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The Origins of Wokeness

paulgraham.com

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Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#991

Post by jrm4 »

majani wrote: post #974
jrm4 wrote: post #226

Black person here. Like most discussions of "woke" and "wokeness," this one too fails HARD by not fully and directly addressing the origins of the term -- and by "fails hard" I do mean will almost certainly do more obscuring than clarifying by starting from an information-deficient premise. Including, e.g. "The term 'woke' has its origins in the Black American community as a signifier of awareness about ones politica…

I'm also black and growing up I had the impression that "woke" referred to left-leaning conspiracy theorists and activists. 9/11 truthers and gay rights activists were the main woke groups of the Bush era

Going to guess you're pretty young? Seems odd to have not heard it differently elsewhere first.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#992

Post by coderc »

zackmorris wrote: post #970
jrm4 wrote: post #226

Black person here. Like most discussions of "woke" and "wokeness," this one too fails HARD by not fully and directly addressing the origins of the term -- and by "fails hard" I do mean will almost certainly do more obscuring than clarifying by starting from an information-deficient premise. Including, e.g. "The term 'woke' has its origins in the Black American community as a signifier of awareness about ones politica…

jrm4, yours should be the top comment. I denounce Paul Graham's essay. At a time when our leaders - especially our thought leaders - reliably do the wrong thing, it's especially appalling that he has the wrong take on wokeness, transparently and self-evidently to appease Donald Trump and his followers in order to protect his financial ties to Y Combinator startups. That's low, bordering on unforgivable, and until he…

Because you said that this author has the "wrong take on wokeness", what do you believe to be "the right take on wokeness"?

And by the way, I do think you are being more than a little bit performative here, because it seems you're just displaying how morally superior you believe yourself to be over Paul Graham, your heroes, and the readership of HN. But I would still like to hear your answer to my question.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#995

Post by dookofnewyork »

As a person who is often labeled as woke by default because of skin color: Fuck this guy. This article tells you how he really feels. He wants to be able to say and do things that some people would take offense to, and doesn't want to face consequences for any of it. Just like in the good old days.

Woke went from being a slang word to top of the Klan's most wanted list.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#996

Post by dookofnewyork »

jimbokun wrote: post #805
zug_zug wrote: post #421

Spending too much time in the richest, most tolerant counties in the country can make you forget that we still have colleges that won't admit gay students, or that many people still don't believe in interracial marriage. Yes it's a teeny tiny little bit of a shame that a college president had to step down for raising a fair academic question. It is not half as important as when a cop shoots a black person dead for da…

Don’t criticize obviously bad things because there are things that are even worse.

We're all here because the author is criticizing opinionated people for loudly disliking obviously bad things.

Rock meet glass house.

I'm sure you did that on purpose. I'm sure I'm the silly one here.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#997

Post by dookofnewyork »

techfeathers wrote: post #672

I don’t disagree with his definition, not disagree that it’s a problem, but it’s still feels a bit to anti-Wokey in that he calls out things that he just disagrees with. #metoo brought down some terrible people who did terrible things, I don’t think you should call metoo in and of itself woke, not overly moralistic to be mad about sexual assault, there should be some nuance there. He also calls Bud Light woke for… ac…

The events that PG chooses to paint as woke say a lot about what he really thinks. By the end, I was convinced he was truly against consequences. Cries for justice should be ignored. If a lynch mob isn't being a formed, then everyone should just shut up.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#998

Post by dookofnewyork »

segasaturn wrote: post #944
capital_guy wrote: post #917

The beautiful thing about essays like this is that they show you that the author has truly never known what he was talking about. Just a guy who stumbled through life at the right time. It’s a shame these people have so much power and influence. It could be wielded by people much more thoughtful and benevolent.

Graham was brilliant in the 90s. I would say this article is more like evidence that he's washed up. When you no longer have to work hard because your name alone means money, your mind turns soft.

On par with YouTubers making the newest Roblox challenge videos to stay relevant in the algorithm.

He has nothing to add except his name.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#999

Post by valval »

cmdli wrote: post #210
yapyap wrote: post #99

I think the word “woke” means very different things to some people. As an example I think people from the American political left to somewhere(?) in the middle see it as what it has been introduced as, that being looking past the status quo and instead looking at your own values, i.e. the morality of homelessness and not having a disdain for them but empathy for them instead. and then on the other side it feels like…

“Woke”, for the most part, is a boogeyman that the conservative right uses as a summary label for various political movements on the left. Basically nobody on the left talks about “woke” except for perhaps a period of six months back in 2017. Many political groups do this: they identify some aspect of the opposition, preferably one that is easy to ridicule, and then repeat those accusations ad-nauseum. The complaints…

I have a good enough reason to call those people “woke” instead of calling them “people who believe in a cultural approach that seeks to identify and rectify invisible social inequalities based on genetic attributes like race, sex, and sexual orientation by challenging existing power structures and implementing corrective measures. “

It’s easier.

Re: The Origins of Wokeness

#1000

Post by yellow_lead »

AJRF wrote: post #638

This seems like extraordinarily weak writing with very little backings or substantial evidence to the claims. That in itself would be fine - if presented as opinion - but this has an air of a historical biography of the actual lineage of the term. This is anything but.

Like most PG essays
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