What is "woke?" Conservative author tries to define it

[Anonymous]

So here’s the thing. I reckon most liberals would consider me a conservative. In fact a lot of liberals have told me they think I’m a secret conservative. I’m not, I voted for Biden, but I agree with Robby Soave that wokeness is something you know when you see or whatever. I don’t get trans/non-binary stuff (but I try to be respectful and use correct pronouns), I think it’s weird that there are so many trans kids, I despise inclusive language…you’d think I’m the perfect customer for Bethany’s book.

But no, even though I probably agree with Bethany on a lot, I think she’s a complete shit for brains. It’s true, I can’t define wokeness but I also didn’t spend a year writing a book about it. You’d think someone who wrote an entire chapter defining woke would have come up with a 15 second explanation. Like, Bethany at no point when writing the book did you and Karol think “Hey during the media tour we’ll probably be asked to define this super vague word. We should have a brief and pithy explanation”? No, you didn’t, because you and Karol are both effing stupid. But Karol didn’t shit the bed today on live TV so we’ll leave her out of this.

On top of just generally being stupid, she’s an attention seeker. This woman loves to be talked about badly on line so she can pull song and dance numero uno from the MAGA playbook: Martyrdom. Bethany loves to tweet “play stupid games win stupid prizes,” but then when she does something dumb and people call her on it, she is SHOCKED. She’s an edge lord and grade A troll who loves to fuel the outrage Olympics. Instead of just tweeting something normal in spring of 2020 like “Hey maybe we should evaluate how lockdowns will affect kids and the economy long term” she literally tweeted “call me a grandma killer I’m going to the zoo” and was surprised that people were like “wtf?”

And remember, kids. Bethany claimed to be anti-Trump until she realized being MAGA brought more clicks. So she was vocally pro-Trump all through the 2020 election. And then on January 6 she pretended she had never been pro-Trump. The end.

[Anonymous]

And btw if you want a book written by a smart conservative, I really liked the one about trans girls by Abigail Shrier and Prey by Ayan Hirsan-Ali. Both smart conservative women who are able to create sound arguments against wokeism. Bethany ain’t it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And btw if you want a book written by a smart conservative, I really liked the one about trans girls by Abigail Shrier and Prey by Ayan Hirsan-Ali. Both smart conservative women who are able to create sound arguments against wokeism. Bethany ain’t it.

Ain’t no such thing.

Although maybe they try to make arguments in better faith, I don’t know.

I do know the concern trolling by conservatives about women’s sports is inherently in bad faith given their relationship fighting the idea, however.

[Anonymous]

Who published this alleged book? Is it one of those right-wing places where the titles are bought in bulk to inflate the sales numbers and make it appear to be a popular bestseller?

This has been the paradox — generally speaking, the audience for this stuff doesn’t read books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s now claiming on Twitter she was thrown off because Brihanna was on a hot mic right before the interview started and she heard Brihanna “demeaning parents in colorful language.”

Her whole shtick is that she’s a homeschooling mother of six and liberals hate her because she’s a mother when in reality, every liberal woman I know has children. I have no idea why she thinks motherhood makes her special. Yes, it’s wonderful, hard, rewarding work. And she’s not the only one doing it.

Shit. I’m a liberal who chose to have four kids. And I like being a mom and I’d stay home if I could. Do I not exist? Bethany claims it’s impossible for a liberal to enjoy parenting so I must not.

Conservatives have no idea how actual liberals live. They claim we hate kids and that women especially have 27 cats and an effeminate life partner. In reality I have three kids, one cat (yeah yeah I’m allergic to dogs) and a husband who takes wonderful care of me. They can’t handle the fact that we may actually have nice lives so they just make shit up, I think.

They’re all about make believe.

Well, y'all think that conservatives are Christian hillbillies who sit around and watch Fox News all day so there you are!

Uhh my conservative relatives now actually think FOX News is too left-leaning and crossed them off the list and watch stuff like Newsmax instead. They now only get their news from a tiny handful of extremely far-right sources and think literally everything else is "fake news." I'm not exaggerating or making that up, either. And it's sad. It's like they live in a completely parallel universe where up is down and green is yellow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She’s now claiming on Twitter she was thrown off because Brihanna was on a hot mic right before the interview started and she heard Brihanna “demeaning parents in colorful language.”

Her whole shtick is that she’s a homeschooling mother of six and liberals hate her because she’s a mother when in reality, every liberal woman I know has children. I have no idea why she thinks motherhood makes her special. Yes, it’s wonderful, hard, rewarding work. And she’s not the only one doing it.

Shit. I’m a liberal who chose to have four kids. And I like being a mom and I’d stay home if I could. Do I not exist? Bethany claims it’s impossible for a liberal to enjoy parenting so I must not.

Conservatives have no idea how actual liberals live. They claim we hate kids and that women especially have 27 cats and an effeminate life partner. In reality I have three kids, one cat (yeah yeah I’m allergic to dogs) and a husband who takes wonderful care of me. They can’t handle the fact that we may actually have nice lives so they just make shit up, I think.

Be honest. Your dh is gay and nowhere near as masculine as Seth.

C’est vrai. Had breeding sex three times with my closeted homosexual husband.

Sorry. I’m a lib so I meant to say I had sex three times with my closeted trans husband and then I had three abortions. Cause I’m a liberal so I obviously hate children.

Yeah but when did you have those abortions? I hear tell from conservatives that 99.99% of abortions take place in the third trimester.

Oh that’s true. I was two weeks overdue with all three when I had my abortions. My doctor, er, sorry, my midwife on my commune, was going to induce me but I was like actually I just decided at 42 weeks to not be pregnant. So I had abortions instead. It’s not just a Fox News fever dream, that’s 100% real life!

(In reality I know ONE woman who had an abortion, she was 24 and early enough along she could get the abortion pill, but to hear Bethany’s ilk tell it, every single liberal woman is waiting until they are 27 weeks to even consider abortion.)

Please stop making me laugh. Just had my weekly abortion and I’m a little sore.

amateur. you're not really pro choice until you have a third term abortion three times a week. you're the problem with this country!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Usually when people say they are disgusted by wokeness, they are not really responding to actual, real wokeness.

They are bothered by either
A. performative wokeness (virtue signaling) or
B. Things done in the name of wokeness that actually marginalize or take away from others in some way (non race blind admissions, biological men in women’s sports, etc)

+1 Every day I walk by my bank branch with billions in assets and a large "END RACISM" sign on the door. There is zero probability that the sign does anything to stop racism. It is only supposed to signal that the bank is one of the virtuous corporations. This is what I think of when I hear the word "woke".

Another example is Land acknowledgments. I recently came across the land acknowledgment for the University of Maryland, which in part reads, "We are on the ancestral lands of the Piscataway People, who are the ancestral stewards of this sacred land." (https://diversity.umd.edu/resources/land-acknowledgement) The statement is again just virtue signaling. It is not like the University of Maryland is going to return any lands to the Piscataway People.

I believe that if one examines the 8 billion dollar a year DEI industry that the majority of examples would be similar performative nonsense.

But why does this bother you so much? I agree the sign actually accomplishes little and the bank is likely a hypocrite on the matter. But it’s like reduce reuse recycle signs. It creates over time a new consciousness. Which again is useless unless paired with action.

The land acknowledgments. Australia does this at the beginning of every meeting. Again not going to change anything but it is nice to honor our past. Again why does this bother you so much that anti-woke becomes a rallying cry and you then have to show proud and out racism to declare your fealty to your tribe?

+1

I love the land acknowledgements. That one is the opposite of “woke,” it’s just telling the truth, gently and repeatedly. My home sits on Dakota and Anishinaabe land. That’s the truth. It’s not virtue signaling to publicly say so any more than it’s virtue signaling to call features by the name given to them to the humans who first named them. In fact, it’s vice signaling to insist on using the wrong words, wrong names, wrong pronouns and frankly it’s just rude.

It feels like Republicans want to lump stuff together as “woke” and “virtue signaling” without taking motivation into account. The bank doing it? For one thing, no one could call banks “liberal” and for another thing yeah, it’s hypocritical. But that’s also not really what regressives are whining about. They just don’t want to know about history or the reality of the present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here’s the thing. I reckon most liberals would consider me a conservative. In fact a lot of liberals have told me they think I’m a secret conservative. I’m not, I voted for Biden, but I agree with Robby Soave that wokeness is something you know when you see or whatever. I don’t get trans/non-binary stuff (but I try to be respectful and use correct pronouns), I think it’s weird that there are so many trans kids, I despise inclusive language…you’d think I’m the perfect customer for Bethany’s book.

But no, even though I probably agree with Bethany on a lot, I think she’s a complete shit for brains. It’s true, I can’t define wokeness but I also didn’t spend a year writing a book about it. You’d think someone who wrote an entire chapter defining woke would have come up with a 15 second explanation. Like, Bethany at no point when writing the book did you and Karol think “Hey during the media tour we’ll probably be asked to define this super vague word. We should have a brief and pithy explanation”? No, you didn’t, because you and Karol are both effing stupid. But Karol didn’t shit the bed today on live TV so we’ll leave her out of this.

On top of just generally being stupid, she’s an attention seeker. This woman loves to be talked about badly on line so she can pull song and dance numero uno from the MAGA playbook: Martyrdom. Bethany loves to tweet “play stupid games win stupid prizes,” but then when she does something dumb and people call her on it, she is SHOCKED. She’s an edge lord and grade A troll who loves to fuel the outrage Olympics. Instead of just tweeting something normal in spring of 2020 like “Hey maybe we should evaluate how lockdowns will affect kids and the economy long term” she literally tweeted “call me a grandma killer I’m going to the zoo” and was surprised that people were like “wtf?”

And remember, kids. Bethany claimed to be anti-Trump until she realized being MAGA brought more clicks. So she was vocally pro-Trump all through the 2020 election. And then on January 6 she pretended she had never been pro-Trump. The end.

I don't think most liberals would consider you a conservative - I think most of us feel more or less exactly like you do. A little baffled by all the kids who are suddenly changing genders or are non-binary, don't love "they" language or having to announce your pronouns. But I think at the same time we also don't think that trans kids - or ANYONE - should be hunted down and persecuted, and their parents sent to jail, and drag queens dragged into the streets, and all that. Like we can have a little twitchiness about where we are in the process of all this without becoming insane reactionaries - or, in most cases, hateful, craven opportunists - like Republicans are.

I think Hegel got it right - there's thesis, antithesis, synthesis. We're at the antithesis stage of all this right now. Eventually it will all just settle into a normal, natural pattern and more or less be NBD. But right now the Rs are all inflamed, and Ds like us - who I think are the majority - are mostly biding our time, biting our tongues, and trying not to make anything worse. I'd definitely rather be a little eye rolly about pronouns than have books about gay people stripped from libraries while parents of trans kids worry about their kids being taken away and themselves being sent to jail.

Meanwhile Very Online people continue to be Very Online. I guess the thing is that the Ds aren't ruled by the Very Online people - the leaders are moderates. Republicans live and die by what the Very Online mob dictates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here’s the thing. I reckon most liberals would consider me a conservative. In fact a lot of liberals have told me they think I’m a secret conservative. I’m not, I voted for Biden, but I agree with Robby Soave that wokeness is something you know when you see or whatever. I don’t get trans/non-binary stuff (but I try to be respectful and use correct pronouns), I think it’s weird that there are so many trans kids, I despise inclusive language…you’d think I’m the perfect customer for Bethany’s book.

But no, even though I probably agree with Bethany on a lot, I think she’s a complete shit for brains. It’s true, I can’t define wokeness but I also didn’t spend a year writing a book about it. You’d think someone who wrote an entire chapter defining woke would have come up with a 15 second explanation. Like, Bethany at no point when writing the book did you and Karol think “Hey during the media tour we’ll probably be asked to define this super vague word. We should have a brief and pithy explanation”? No, you didn’t, because you and Karol are both effing stupid. But Karol didn’t shit the bed today on live TV so we’ll leave her out of this.

On top of just generally being stupid, she’s an attention seeker. This woman loves to be talked about badly on line so she can pull song and dance numero uno from the MAGA playbook: Martyrdom. Bethany loves to tweet “play stupid games win stupid prizes,” but then when she does something dumb and people call her on it, she is SHOCKED. She’s an edge lord and grade A troll who loves to fuel the outrage Olympics. Instead of just tweeting something normal in spring of 2020 like “Hey maybe we should evaluate how lockdowns will affect kids and the economy long term” she literally tweeted “call me a grandma killer I’m going to the zoo” and was surprised that people were like “wtf?”

And remember, kids. Bethany claimed to be anti-Trump until she realized being MAGA brought more clicks. So she was vocally pro-Trump all through the 2020 election. And then on January 6 she pretended she had never been pro-Trump. The end.

The percentage of trans people is really small. The Dems simply sought to make life a little easier for a stigmatized class of people in our society. The GOP has blown it way out of the water in terms of prominence. And frankly, where is the Libertarian wing of the GOP on this issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s the thing. I reckon most liberals would consider me a conservative. In fact a lot of liberals have told me they think I’m a secret conservative. I’m not, I voted for Biden, but I agree with Robby Soave that wokeness is something you know when you see or whatever. I don’t get trans/non-binary stuff (but I try to be respectful and use correct pronouns), I think it’s weird that there are so many trans kids, I despise inclusive language…you’d think I’m the perfect customer for Bethany’s book.

But no, even though I probably agree with Bethany on a lot, I think she’s a complete shit for brains. It’s true, I can’t define wokeness but I also didn’t spend a year writing a book about it. You’d think someone who wrote an entire chapter defining woke would have come up with a 15 second explanation. Like, Bethany at no point when writing the book did you and Karol think “Hey during the media tour we’ll probably be asked to define this super vague word. We should have a brief and pithy explanation”? No, you didn’t, because you and Karol are both effing stupid. But Karol didn’t shit the bed today on live TV so we’ll leave her out of this.

On top of just generally being stupid, she’s an attention seeker. This woman loves to be talked about badly on line so she can pull song and dance numero uno from the MAGA playbook: Martyrdom. Bethany loves to tweet “play stupid games win stupid prizes,” but then when she does something dumb and people call her on it, she is SHOCKED. She’s an edge lord and grade A troll who loves to fuel the outrage Olympics. Instead of just tweeting something normal in spring of 2020 like “Hey maybe we should evaluate how lockdowns will affect kids and the economy long term” she literally tweeted “call me a grandma killer I’m going to the zoo” and was surprised that people were like “wtf?”

And remember, kids. Bethany claimed to be anti-Trump until she realized being MAGA brought more clicks. So she was vocally pro-Trump all through the 2020 election. And then on January 6 she pretended she had never been pro-Trump. The end.

I don't think most liberals would consider you a conservative - I think most of us feel more or less exactly like you do. A little baffled by all the kids who are suddenly changing genders or are non-binary, don't love "they" language or having to announce your pronouns. But I think at the same time we also don't think that trans kids - or ANYONE - should be hunted down and persecuted, and their parents sent to jail, and drag queens dragged into the streets, and all that. Like we can have a little twitchiness about where we are in the process of all this without becoming insane reactionaries - or, in most cases, hateful, craven opportunists - like Republicans are.

I think Hegel got it right - there's thesis, antithesis, synthesis. We're at the antithesis stage of all this right now. Eventually it will all just settle into a normal, natural pattern and more or less be NBD. But right now the Rs are all inflamed, and Ds like us - who I think are the majority - are mostly biding our time, biting our tongues, and trying not to make anything worse. I'd definitely rather be a little eye rolly about pronouns than have books about gay people stripped from libraries while parents of trans kids worry about their kids being taken away and themselves being sent to jail.

Meanwhile Very Online people continue to be Very Online. I guess the thing is that the Ds aren't ruled by the Very Online people - the leaders are moderates. Republicans live and die by what the Very Online mob dictates.

This is such a great post and put into words exactly what I’ve been feeling. I love the last sentence about “Very Online People” - so true and so frustrating.

A lot of elite Republicans feel boxed in by the Very Online crowd and have no idea how to stop the crazy train.


-White Liberal Male Who Will Never Vote for a Republican

[Anonymous]

]

Anonymous wrote:
I love the land acknowledgements. That one is the opposite of “woke,” it’s just telling the truth, gently and repeatedly. My home sits on Dakota and Anishinaabe land. That’s the truth.

No, it is not the truth. Your home currently sits on US (or possibly Canadian) land. There was a time in the past when Dakota or Anishinaabe-speaking people lived on the land. They almost certainly conquered other peoples to get that land. Civilizations constantly come and go -- in Europe, Asia, and Africa as well as North America.

And why should we constantly repeat the fact that Anishinaabe people formerly lived on the land? Why not gently and repeatedly state the fact that the Anishinaabe practiced cannibalism, sometimes boiling and eating their foes after battles? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anishinaabe) These are both facts that we should study in history class. There is no need to make either into a quasi-religious incantation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:]

Anonymous wrote:
I love the land acknowledgements. That one is the opposite of “woke,” it’s just telling the truth, gently and repeatedly. My home sits on Dakota and Anishinaabe land. That’s the truth.

No, it is not the truth. Your home currently sits on US (or possibly Canadian) land. There was a time in the past when Dakota or Anishinaabe-speaking people lived on the land. They almost certainly conquered other peoples to get that land. Civilizations constantly come and go -- in Europe, Asia, and Africa as well as North America.

And why should we constantly repeat the fact that Anishinaabe people formerly lived on the land? Why not gently and repeatedly state the fact that the Anishinaabe practiced cannibalism, sometimes boiling and eating their foes after battles? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anishinaabe) These are both facts that we should study in history class. There is no need to make either into a quasi-religious incantation.

Thanks for proving my point about why I love the land acknowledgements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So here’s the thing. I reckon most liberals would consider me a conservative. In fact a lot of liberals have told me they think I’m a secret conservative. I’m not, I voted for Biden, but I agree with Robby Soave that wokeness is something you know when you see or whatever. I don’t get trans/non-binary stuff (but I try to be respectful and use correct pronouns), I think it’s weird that there are so many trans kids, I despise inclusive language…you’d think I’m the perfect customer for Bethany’s book.

But no, even though I probably agree with Bethany on a lot, I think she’s a complete shit for brains. It’s true, I can’t define wokeness but I also didn’t spend a year writing a book about it. You’d think someone who wrote an entire chapter defining woke would have come up with a 15 second explanation. Like, Bethany at no point when writing the book did you and Karol think “Hey during the media tour we’ll probably be asked to define this super vague word. We should have a brief and pithy explanation”? No, you didn’t, because you and Karol are both effing stupid. But Karol didn’t shit the bed today on live TV so we’ll leave her out of this.

On top of just generally being stupid, she’s an attention seeker. This woman loves to be talked about badly on line so she can pull song and dance numero uno from the MAGA playbook: Martyrdom. Bethany loves to tweet “play stupid games win stupid prizes,” but then when she does something dumb and people call her on it, she is SHOCKED. She’s an edge lord and grade A troll who loves to fuel the outrage Olympics. Instead of just tweeting something normal in spring of 2020 like “Hey maybe we should evaluate how lockdowns will affect kids and the economy long term” she literally tweeted “call me a grandma killer I’m going to the zoo” and was surprised that people were like “wtf?”

And remember, kids. Bethany claimed to be anti-Trump until she realized being MAGA brought more clicks. So she was vocally pro-Trump all through the 2020 election. And then on January 6 she pretended she had never been pro-Trump. The end.

I don't think most liberals would consider you a conservative - I think most of us feel more or less exactly like you do. A little baffled by all the kids who are suddenly changing genders or are non-binary, don't love "they" language or having to announce your pronouns. But I think at the same time we also don't think that trans kids - or ANYONE - should be hunted down and persecuted, and their parents sent to jail, and drag queens dragged into the streets, and all that. Like we can have a little twitchiness about where we are in the process of all this without becoming insane reactionaries - or, in most cases, hateful, craven opportunists - like Republicans are.

I think Hegel got it right - there's thesis, antithesis, synthesis. We're at the antithesis stage of all this right now. Eventually it will all just settle into a normal, natural pattern and more or less be NBD. But right now the Rs are all inflamed, and Ds like us - who I think are the majority - are mostly biding our time, biting our tongues, and trying not to make anything worse. I'd definitely rather be a little eye rolly about pronouns than have books about gay people stripped from libraries while parents of trans kids worry about their kids being taken away and themselves being sent to jail.

Meanwhile Very Online people continue to be Very Online. I guess the thing is that the Ds aren't ruled by the Very Online people - the leaders are moderates. Republicans live and die by what the Very Online mob dictates.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Please sign your posts in future so I can make sure to read them. This is so so well thought out and well written.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll define woke. It is a belief that people are principally defined by their intersectional identities, and that it is correct and proper to divide people into classes according to race and sexual identity. Further, it is the belief that people are most likely to relate to these classes as their core identity, and as a result, it is best to relate to people through the lens of that identity rather than as an individual.

Nope. Try again, dear. Without your attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really know for sure what "work" means, but this is the way I interpret it:

Standing with the far left Progressives, no matter what the issue. Examples:
1. An inability to use common sense. Example: trans women in women's sports. Sometimes, it just defies common sense to have a biological male compete with women.
2. Open borders. Compassion is imortant, but, again, open borders defy common sense. What about all the cartels using the distraction at the gates of thousands of people coming in daily. Cartels are crossing where there are no border agents because the agents are all at the entry points.
3. Student loan forgiveness--when most of the people who benefit are not that needy.
4. Forbidding oil drilling when we are not yet prepared to depend on renewable sources--especially when China is that source.

So, you are not smart.

It means being aware. Ackowleding that America is not the same for everyone. And thinking about what the experience of THE OTHER is.

That is all

I agree that is what wokeness is.
It has come to be associated and conflated with other things, and therefore has taken on a new meaning which is what the OP was about.

Who is OP? You mean Mandel or OP?
Mandel has created a definition for her nefarious purposes. It's has no meaning.

I meant Mandel.