Woke

[DLaurent]

Culture wars scare me as both sides tend to have all the answers, when usually to me, the war itself is manufactured as a way of manipulating public opinion.

 

[Leo]

Sarah Silverman on The Daily Show.

That led her into a deeper look at the issue of “wokeness” that those on the right use dismissively to describe everything they don’t like or understand.

“What I know woke to mean is like, learning new things about people or the world and then acting accordingly like basic kindness, maybe a gesture of care to people who are more vulnerable than you,” she said.

Silverman said right-wingers often complain that wokeness is being “pushed” on them. “Nobody’s pushing shit on you,” she fired back. “You’re acting like a beta cuck.”

Then she offered up some blunt talk to explain what she thinks is really going on:

It feels cooler to say “I’m not woke!” than the truth, which is “I’m terrified of what I don’t understand and I only know how to process that as anger because I can’t look inward.”

 

[Mr. Tea]

It can be great fun to take insults that your opponents have originated and fling them back at them, but is it really a great look for progressives to be saying things like "beta cuck"? I mean it's only spitting distance from "f*ggot", really, isn't it?

 

[Leo]

should I do like version and delete that part?

 

[Mr. Tea]

should I do like version and delete that part?

Well as a based alpha gigachad it doesn't bother me at all, but it might upset some of the soyjaks who post here, so up to you really.

(I was talking about Silverman's use of the term, not your quotation of it, just tbc.)

 

[Benny Bunter]

That led her into a deeper look at the issue of “wokeness” that those on the right use dismissively to describe everything they don’t like or understand.

“What I know woke to mean is like, learning new things about people or the world and then acting accordingly like basic kindness, maybe a gesture of care to people who are more vulnerable than you,” she said.

This isn't 'deep' at all though is it? It's totally vapid.

 

[Benny Bunter]

"educate yourself" coming from someone who seems quite thick is a bit rich isn't it?

 

[Leo]

This isn't 'deep' at all though is it? It's totally vapid.

in fairness to her, I didn't quote the entire article or transcript from the show, just those select bits. and her description of how she personally defines woke isn't that outrageous, is it?

 

[version]

A lot of people on the left avoid using the term now because it's become a pejorative and part of the vernacular of the right and when people on the right use it they're gesturing at a nebulous mass of things which wind them up.

 

[Leo]

yeah, you don't hear many progressives use it now. wonder if at some point, things come full circle and lefties embrace it as a code of honor, the way the far right did with "deplorables".

 

[Clinamenic]

A lot of people on the left avoid using the term now because it's become a pejorative and part of the vernacular of the right and when people on the right use it they're gesturing at a nebulous mass of things which wind them up.

Exactly, very well put.

 

[DLaurent]

Yeah, they blame it on snowflakes getting their own way. I put their views down to an onslaught of propaganda. Goebbels said that the best propaganda makes people think they're acting of their own free will, among many other things. Otherwise good people I chat to, but just differing political opinions to mine so I don't speak up. I have tried but it falls on deaf ears when I mention things like propaganda.

 

[version]

Silverman's summation strikes me as reductive and pandering, something to get applause from a liberal audience and signal she's on their side and not much else.

There's been a concerted effort to present anyone moaning about stuff like DEI consulting as a bigot and a conservative, but there are plenty of people on the left who have a problem with "woke capitalism" and the burying of class analysis and see that sort of thing as a deflection tactic coming from the top. That and a lot of people just roll their eyes at sitting through patronising work meetings.

I think Tea's right to pull her up on the 'beta cuck' thing too. It's tempting to use people's insults against them, but it undercuts your case if you're a progressive and start tossing stuff like that around. You can't both oppose patriarchy and attack men along the lines of failing to conform to exactly those standards, even if it's just a disingenuous attack designed to get a rise. It's a contradiction that makes you look unserious, like when progressive men say sexist stuff about conservative women. How progressive are you really if that sort of thing comes out your mouth once you're angry and think you can get away with it?

 

[Benny Bunter]

Silverman's summation strikes me as reductive and pandering, something to get applause from a liberal audience and signal she's on their side and not much else.

There's been a concerted effort to present anyone moaning about stuff like DEI consulting as a bigot and a conservative, but there are plenty of people on the left who have a problem with "woke capitalism" and the burying of class analysis and see that sort of thing as a deflection tactic coming from the top. That and a lot of people just roll their eyes at sitting through patronising work meetings.

I think Tea's right to pull her up on the 'beta cuck' thing too. It's tempting to use people's insults against them, but it undercuts your case if you're a progressive and start tossing stuff like that around. You can't both oppose patriarchy and attack men along the lines of failing to conform to exactly those standards, even if it's just a disingenuous attack designed to get a rise. It's a contradiction that makes you look unserious, like when progressive men say sexist stuff about conservative women. How progressive are you really if that sort of thing comes out your mouth once you're angry and think you can get away with it?

I wanted to say something like that but ended up just calling her thick.

 

[Benny Bunter]

It does get on my tits how it's always framed as the right that attack the woke stuff when there's plenty on the left who are fed up with it too. It's embarrassing.

 

[Benny Bunter]

"why can't you just be kind to people" and then when people express legitimate concerns it's just "educate yourself". Or you get called a Nazi or something.

 

[version]

It does get on my tits how it's always framed as the right that attack the woke stuff when there's plenty on the left who are fed up with it too.

It's the preferred tactic atm to frame dissent as right wing by default.

 

[Corpsey]

I wanted to say something like that but ended up just calling her thick.

glad you quoted him here

 

[version]

A common thing I run into with mates on the left is that they support the people this stuff is supposed to help, but just can't stand the language and presentation and the way it's been hijacked by the liberal establishment.

There's a sense of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Corpsey]

A common thing I run into with mates on the left is that they support the people this stuff is supposed to help, but just can't stand the language and presentation and the way it's been hijacked by the liberal and conservative establishments.

There's a sense of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.