The word “woke” became part of the national conversation after Terry McAuliffe’s defeat in Georgia after Democratic strategist James Carville suggested that part of what went wrong was “stupid wokeness” and suggested that some people need to go to a “woke detox center” or something.
"Well, what went wrong is this stupid wokeness," well-known Democratic strategist James Carville said.
"Some of these people need to go to a woke detox center or something. They're expressing language that people just don't use." https://t.co/SaFgNoyNWs
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) November 4, 2021
Those progressives who consider themselves woke took great offense at Carville’s words, and now there’s a piece about how the right-wing is using language like “woke” as a weapon.
The View’s Sunny Hostin retweeted the piece, pulling out as examples the words “illegal alien” and “states’ rights” along with “politically correct” and “woke.”
How the right wing uses language as a weapon. From "illegal alien" to "states' rights" to "politically correct" to now "woke," the Republicans have perfected the art of language devoid of concrete specifics, but charged with big feels. https://t.co/LtwhAb7Dyb
— Sunny Hostin (@sunny) November 7, 2021
Magdi Semrau wrote for AlterNet back in May:
So, what “wokeness” denotes is overwhelmingly positive: awareness of bigotry and concomitant opposition. Yet, recently, as conservatives have co-opted it, the term has become derisive. “Woke” people are unserious. You’re allowed to roll your eyes at them, because they are sensitive and sanctimonious. In this sense, “woke” has unfortunately become a dysphemism. Whereas euphemisms soften underlying meaning (the dead “passed away,” for instance, or the woman is “with child”), dysphemisms do the opposite (the dead “croaked’, for instance, or the woman got “knocked up”).
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Semrau is upset that journalists are allegedly “falling for it,” even though the venerable AP Style Guide keeps telling them not to use “illegal alien” anymore and in its place “undocumented person.”
Projection.
— Adam Johnson (@whads) November 7, 2021
This is projection all the way down.
— DanteVergil (@dante_vergil182) November 7, 2021
I wonder where the right picked up that trick.
— geoff: the account (@geoff_stemen) November 8, 2021
You mean when the right “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it”, you don’t like it?
— Screaminshrink (@screaminshrink) November 7, 2021
This has to be satire.
— Andy Coleman (@raintdog) November 7, 2021
Always accuse your opponent of what you are doing
— Joey Rivaldo20 (@JoeyRivaldo20) November 7, 2021
Congratulations, every word you wrote is factually wrong
— Anthony (@Antonstx) November 7, 2021
From the ppl who brought us "birthing people" 🙄
— NoPartyT-Unsophisticated (@Twin66) November 8, 2021
😂 you think “birthing person” is a legit term.
— Doctor of Coding Thinkology (@bradcundiff) November 7, 2021
Cool, now tell me the concrete definition of “woman”.
— Danielle ✝️ ⚾️ 🏋🏻♀️ 🥩 #LGM (@MississippiMama) November 7, 2021
Trying to shut down accuracy. Enjoy these words.
— Anthony Bialy (@AnthonyBialy) November 7, 2021
"State's Rights" was a term I learned in 8th grade History class, moron.
— Horst De Wermer, DVM, MD, PhD, GED, DDS, MOUSE (@Crapplefratz) November 8, 2021
from the side that invented "assault weapon"
— Commodore-Criminal Ramon Cruz (@Commo_Criminal) November 7, 2021
Which party re-defined “defund”?
Hush.— Ronnie Zumwalt (@rzsouth) November 7, 2021
"racism" and now "white supremacy" are the ultimate examples of strong language without concrete specifics these days and it's not the right that is using them
— Mouse (@Josephreadingtw) November 7, 2021
Lmao… from the side that literally makes up words like Cis and latinx. Lol
— Doug Wilson (@dcwilson40) November 8, 2021
Literally all of critical race theory is a manipulation of language. Not exactly a right wing field.
— PsuedoDank (@DankPsuedo) November 7, 2021
(1) The term "illegal alien" was a legal term;
(2) "States' rights" have been a key component of American thought since before the Constitution;
(3) "Politically correct" was coined by Marxists;
(4) The term "woke" was originally utilized by Left-wing race activists. https://t.co/bzYV7xZ1D0— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 7, 2021
The ultimate use of language as a weapon: fetus. It convinces low-information people that an unborn baby isn't a baby, isn't a person, isn't human, and isn't even alive.
— Renna (@RennaW) November 7, 2021
Facts are violence.
— Wolfgang O'Houlihan (@ForeverGrumps) November 7, 2021
Imagine trying to write a sound argument about choice of language tactics and ending it with “big feels”
— Luke Persiani (@LukePersiani) November 7, 2021
Never seen a tweet more deserving of a ratio
— Julien (@Fitness_Julien) November 7, 2021
There’s still time to delete this.
Actually, don’t because it’s helping the right win! Thanks Sunny!
— Erik Janowicz (@ErikJano82) November 7, 2021
This post gave me cancer and COVID. Thanks Sunny
— KJ Samuel (@KJSamuel6) November 7, 2021
The side that continually demands we remove words from our vocabularies and calls concerned parents “domestic terrorists” is now complaining about using language as a weapon.
Related:
Ibram X. Kendi announces there’s no such thing as ‘not racist,’ wants it eliminated from our vocabulary https://t.co/oBfmj7c45G
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 22, 2020
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