The Woke Thread

[PureX]

Judging by this thread, it's easy to see why Ohio State would have paid Ta-Nehisi Coates to come and explain "wokeness". Because it's pretty clear that no one here understands it. Including me. Though I know enough about it to know that it isn't just about racism. It's about a whole range of social issues and problems, and about a new, revised awareness of them,

 

[Revoltingest]

Judging by this thread, it's easy to see why Ohio State would have paid Ta-Nehisi Coates to come and explain "wokeness".

What makes you think anyone can claim to understand it?
Human nature has a tendency to think that one's own
understanding of things is true, & that others get it wrong.
"Woke" is a symptom of that.

 

[Stevicus]

Judging by this thread, it's easy to see why Ohio State would have paid Ta-Nehisi Coates to come and explain "wokeness". Because it's pretty clear that no one here understands it. Including me. Though I know enough about it to know that it isn't just about racism. It's about a whole range of social issues and problems, and about a new, revised awareness of them,

Well, the term itself seems rather abstract, like how some people would say things like "I'm feelin' the vibes and gettin' in the groove." We're not talking about something scientific or academically-oriented. This is more like pop culture morality meets corporate America. And it's really not that new, although it's possible that some historical revisionism is taking place.

 

[PureX]

What makes you think anyone can claim to understand it?
Human nature has a tendency to think that one's own
understanding of things is true, & that others get it wrong.
"Woke" is a symptom of that.

All "woke" really means is that one feels they have a new awareness/understanding of something. So it can be applied to a great many circumstances. And of course it can be as true as it can be false. The substance, if there is any, is in the specifics. But the term has quickly become a political; i.e. social polemic and so has basically become useless before it even had a chance to become useful. Like so many word-labels, now it's mostly just right wing 'click bait'; guaranteed to spur up the ire of the terminally angry and terminally ignorant all-American idiot.

 

[PureX]

Well, the term itself seems rather abstract, like how some people would say things like "I'm feelin' the vibes and gettin' in the groove." We're not talking about something scientific or academically-oriented. This is more like pop culture morality meets corporate America. And it's really not that new, although it's possible that some historical revisionism is taking place.

Yeah. I doubt the term will stick. But you never know. The term "vibe" and "groove" have been surprisingly long-lasting. I remember them from when I was a teen (and that was a long time ago), and yet I hear them used, still, today.

 

[Stevicus]

Yeah. I doubt the term will stick. But you never know. The term "vibe" and "groove" have been surprisingly long-lasting. I remember them from when I was a teen (and that was a long time ago), and yet I hear them used, still, today.

In fairness, I can see why some people might need to have it explained to them, as I just came across this article this morning. I thought it might be relevant to the subject matter of this thread: Audio cut in speech on Black people’s role in Memorial Day (apnews.com)

HUDSON, Ohio (AP) — Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony turned off a speaker’s microphone when the former U.S. Army officer began talking about how freed Black slaves had honored fallen soldiers soon after the Civil War.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter said he included the story in his speech because he wanted to share the history of how Memorial Day originated.

But organizers of the ceremony in Hudson, Ohio, said that part of the speech was not relevant to the program’s theme of honoring the city’s veterans.

Cindy Suchan, chair of the Memorial Day parade committee and president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, said it was either she or Jim Garrison, adjutant of the American Legion Post 464, who turned down the audio, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

The Ohio American Legion said Thursday that it was investigating.

“The American Legion deplores racism and reveres the Constitution,” the organization’s national commander, James W. “Bill” Oxford, said in a statement. “We salute LTC Kemter’s service and his moving remarks about the history of Memorial Day and the important role played by Black Americans in honoring our fallen heroes. We regret any actions taken that detracts from this important message.”

In the days before the ceremony, Suchan said she reviewed the speech and asked Kemter to remove certain portions. Kemter said he didn’t see the suggested changes in time to rewrite the speech and talked with a Hudson public official who told him not to change it.

Kemter said he was disappointed that the organizers silenced two minutes of his 11-minute speech, during which he talked about how former slaves and freed Black men exhumed the remains of more than 200 Union soldiers from a mass grave in Charleston, South Carolina, and gave them a proper burial.

“This is not the same country I fought for,” said Kemter, who spent 30 years in the Army and served in the Persian Gulf War.

The decision to turn off the audio disrespected Kemter and all veterans, Hudson’s mayor and City Council said in a statement, which also said the city is committed to addressing issues of systemic racism and intolerance.

“Veterans have done everything we have asked of them during their service to this country, and this tarnished what should have been a celebration of their service,” the statement said.

 

[PureX]

In fairness, I can see why some people might need to have it explained to them, as I just came across this article this morning. I thought it might be relevant to the subject matter of this thread: Audio cut in speech on Black people’s role in Memorial Day (apnews.com)

Excellent example!

The "woke" aspect being the recognition of how, with all "good intentions", racism still managed to rear it's ugly head and edit out an important fact of history from a public speech. A fact that might have helped enlighten (woke) some of those who heard it if it had been allowed to be included. It's this aspect of unintentional, unaware, and systemic bigotry (racial or otherwise) that people are becoming "woke" to (more aware of).

Some people, anyway.