody that the current definition of 'woke' means something far different from its historical roots. And those claiming to be 'woke' are pretty much opposite in their attitudes, beliefs, positions from what you describe.

Marriage already has changed. Before marriage was about marrying in a church. They've changed this. However marriage has existed under many different cultures, it's not just about Christianity. The state made marriage a legal thing, so everyone has to, by the Constitution, get equality. ie, everyone has to be able to legally marry.

The Constitution says that the US govt should keep out of religion. I don't know many "progressives" who want to do away with people's nativity scenes in non-government places.

Gender was defined as something, but failed to include hermaphrodites, failed to include gay people, failed to include a lot of reality.

Definition of GENDER

a subclass within a grammatical class (such as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (such as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and … See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

"The words sex and gender have a long and intertwined history. In the 15th century gender expanded from its use as a term for a grammatical subclass to join sex in referring to either of the two primary biological forms of a species, a meaning sex has had since the 14th century;"
And here's the reality, the word "gender" didn't used to mean what it means now, and "sex" didn't either. So.... definitions change.

We could go on.
Like the definition of "pro-life". Most people would assume that "pro-life" means, pro-life. Apparently not. The right use "pro-life" just so they don't have to use a negative prefix for "anti-abortion".
Seems the right don't really stick to true definitions when it suits them either.

 

[Foxfyre]

Marriage already has changed. Before marriage was about marrying in a church. They've changed this. However marriage has existed under many different cultures, it's not just about Christianity. The state made marriage a legal thing, so everyone has to, by the Constitution, get equality. ie, everyone has to be able to legally marry.

The Constitution says that the US govt should keep out of religion. I don't know many "progressives" who want to do away with people's nativity scenes in non-government places.

Gender was defined as something, but failed to include hermaphrodites, failed to include gay people, failed to include a lot of reality.

Definition of GENDER

a subclass within a grammatical class (such as noun, pronoun, adjective, or verb) of a language that is partly arbitrary but also partly based on distinguishable characteristics (such as shape, social rank, manner of existence, or sex) and that determines agreement with and … See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

"The words sex and gender have a long and intertwined history. In the 15th century gender expanded from its use as a term for a grammatical subclass to join sex in referring to either of the two primary biological forms of a species, a meaning sex has had since the 14th century;"
And here's the reality, the word "gender" didn't used to mean what it means now, and "sex" didn't either. So.... definitions change.

We could go on.
Like the definition of "pro-life". Most people would assume that "pro-life" means, pro-life. Apparently not. The right use "pro-life" just so they don't have to use a negative prefix for "anti-abortion".
Seems the right don't really stick to true definitions when it suits them either.

There were no churches when marriage was first understood to be between a man and a woman. The first recorded evidence of a ceremony of marriage was about 2350 BC. You don't get much more historical than that. People were pairing off as men and women raising families much earlier than that and the traditions developed in widely spaced cultures that had no knowledge of each other.

The ceremonies of marriage varied widely among myriad cultures around the world and over 1000s of years, but in every tradition, whether monogamy or polygamy, marriage was defined as a union between a man and a woman. That is until the modern progressive culture battles demanded that the definition of marriage be changed.

 

[frigidweirdo]

There were no churches when marriage was first understood to be between a man and a woman. The first recorded evidence of a ceremony of marriage was about 2350 BC. You don't get much more historical than that. People were pairing off as men and women raising families much earlier than that and the traditions developed in widely spaced cultures that had no knowledge of each other.

The ceremonies of marriage varied widely among myriad cultures around the world and over 1000s of years, but in every tradition, whether monogamy or polygamy, marriage was defined as a union between a man and a woman. That is until the modern progressive culture battles demanded that the definition of marriage be changed.

I'm sure lots of things happened in the past. And lots of things have changed.
You want everything to be like in the past? So, bye bye cars, bye bye heating in homes other than fires, bye bye supermarkets.

Sorry to tell you but 99% of people prefer it like this.
AND the Founding Fathers wrote RIGHTS into the Constitution in 1776. You seem to think they're bad.

 

[Foxfyre]

I'm sure lots of things happened in the past. And lots of things have changed.
You want everything to be like in the past? So, bye bye cars, bye bye heating in homes other than fires, bye bye supermarkets.

Sorry to tell you but 99% of people prefer it like this.
AND the Founding Fathers wrote RIGHTS into the Constitution in 1776. You seem to think they're bad.

That is so non sequitur to anything I have posted that it doesn't merit a response. Do have a good night.

 

[frigidweirdo]

That is so non sequitur to anything I have posted that it doesn't merit a response. Do have a good night.

Sure it does. You say everything must stay as it was. Yet things change ALL THE TIME. Why not marriage?

 

[BS Filter]

 

[Red Front]

They demanded Phil Robertson be fired from Duck Dynasty for saying the Bible says marriage is between a man and a woman. (It does)

They demanded that liberal women accusing conservative men of sexual misconduct must be believed. (But not conservative women accusing liberal men.)

A rookie fireman bringing treats to his coworkers was fired because he brought cold watermelon and some of his coworkers were black.

A lovable Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben were removed respectively from pancake syrup bottles and boxes of rice and no more Indian maiden on Land o Lakes butter.

They have stricken the name of J.K. Rowling and anything Harry Potter from their websites, social media, and made her ‘she who must not be named’ because she said that ‘woman’ should remain a biological category.

A public school student was sent home because he wore a T-shirt to school that said there are two genders. And he was sent home the second time when he had modified the shirt to say there are censored genders. To the woke that constitutes hate speech.

But anybody who refuses to buy Bud Light these days is a transphobic, racist, hateful bigot who should not be allowed to be part of the human race.

------------so------------

At what point does all this become absurd? How can rational people not see not only the dichotomy but how absolutely ridiculous it is when only one point of view is to be allowed as socially acceptable? Is to be allowed at all? How unreasonable is that? How discriminatory? How un-liberal?

At what point does it become dangerous to our liberties?

Yeah, that's wrong and stupid. But we have more serious problems than that. Over half of America is one paycheck away from homelessness. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and couldn't spend more than $400 in an emergency. Tens of millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured, hence they hardly ever go to the doctor to get a checkup. They don't see a physician until they suffer a medical emergency. Millions of Americans have their health insurance connected to their jobs, hence are afraid to speak up when their employer mistreats them or refuses to pay them a living wage.

In the golden age of our economy after WW2, CEOs of the largest corporations in America made an average of 20 times the average worker in their company. Today the average salary of a CEO in a "Fortune 500" company, earns 400 times the average worker. In the 1950s and 60s, 1/3rd of the American workforce was unionized and could look forward to getting a good retirement pension, with their Social Security. A blue-collar worker could support a family, own a home and pay for their children's college education. Today we're living in an America where there is gross inequality and workers are underpaid and overly exploited and overworked.

Our manufacturing base was gutted in the 1980s and 90s, turning most of our jobs away from production and into the service and retail industries. This country is a mere shadow of what it used to be as far as our standard of living and an American's ability to live the American dream while still being awake. The day when a man like my grandfather could immigrate here legally and get a blue-collar job spraying fiberglass on yacht molds and supporting a family, including buying his house cash after only four years of arriving, is no more. Those days are gone, and that's what we should also focus on, rather than just woke trash lunacy. Yes, wokeness is crap, but we also need to focus on the economy.

 

[TheProgressivePatriot]

Yeah, that's wrong and stupid. But we have more serious problems than that. Over half of America is one paycheck away from homelessness. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and couldn't spend more than $400 in an emergency. Tens of millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured, hence they hardly ever go to the doctor to get a checkup. They don't see a physician until they suffer a medical emergency. Millions of Americans have their health insurance connected to their jobs, hence are afraid to speak up when their employer mistreats them or refuses to pay them a living wage.

In the golden age of our economy after WW2, CEOs of the largest corporations in America made an average of 20 times the average worker in their company. Today the average salary of a CEO in a "Fortune 500" company, earns 400 times the average worker. In the 1950s and 60s, 1/3rd of the American workforce was unionized and could look forward to getting a good retirement pension, with their Social Security. A blue-collar worker could support a family, own a home and pay for their children's college education. Today we're living in an America where there is gross inequality and workers are underpaid and overly exploited and overworked.

Our manufacturing base was gutted in the 1980s and 90s, turning most of our jobs away from production and into the service and retail industries. This country is a mere shadow of what it used to be as far as our standard of living and an American's ability to live the American dream while still being awake. The day when a man like my grandfather could immigrate here legally and get a blue-collar job spraying fiberglass on yacht molds and supporting a family, including buying his house cash after only four years of arriving, is no more. Those days are gone, and that's what we should also focus on, rather than just woke trash lunacy. Yes, wokeness is crap, but we also need to focus on the economy.

Many of the issues that you speak of are matters of social and economic justice. If you understood “woke” you would know that woke is the solution, not a distraction.

The Fuhrer of Florida is on an anti woke crusade and is aging war on Micky Mouse, which just cost the state 2,000 jobs and while health care coverage in that state is one of the worst in the nation.

It is the anti woke trolls like him that are using it as a distraction to take attention away from the real problems that they do not want to solve

 

[BS Filter]

Many of the issues that you speak of are matters of social and economic justice. If you understood “woke” you would know that woke is the solution, not a distraction.

The Fuhrer of Florida is on an anti woke crusade and is aging war on Micky Mouse, which just cost the state 2,000 jobs and while health care coverage in that state is one of the worst in the nation

Yeah, that's why so many people are leaving democrat shitholes and moving to Florida, huh.

 

[Foxfyre]

Yeah, that's wrong and stupid. But we have more serious problems than that. Over half of America is one paycheck away from homelessness. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and couldn't spend more than $400 in an emergency. Tens of millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured, hence they hardly ever go to the doctor to get a checkup. They don't see a physician until they suffer a medical emergency. Millions of Americans have their health insurance connected to their jobs, hence are afraid to speak up when their employer mistreats them or refuses to pay them a living wage.

In the golden age of our economy after WW2, CEOs of the largest corporations in America made an average of 20 times the average worker in their company. Today the average salary of a CEO in a "Fortune 500" company, earns 400 times the average worker. In the 1950s and 60s, 1/3rd of the American workforce was unionized and could look forward to getting a good retirement pension, with their Social Security. A blue-collar worker could support a family, own a home and pay for their children's college education. Today we're living in an America where there is gross inequality and workers are underpaid and overly exploited and overworked.

Our manufacturing base was gutted in the 1980s and 90s, turning most of our jobs away from production and into the service and retail industries. This country is a mere shadow of what it used to be as far as our standard of living and an American's ability to live the American dream while still being awake. The day when a man like my grandfather could immigrate here legally and get a blue-collar job spraying fiberglass on yacht molds and supporting a family, including buying his house cash after only four years of arriving, is no more. Those days are gone, and that's what we should also focus on, rather than just woke trash lunacy. Yes, wokeness is crap, but we also need to focus on the economy.

But you keep voting Democrat just the same.

 

[Red Front]

Many of the issues that you speak of are matters of social and economic justice. If you understood “woke” you would know that woke is the solution, not a distraction.

The Fuhrer of Florida is on an anti woke crusade and is aging war on Micky Mouse, which just cost the state 2,000 jobs and while health care coverage in that state is one of the worst in the nation.

It is the anti woke trolls like him that are using it as a distraction to take attention away from the real problems that they do not want to solve

I'm originally from Florida and lived there for most of my life, so I know how bad it is. These conservatives are wrong most of the time, but when it comes to their concerns about gender dysphoria becoming rampant due to it being turned into a social statement against "cis-gendered" normies and a way for teens to be "progressive" and cool, they're correct. All of this gender-sexual lunacy is wrong and unnecessary. Lesbians are now being labeled transphobic and fascist because they don't want to date pre-op transwomen. These "genetic women" (let's just call them women) who are lesbians, aren't into penises, irrespective of them being on someone who identifies as a woman. They're not into the penis, yet are being abused by the "woke" mob for supposedly being "fascist-transphobes".

Today just being a lesbian, a gay man, or bi isn't enough for the "woke". That's not "woke" enough.