2 votes

The year woke broke: A brief history of a contested word

8 comments

  1. [8]
    cloud_loud
    Link
    I found this on r/truereddit. Here’s their discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/zw5ojm/the_year_woke_broke_a_brief_history_of_a/
    1. [7]
      Akir
      Link Parent
      I saw this earlier today. And I really did not appreciate the kinds of discussion I found on that thread. I hope I don't have to explain why minority rights need protection here on tildes. I come...

      I saw this earlier today. And I really did not appreciate the kinds of discussion I found on that thread.

      I hope I don't have to explain why minority rights need protection here on tildes. I come here to get away from those kinds of arguements.

      8 votes
      1. [6]
        MimicSquid
        Link Parent
        There were a lot of people there who were making arguments of varying quality which basically boiled down to "because lots of people are suffering now, we need to set aside these issues that...

        There were a lot of people there who were making arguments of varying quality which basically boiled down to "because lots of people are suffering now, we need to set aside these issues that affect minorities and focus on the big issues."

        This is all well and good, but it means that yet again issues relevant to minorities would be relegated to the back of the line, and the people who would advocate for such a thing could only be allies of convenience at best.

        6 votes
        1. [4]
          Thrabalen
          Link Parent
          Also, the big issues are going to get fixed because they affect the most amount of people. So we're going to throw money at it. We don't need to focus more on it. (Except climate change and the...

          Also, the big issues are going to get fixed because they affect the most amount of people. So we're going to throw money at it. We don't need to focus more on it. (Except climate change and the pandemic, which the people with the purse somehow don't seem concerned about.)

          But minority rights? That's an issue where if you're thinking about it, that's the time to do it, because for the vast majority of human history no one with power has been thinking about it.

          1 vote
          1. [3]
            skybrian
            Link Parent
            I don’t know which big issues you mean, but it doesn’t seem hard at all to come up with entire countries that are far from being “fixed” including the US. Brokenness is the default.

            I don’t know which big issues you mean, but it doesn’t seem hard at all to come up with entire countries that are far from being “fixed” including the US. Brokenness is the default.

            2 votes
            1. [2]
              vord
              Link Parent
              I was gonna say even most US 'fixes' are often 'what is the absolute bare minimum we can do to get people to shut up about this.' Minimum wage still isn't $20.

              I was gonna say even most US 'fixes' are often 'what is the absolute bare minimum we can do to get people to shut up about this.'

              Minimum wage still isn't $20.

              4 votes
              1. Thrabalen
                Link Parent
                I agree with all of this, but the fact that these are so big means that if we don't set aside some specific focus for the minority issues, they'll be swept under the rug even more than they...

                I agree with all of this, but the fact that these are so big means that if we don't set aside some specific focus for the minority issues, they'll be swept under the rug even more than they already are.

                4 votes
        2. vord
          Link Parent
          I blame blowback from the civil rights era. I was in elementary school in the early 90s. The teachings are (to the best of my knowledge) still taught to this day, the American Exceptionalism...

          I blame blowback from the civil rights era.

          I was in elementary school in the early 90s. The teachings are (to the best of my knowledge) still taught to this day, the American Exceptionalism fairytale.

          And what's important is about how whitewashed MLK has become in that time. And how the summary of the 20th century ends with 'The Civil Rights Era fixed all systemic issues, and everyone lived equally ever after, The End.'

          So now, that program has bred a generation of middleage Americans that believe that systemic racism doesn't exist. That one period of the 60s/70s was enough to level the playing field and give everyone equal opportunities. And thus anyone claiming otherwise is just being lazy and asking for a handout.

          1 vote