Rattled by a friend’s comment- what did she really mean?

[Anonymous]

huh. I live in Florida and am surrounded by an entirely liberal/democratic circle (though i know my community at large has GOP and magas) and i thought using the term "woke" semi snidely was the norm now. Three years ago, that word was untouchable, but now there's a pretty common understanding that it represents the things that 95% of us think were just getting ridiculous. At least among the democrats where i live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:huh. I live in Florida and am surrounded by an entirely liberal/democratic circle (though i know my community at large has GOP and magas) and i thought using the term "woke" semi snidely was the norm now. Three years ago, that word was untouchable, but now there's a pretty common understanding that it represents the things that 95% of us think were just getting ridiculous. At least among the democrats where i live.

I agree with this but there are diehards who are just in a clueless bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in Maryland near a friend. Then we both relocated to the west coast and ended up in the same neighborhood and our kids went to the same private school. Yay! While our west coast city was pretty different than the east coast, it wasn’t Portland or somewhere like that and I would say most people cared less about politics than money, real estate and home renovations, for better or for worse. Our school stayed out of the fray save for raising money for financial aid and celebrating the holidays of the cultures of all of the families in attendance. Our school community was very diverse, and my own family is mixed- I am white and DH is Asian.

Friend moved away last year. Then came to visit and we were chatting and I asked what she missed. She said “not the woke stuff”.

I’m feeling really weird about that and am extrapolating all sorts of things. I know it gets tossed around on the internet and fox news but I’ve never heard someone use it in conversation.

Why didn't you ask her "which woke stuff"? You'd have learned something about your friend.

Agree. I don't understand why you are taking what sounds like an incredibly vague statement and basically making up an ideology.

For the record, I am a progressive Democrat who never watches Fox News, is not MAGA and would never vote for Trump, likes AOC, campaigned for Kamala, etc. and I sometimes get annoyed by "the woke stuff." By which I mean sometimes my fellow progressives engage in what I view to be performative posturing that is mostly to make people think of them a certain way or to feel superior, and it gets old. I live on Capitol Hill in DC and have many neighbors with yards filled with signs proclaiming all their values and I privately roll my eyes at it even though, hate also has no home in my house. Sometimes people here get into passive aggressive competitions about who is more environmentally conscious (do you commute on an e-bike? do you own a composter? have you converted to solar?) and I laugh to myself because these conversations are actually very elitist (e-bikes, which we also have, cost thousands and are only a feasible option if you live in an expensive area that isn't car dependent, not everyone has the time or space to compost at home, solar panels are a very expensive upfront cost and require that you own a single family home to install, etc.). This is the kind of think I am thinking of when I think about "the woke stuff."

I don't think being progressive or caring about racism or trying to be a decent human being instead of a soulless ghoul like Trump is "woke." To me, that's just baseline. I have friends who are former Republicans (left the party because of Trump) who meet this criteria even though they are politically much more conservative than I am.

So I think you should explore your friend's comment a bit more. I doubt it means what you think it means.

Don’t conservatives and MAGA do this too? Some religious people, regardless of politics? Humans are social creatures, so people generally want to find their people and want to be respected or even praised by their community, and sone go too far. This is not a progressive thing, but a human thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:huh. I live in Florida and am surrounded by an entirely liberal/democratic circle (though i know my community at large has GOP and magas) and i thought using the term "woke" semi snidely was the norm now. Three years ago, that word was untouchable, but now there's a pretty common understanding that it represents the things that 95% of us think were just getting ridiculous. At least among the democrats where i live.

There's truth in this.

I'm okay with using your choice of pronouns. But I don't want people to start a meeting with "Introduce yourself by sharing your name and pronouns."

I thought everyone uses "woke" snidely. Especially the originators because they believe it has been culturally appropriated.

[Anonymous]

Let her know who you really are. Be brave.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think using woke snidely is totally widespread. Unfortunately I encounter it in settings like private school board meeting sessions or kids’ soccer sideline chatter and it’s being used unironically and derisively by people muttering things like “go woke go broke”. I think I need to move somewhere where people have moved on to using it snidely!

[Anonymous]

If being "woke" is considered passe false earnestness, I wonder what being described as "not woke" evokes.

What is the next evolution in the cycle of what is socially acceptable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a "woke" town before that was really a thing and it could be a lot sometimes. I'm liberal, anti -Trump but sometimes I roll my eyes at the extreme people go to. I wouldn't think too much about it without asking her what she means.

This. You can be liberal and still also find certain "woke" politics and behavior to be obnoxious.

If the two parties are now MAGA and "woke" then we are really, really screwed.

My god yes. Where are the normal people. I can't stand it.

“Normal people” are locked out of primaries if they’re registered as independent. This means that partisans in both parties get to keep pushing their party further from the center. We need open primaries. Ranked-choice voting and neutral systems for drawing non-gerrymandered districts are also steps we should take, but starting with open primaries would make a huge difference.

Huh? In Virginia you don’t register with a party. I can vote in any primary I want. I can’t vote in both a democratic AND a republican primary for same office but I can pick which one I do vote in. So you’re wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a "woke" town before that was really a thing and it could be a lot sometimes. I'm liberal, anti -Trump but sometimes I roll my eyes at the extreme people go to. I wouldn't think too much about it without asking her what she means.

This. You can be liberal and still also find certain "woke" politics and behavior to be obnoxious.

If the two parties are now MAGA and "woke" then we are really, really screwed.

Yes. Extreme, performative wokeness had a lot to do with the Orange one being elected again.

[Anonymous]

I’m rattled by OP’s reaction to her friend’s comment. She’s not entitled to her views? She cannot be upset about how far left the left has gone? I think it’s super weird that everyone is judging her for being sick of woke politics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m rattled by OP’s reaction to her friend’s comment. She’s not entitled to her views? She cannot be upset about how far left the left has gone? I think it’s super weird that everyone is judging her for being sick of woke politics.

OP and it was just a weird out of the blue thing to say. We were talking about pretty much the furthest thing from that kind of stuff so it felt like something that had been on the tip of her tongue for a long time and she just had to get it out. But then it just kind of hung in the air.

[Anonymous]

Drop that racist from your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m rattled by OP’s reaction to her friend’s comment. She’s not entitled to her views? She cannot be upset about how far left the left has gone? I think it’s super weird that everyone is judging her for being sick of woke politics.

Precisely. This entire thread, starting with OP being "rattled" by an innocuous comment, is Exhibit A in how completely nutty many Democrats have become. "Block her! She's a racist!" Clearly, there are mental issues at play here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She sounds MAGA.

No she doesn’t. She sounds normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a "woke" town before that was really a thing and it could be a lot sometimes. I'm liberal, anti -Trump but sometimes I roll my eyes at the extreme people go to. I wouldn't think too much about it without asking her what she means.

+1