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How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

economist.com

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Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#61

Post by Ma8ee »

dragontamer wrote: post #26
chmod775 wrote: post #6

Fundamentally languages have been evolving in a reductive manner, which is why adding syllables to terms like in "Latino/Latina -> Latin-x -> Latinx+" won't last. People will quickly eschew these terms for things that are easier to pronounce. There's no malice in this - just a natural evolution of language towards efficiency. As such its an endless cycle: new stuff is introduced to everyday language then reduced to s…

People have been trying to change gender terms forever. It's nothing recent. I recall discussions about the use of the non gendered pronoun 'e' years ago. To replace she vs he.

In English I’ve understood it is common to use a singular they as a non gendered pronoun. In Swedish the newly introduced hen is in quite widespread use instead of han/hon (he/she).

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#64

Post by spats1990 »

badRNG wrote: post #37

It seems like this question could be asked at any period of social conflict historically in the West. How did ideas that were once extremely radical like women's equality in the social sphere (to include holding office and suffrage), desegregation, slavery abolition, and many more work their way from the intelligensia (academics, philosophers) to the masses? How did "Marxism" jump from academia to workers in the late…

Yeah, I tend to think "woke" as a sneer word is just the new "PC/politically correct" as a sneer word.

Corporations wouldn't be engaging in this kind of token support for progressive issues if they did not believe such issues were broadly popular. Such organizations rarely do anything for free. The token support is a reflection of something in the culture.

Most of the "backlash" to "woke stuff" is a working-through of the cognitive dissonance this notion brings for certain people/organizations. They cannot believe that such ideas can have even token support among the broader public. So it gets framed as some sort of virus, or as an orgy of cynical virtue signalling. But in order to virtue signal, you need somebody who understands (and ideally even shares) the virtue that is being signalled.

Your entirely reasonable comment being flagged currently is an example of this cognitive dissonance at work.

There are many valid critiques of so-called "wokeness" but most of them come from angles that reactionaries generally dislike.

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#65

Post by soared »

babyshake wrote: post #28

It definitely seems as though specifying your preferred gender pronouns is no longer optional. This is required "in solidarity". Being an otherwise progressive person, I don't feel great about this and how quickly it happened.

Id recommend getting outside of your social circle/geo a bit more. I’ve never once experienced this in Denver, and have only ever seen gender pronouns be a thing on linkedin.

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#66

Post by s5300 »

serverholic wrote: post #10

I think this is the result of the gradual femininization of our culture. It started with the feminist/gender-studies types and slowly caught on. Not because people necessarily wanted to change, but cancel culture makes it so that you can't risk nonconforming. At first it was little things like switching to softer language and giving kids participation trophies so that they don't feel bad. Now it's spread to the point…

Maybe you're unaware, or maybe you enjoy cognitive dissonance...

But, as a single example of a near endless amount

Prepubescent boys literally used to be called girls in English. Boys were called girls for many centuries before they were ever called anything else. But keep on about the new age "feminization" boogieman.

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#67

Post by [deleted] »

belltaco wrote: post #58
rvz wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of examples in the article if you have already read it. Example of enforcing this with cancellations: > Even as students began scouring the words of academics, administrators and fellow students for microaggressions, the oppressive slights embedded in everyday speech, and found them, complacency ruled. which was later enforced... > When invited speeches from people such as Christine Lagarde, then head of the I…

It's neither new nor exclusive to liberals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Chicks_controversy

[deleted]

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#68

Post by spats1990 »

newacct583 wrote: post #42
spamizbad wrote: post #13

It didn't. It lives entirely in elite society. If you aren't a member of an elite social strata it doesn't impact you and nobody gives a damn.

> It didn't. It lives entirely in elite society. If you aren't a member of an elite social strata it doesn't impact you and nobody gives a damn. That seems to be a highly reductive concept you're using for "elite", basically meaning "people you imagine who you don't agree with". What constitutes "elite", to you? How about the row after row of suburban homes in Livermore with BLM signs? Those are all median income nei…

>How about the row after row of suburban homes in Livermore with BLM signs? Those are all median income neighborhoods, but I'm guessing you'd call them "elite"?

If your interlocutor is an advanced-level mental gymnast, they will tell you that the people in these suburban homes are simply aping the customs of the so-called "elites", acting as their servants. So yes, "elite" in the post you're replying to really is being used to mean "people you imagine who you don't agree with".

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#69

Post by noptd »

Barrin92 wrote: post #7

I'm glad that the Economist points out at the end that 'wokeness' has become a favorite of business, and the reason is pretty obvious, as a movement it's self-defeating because all identitarian politics eventually ends in infighting, with its subjective, choice and preference based worldview it's actually ill-equipped to move anything. It might exist in academia or PR departments or journalism or facebook pages and t…

I agree, and I'm concerned about the divide and conquer-type of impact it's having in societal discourse. This effect seems way too convenient (and beneficial) for the ruling class, and in that respect, I'm afraid academia may be inadvertantly working against the common interest of the working classes by pushing these worldviews.

Re: How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

#70

Post by decremental »

serverholic wrote: post #10

I think this is the result of the gradual femininization of our culture. It started with the feminist/gender-studies types and slowly caught on. Not because people necessarily wanted to change, but cancel culture makes it so that you can't risk nonconforming. At first it was little things like switching to softer language and giving kids participation trophies so that they don't feel bad. Now it's spread to the point…

Lol they flagged it again. They overpowered the vouch to make sure you can't be seen as legitimate.

You know, when the government ultimately is seen as the thing that must be stopped and the people who are willing to make a stand do. Guess who is second on that stop.

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