Conservatives think ChatGPT has gone 'woke'

It isn't only conservatives who criticise "woke".

Here's a lengthy article by the African-American Marxist Adolph L. Reed Jr (emeritus professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania), attacking it too: https://newrepublic.com/article/160305/beyond-great-awokenin...

Are you similarly dismissive of left-wing criticisms of "woke", or are you okay with those?

> I have the sneaking suspicion that "woke" has been turned into a dog whistle used by right leaning people. Maybe it's the new "uppity."

Here's an article by an African-American Marxist university professor, attacking "woke": https://newrepublic.com/article/160305/beyond-great-awokenin...

So it isn't true that only "right-leaning" people use the term negatively.

> 1) Can anyone who freely uses the word "woke" pejoratively please define "woke" as you use it?

I think, when people (either from the left or the right) attack "woke", one thing they are attacking, is a particular, very influential, form of contemporary left-wing thought, which (among other features) treats race, gender identity, and sexual orientation, as higher priorities (at least in practice) than the traditional left-wing focus on economic inequality and social class. If you read Adolph Reed's criticisms of "woke" to which I linked above, that definition is rather similar to how he defines it (although in that article he zeroes in on the race element in particular, and avoids the topics of sexual orientation and gender identity).

I actually don't like the term, due to its pejorative nature – I'd much rather we have non-pejorative names for things – but I'm not sure what would be a neutral replacement. I feel like, a lot of people who object to the name, do not do so because they'd prefer a more neutral name, rather they'd prefer it not be named at all, to make it harder for people to criticise it.

> 2) Can you please tell me the opposite of "woke?"

Well, if we understand it as a particular, very influential, variety of contemporary left-wing thought, it doesn't have a single "opposite" as such. Right-wing thought, in all its various forms, is an example of something which isn't "woke". But, traditional Marxism, such as that of Adolph Reed, is also an example of something which isn't "woke". If you want to find other traditional Marxists taking swipes at "woke", you don't have to go far – to just give a random example, the Trotskyist International Committee of the Fourth International published a review of the sitcom Abbott Elementary, which includes the line "In fact, in its treatment of Jacob’s wokeness, Abbott Elementary refreshingly mocks the suffocating trend of racialism in American culture" https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/03/01/abbo-m01.html – say what you like about Trotskyists, but if we are going to start calling them "conservatives" or "rightwing", then I don't think those two words have any meaning any more

I have a follow up post to this downthread. You can find it here:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34423773

As someone making choices and money, I don't see how giving a shit about the planet, caring about workers' rights and actually attempting to respond to issues instead of rock-throwing is naive and idealistic.

> When called out, they made the mistake of using dogwhistle phrasing (“clown world“ is very specific to one group) that you don’t really see much outside of /pol/ and its ilk and in threads where those folks bravely venture out to try to leak /pol/ chat to other forums.

WTF. I don't even know what you're talking about. What the hell is /pol/?

I learned about the "clown world" term on Twitter. And apparently, its meaning is not even what I thought it was, according to another poster.

Sorry for striking down one of your absurd theories once more.

> As an aside, I almost never hear “whites” outside of a context wherein someone is airing a grievance on behalf of the group that’s otherwise known as “white people”

I am not a native English speaker, so sorry for not knowing about all the connotations of how words are used in your country. Whites/white people. It's all the same to me (in my native language, at least).

I didn't even know "woke" had such negative connotations, until I went and quoted that from Wikipedia (which is why I clarified that I didn't mean it pejoratively).

> poster abandons their position and falls back to “saying stuff they think will ingratiate you to them.”

What are you even talking about? How did I abandon my position?!

And how the hell am I ingratiating myself to whoever is reading when I clearly criticized and almost certainly pissed off both right-wingers and left-wingers?!

Let me say it again so that it's crystal clear to you:

1. Anti-white racism is racism.

2. There are more racist right-wing people than left-wing people, even when excluding the far-right.

3. Anti-black racism is a much more prevalent (and therefore significant) issue than anti-white racism.

Believe it or not, I hold all of these opinions at the same time. Mind-blowing, right?

I'm sorry that you don't believe that it's possible for someone to have all these opinions or that you think they are "poop" (using your term) or whatever the hell you think.

I think you have severe issues, to be honest.

And it's clear to me that I've been wasting my time trying to engage and have a constructive conversation with you, so don't expect any more responses from me.