I am not saying that everyone who uses the term "woke" is a flaming racist, but . . .

 

I accuse them of intentionally belittling, and trolling folk. And even if the term can be used at people not specifically engaging in black/brown/not white advocacy, it has quickly become a stand in for the N-Word.  It  covers a lot of territory actually, not all of it racist, but pretty much all of it hateful, 

This is a good read:

Why White People Should Stop Using The Term Woke, Immediately.

" Using the term “woke” to stigmatize someone else’s perspective is immature and offensive. It feels dehumanizing…just like “the race card” because after all, for many of us racism isn’t a game."

And moving on to the idea that compelled me to post today.  What to do with black folk who are part of the anti anti racist movement?  It annoys me that some, like John McWhorter, either know they are not helping at all, or perhaps don't?  I hate to use the rhetoric of an argument I don't really usually employ.  But hey.  Sometimes I miss shit right in front of my face, too.  But  if one is a linguist, one should not distort the definition of what is racist, to take a rather mean and unfair crack at people you happen to disagree with.  Re defining a term to suit one's argument is weak, shallow, and should be a big no no, for a linguist.  But I am not an academic.  I am a lawyer. And even if I have not been before a judge in years.  I have been metaphorically slapped around by judges.  Avoiding that is what keeps most lawyers from  changing the definition of things. But in the wide world?  You can get away with sloppy assed shit, even if others can point it out.

But back to the main point.  Calling some of the antiracists  the real, or some bizarre, new kind of racist just helps the same old garden variety racists, we black and brown folk have been fighting for 500 years.  

Remember!  The cardinal rule is don't help the white supremacists!

Back to the willful distortion of  language.  White supremacists have been distorting the meaning of the word racist, or variations of it, for decades.  The do it to on the one hand, blunt the effect of it.  And on the other hand, I think it is some sick, twisted version of the rubber/glue child's taunt.  They seem to love the action of trolling more than coming up with something clever?  So if they just throw the term they more usually resemble at the other side, that is win for them.  I guess.  Dunning-Kruger in effect, I guess.

But what of the blacks who are buying into this idiotic line of argument? And I am saying idiotic not just to troll them back.   There are several legitimate definitions of racism and variants. You have the academic ones, and the legal ones.  My favorite is the UN definition of racial discrimination.  And with that in mind I say, this one, fool!  Stick to this one!  And yes.  This one takes into account the power dynamics.  One powerless asshole spewing shit in the supermarket parking lot, really isn't the poster child for the institutional racism that exists, and we reform minded people fight.  They are just one ignorant bigot.   

And one last thing.  Enough with the bullshit about what is in someone's heart.  Humans are not particularly good at  reading other human's minds.  So knock it off with that shit.  Judge people by what they say, and do, are comfortable with.