(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



CPAC speakers are using 'woke' in every speech, but for some reason can't explain what it means [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-03-05

But asking what someone means by a word they routinely use is not really a “loaded” question. And as for “stupidity,” well it may just be the case that deep thinkers such as 2023 CPAC attendees Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz are so intimately familiar with its contextual meaning that actually defining it seems to be a superfluous gesture. It may even be a simple case of "knowing it when they see it," as the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart referred to "obscenity." Still, since "woke" seems to be the linchpin of grievance motivating all Republican behavior these days, they at least owe the rest of the country some semblance of explanation of what they’re talking about.

One hopefully better than these half-assed word salad concoctions, taken from CPAC 2023 attendees and cited by Garcia in his article:

“To me the word ‘woke’ is the antithesis of everything that America was founded on,” Marie Rogerson, an executive director of program development at Moms for Liberty based in Florida, told The Independent. “It’s anything for me that’s anti-American, anti-common sense, anti-really in the sense of education, what education was meant to do.” [***] Angelo Veltri, northeast regional director for Young Americans for Liberty, had a similarly vague description for what the word meant. “‘Woke’ to me means that you are basing your reality off of fiction and your feelings rather than actual facts,” he told The Independent. “‘Woke’ is more of the sense of like, if you feel a certain way, then you must be true, and they typically adhere to their truths rather than the truth as a whole. And it’s leading toward this woke postmodernism in a sense. Woke communism, where they’re trying to take over based on people’s feelings rather than actual factual evidence.”

Sorry, but I’m still not getting it. Admittedly, words can be hard. It seems clear, as Garcia’s article points out, that they’re not employing the original meaning of the word, as expressed in African-American vernacular at that time, when it was understood to “literally mean becoming woken up or sensitised to issues of justice.” Not at all, in fact.

Kate Ng, writing, for The Independent, helps a bit to clarify exactly what “woke” in its modern context, spewed out of the mouths of Ron DeSantis, Tucker Carlson, and others, actually means. She interviewed linguist Tony Thorne of London’s King’s College, who explained that right now, the word “woke” is:

[W]eaponised by those on the right as a “sneering, jeering dismissive term” to denigrate those who did not agree with their beliefs, said Mr Thorne. Like phrases before it - such as “politically correct”, “social justice warrior” and “cancel culture” - “woke” has become a toxicised term used by alt-right and politically conservative groups to insult people on the left.

But with all due respect to Professor Thorn, it goes a bit deeper than that. I suggest Republicans may need a more direct explanation for what is coming out of their mouths. Because it appears they need a bit of assistance, even for such a little word. So, for all those Republicans continually yammering out a word they cannot or will not define for the rest of us, let me just take a humble stab at what they are saying when they say “woke.”

When Republicans call something “woke,” what they’re really saying is that it’s something they don’t have the intelligence, experience, or (most likely) the inclination to understand. It’s something, in other words, that they don’t have the capacity or interest in dealing with. Because dealing with it --actually understanding it — would take effort and, importantly, powers of critical thinking and a sense of empathy that they either simply don’t possess, or don’t want to test because they very well might find themselves wanting.

And by this token, it evidences a sense of jealousy and envy, because they do get one thing: the people that they criticize as “woke” have demonstrated a basic human decency that outstrips their own, simply because “those people” — progressives, liberals, Democrats, whatever you want to call them — have taken the time to try to understand and account for how their behavior can impact others, including, most notable. others of different races.

And conservatives absolutely hate that, because consideration for others conflicts directly with their worldview. Their “consideration” of anyone else’s situation — except for a few chosen members of their “tribe” — typically stops at the end of their own noses. They can’t fathom how anyone could see social relationships differently, and not as a zero-sum game. It bothers them that the rest of the world disagrees with their outlook, because it suggests that they — and the racism that informs their worldview — are in fact behind the curve for decent human society.

Again, this really comes down to effort, specifically an effort they don’t want to make, because it’s easier (and more palatable with their voters) for them not to. Much easier to mock something than try to understand it, because (God forbid) if you try to understand something, you may discover that you are in the wrong. And they simply don’t have the decency of character to admit they’re wrong. So, they mock away: “woke” this and “woke” that, ad nauseum. For Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who held a talk, titled ”Sacking the Woke Playbook,” on the first day of CPAC, it’s “1619,” which he’s obviously never read, or “CRT,” which he has no understanding of whatsoever. But he, like most Republicans, has heard somewhere that these “woke” things actually reveal the reality and omnipresence of racism in this country, so that’s reason enough to oppose them.

And the newest “woke?” It’s corporate ESG disclosures, which have been in place for years Apparently being good stewards of the environment is now fair game for mockery, which suggests that all of these “woke” accusations are really just another vehicle to satisfy Republican donors who are seeing a way to demonize any efforts that may impact their profits.

Put simply, the right uses “woke” as shorthand for something they simply can’t cope with, because it conflicts directly with the racism and other selfish attitudes that sustain their political outlook. It’s convenient, it’s easy, and it’s effective, certainly. But it’s also a reflection of the kind of people they are.

And they can’t — or won’t — define what they mean by it, because doing so would reveal something very ugly about themselves.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/5/2156332/-CPAC-speakers-are-using-woke-in-every-speech-but-for-some-reason-can-t-explain-what-it-means

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/