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Woke(n) Up!

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Balajee, Jul 9, 2022.

  1. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Language is often like a wild river. You don't know in which direction it will take. Words that mean something today mean something else tomorrow. New words crop up and alienate themselves from their roots.

    We often feel like Rip Van Winkle , waking up after a lo0ng snooze and finding that the language that you have been using has become a stranger to you as new words or old words with new strange meanings flash mocking smiles t you.



    One such word that fried my brains in a wok is WOKE. . It originated in the word that denotes not sleeping but keeping your eyes wide open (Of course some sleep even with open eyesA) but has branched out from its parent and set up iots own business , unsavory business at that.

    I woke up to the word while watching a TV debate *Yes, I watch TV debates I am quite masochistic you see), when a participant, a pulp fiction writer,(why does this tribe gets invited to POLITICAL debates?) blamed the country
    's problems on WOKE radical communists and WOKE radical Isla mists.
    , I wondered what it meant. It5 was never a part of my vocabulary. Does that mean these guys have not been caught napping?

    After going through OED and `Wikipedia, it turned out that woke meant following an intolerant and moralizing ideology. Woke you see is no joke but a serious pejorative. IN US Republicans used it for democrats and democrats foir their own party colleagues who were left leaning. Ir is in the same leafue as Political Correctness though not that all encompassing.

    I wonder what kind of impact it will have in the present day hypersensitive India? Will someone try to cut my throat for using it against them or may be there will be a midnight knock on my door from cops with a warrant for hurting some sentiment or other.

    I think I will play it safe by calling myself WOKE atheist. May be both the warring parties here will ignore me. Or they might form a united front to lynch me. In this country one never knows nowadays.

    If you8 are not your toes when it comes to your language you could be on a sticky wicket like my barber who had named his shop GAY HAIRCUTTING SALOON without knowing that the meaning of the word has changed leaps and bounds.

    When I told him what GAY meant, the poor chap panicked and within a week changed the name to QUEEN VICTORIA HAIR CUTTING SALOON not by appointment to her late majesty, of course.
     
  2. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Good one. I am surprised it's remained with no responses for a month.
    "Woke" and "cancel" are two words that I kept ignoring for as long as I could. Couldn't summon up the motivation to look up their meaning. And, I couldn't get their meaning even after reading them frequently in the news. Then, a little before the pandemic started, Obama said something about the dangers of cancel culture. Only when he commented on it, I finally looked up both woke and cancel properly.

    Funny how I now remember or recall many things in terms of the pandemic's timeline even if the thing has nothing to do with the pandemic.
     
  3. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    Og God! Cancel too? And I thought it was a simple word used for things like cancelling bookings, appointments and shows. Looks like it has sinister meanings ( A gangster could use it as a synonym fur "Terminate which is the politically correct term for murder) But frankly7 I haven't checked the new meanings of "cancel so far. It has very scary potentials. Too scary.
     
  4. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Balajee,

    I know words we all utter has consequences. But when it gets to a stage where we need to measure every sentence we make with reference to our opinions with the intention to make it politically correct and palatable to the common public, we really feel that there is no point in talking out.

    In America, for a while, every person of authority who were involved in extra-marital affairs or asking for sexual favors from people who are vulnerable, were caught and removed from the position of authority. I felt the Americans are questioning the people in leadership position to practice morality which I welcomed.
    I know there was a time, when a President was involved in a sexual relationship with the inturn, until it reached a stage where he should either lie under oath or declare the truth, the President decided to tell the truth. However, the impeachment went nowhere as his political party was in majority and considered his action is a personal matter and it doesn't affect his executive position.

    Now, anyone saying anything that is not politically correct are victimized irrespective of their reputation and contributions. It is called cancel culture. For someone with high reputation, it has reached a stage where he or she can't utter anything that would be viewed as politically incorrect as it would result in cancelation of their contracts and beginning of resetting their career path.

    Of course there are exceptions. The last President said and did so many things but faced no consequences at all. He became a champion fighting against cancel culture to protect himself.

    The society is changing and people's perceptions are changing constantly.
     
  5. Balajee

    Balajee IL Hall of Fame

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    People in positions who are have had extra-marital relations are caught ands removed?Clinton had to face a grand jury but mpmne battered an eyelid in the case of Trump, whose sexual escapades are a legion. That speaks volumes about American hypocrisy. We are no better here. A minister in Karnataka was caught on camera demanding sexual favors for giving a job to a lady. The state government did not take any legal action against him and instead appointed a police team to find out who leaked the video. Language has also become a victim of political correctness which I see as nothing more than an attempt to restrict our freedom of expression. Now even words like "deaf", , "blind or "ugly" are politically incorrect. Hearing impaired and visually challenged are okay d for deaf and blind but "aesthetically challenged" for Ugly is a way too much. I am still angry that the word "gay" has been appropriated by the homosexual community. Qhy can't one be gay without having alternative sexual preferences?
     

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