Is is the word "woke" so inflammatory for some?
Is is the word "woke" so inflammatory for some?
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Discussion

TCruise

Original Poster:

659 posts

115 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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A question

Why is the word "woke" hugely inflammatory for some?


anonymous-user

78 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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williamp

20,124 posts

297 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Its the same people who use the word (and dismiss it as non-offensive) "gammon" who find the word woke to be offensive

Castrol for a knave

7,145 posts

115 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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williamp said:
Its the same people who use the word (and dismiss it as non-offensive) "gammon" who find the word woke to be offensive
Two sides of the same coin.

Iamnotkloot

1,856 posts

171 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Probably to do with things like this (DT: 18/2/21)

...what the woke brigade now want us to call our mums and dads...
After the NHS introduced ‘chestfeeding’, the gender-inclusive onslaught continues – meet your 'gestational parent’ and ‘non-birthing parent’

CooperS

4,576 posts

243 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Because we are now in a world where no one can be offended or be tagged as something by someone else. So any term if used to be derogatory is a solid no no.


Ian Geary

5,386 posts

216 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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I think "some" is the operative work here. I'd suggest it is replaced by "a few". I don't think the majority find it inflammatory.

And there's two sides:

If I was accused of being "woke", I would probably find it inflammatory that my sincerely held views were being dismissed as trivial, or that they don't somehow count as much as other political views.


One might also feel it inflammatory to be challenged by "woke" views, especially if the challenge is in fact skin deep, tokenistic, or wholly incorrect. There's also a view wokeism is more about band wagon jumping than any real affinity or knowledge of the subject.

It depends entirely on the situation. Being aware of social injustice can't be a bad thing

But to me, using "woke" to tag a group is in the same category as tagging people as "gammons"... used to simultaneously dismiss as well as insult people's views, and that behaviour is inflammatory.

Ian Geary

5,386 posts

216 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Iamnotkloot said:
Probably to do with things like this (DT: 18/2/21)

...what the woke brigade now want us to call our mums and dads...
After the NHS introduced ‘chestfeeding’, the gender-inclusive onslaught continues – meet your 'gestational parent’ and ‘non-birthing parent’
You missed "human milk" instead of breast milk, so that birthing parents without breasts aren't offended.

Ok, so where are you going to get your Human milk from?

Actually, don't answer that yikeslaugh

Digger

16,177 posts

215 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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What is Woke?

amusingduck

9,631 posts

160 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Digger said:
What is Woke?
woke
The act of being very pretentious about how much you care about a social issue
Yeah most people don't care about parking spaces for families with disabled pets. I wish they were woke like me.

woke
Deluded or fake awareness.
Lebron acts woke about China, he just full of shiite.

Ntv

5,177 posts

147 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Ian Geary said:
You missed "human milk" instead of breast milk, so that birthing parents without breasts aren't offended.

Ok, so where are you going to get your Human milk from?

Actually, don't answer that yikeslaugh
LOL. Yes, it's "chest milk" not "human milk" which encompasses a variety of milky substances

Lotobear

8,681 posts

152 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Somewhat ironically the expression originated in black culture as a way of describing someone who is 'awake' to social injustice

The Rotrex Kid

34,042 posts

184 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Lotobear said:
Somewhat ironically the expression originated in black culture as a way of describing someone who is 'awake' to social injustice
Lots of people try to use it as an insult as if saying 'Ha, you're aware that some people suffer more injustice and hardship than others and on some level you don't think that's right and want to see a positive change for humanity as a whole, you massive wker' without actually realising it's not, in anyway, an insult.

If someone called me 'woke' I'd be quite happy with that.

GroundZero

2,085 posts

78 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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I guess some are offended by it because it is a term used to call out those who push a progressive authoritarian left wing agenda.
A derogatory collective term to identify political pandering for the sake of satisfying a shouty group of people who primarily follow cultural marxism ideology (the tedious game of identity politics).

So as with many who find themselves in that game, when they meet opposition to it they don't know what else to do but to shout more and call everyone who doesn't agree with them a nazi.


troika

2,087 posts

175 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Digger said:
What is Woke?
That’s a very good question. My impression, which could be entirely incorrect, is that it’s a term used by particularly annoyed lefties.

anonymous-user

78 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Lotobear said:
Somewhat ironically the expression originated in black culture as a way of describing someone who is 'awake' to social injustice
That’s what it meant at the start. Woke was just awake,

It just gets used as an insult in the same way as social justice warrior gets used. Perhaps it’s about how into it people are or something.

Woke’s the other side of the coin to gammons, both angry groups of people just people who are angry and reactive about different issues.

It’s just some words though, hardly upsetting or inflammatory is it really? Unless you are reactive types looking to be inflamed in the first place.

Crackie

6,386 posts

266 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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The Rotrex Kid said:
Lotobear said:
Somewhat ironically the expression originated in black culture as a way of describing someone who is 'awake' to social injustice
Lots of people try to use it as an insult as if saying 'Ha, you're aware that some people suffer more injustice and hardship than others and on some level you don't think that's right and want to see a positive change for humanity as a whole, you massive wker' without actually realising it's not, in anyway, an insult.

If someone called me 'woke' I'd be quite happy with that.
I think there are very few people who are not " aware that some people suffer more injustice and hardship than others and on some level you don't think that's right and want to see a positive change for humanity as a whole, Appreciation of these injustices and wanting to make a positive change is nothing special, it is the default position for the majority of human beings. Most people are very woke by that definition.

Woke, used as a pejorative term, tends to to be reserved for those who feel compelled to make conspicuously worthy displays to others. EDIT. See timely example below smile.

Edited by Crackie on Thursday 18th February 11:31

anonymous-user

78 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Digger said:
What is Woke?
I think it's used to state that they care more about an issue than others, thus giving them a warm self righteous glow that they are a better human being.




Derek Smith

48,917 posts

272 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Woke would include people like William Wilberforce, Booth, Rowntree, Barnado, Leonard Cheshire, Nightingale, as well as other damn do=gooders who stopped child labour, at least partially, in the middle of the 19thC, as well as the Lord, name escapes, who stopped children being stuffed up chimneys in the late 19th. It was woke to fight for the closure of workhouses. After all, the poor brought it on themselves.

Perhaps it is inflamatory as it is often used by those who hold opinions that are likely to be called repressive in years to come.

Castrol for a knave

7,145 posts

115 months

Thursday 18th February 2021
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Woke is what Gammons call people who disagree with them

Gammon is what Woke call people who disagree with them

The rest, most, of us sit somewhere in the middle - stooging along in life and trying not to be asshats. .