Current Events > Please define "woke" to me?

(+) Yeah! (+)

My personal observation is a word that people use to throw a tantrum everytime a PoC or lgbt person get some representation in the medias... so people who use woke unironically, what is your definition of it?

woke
/wk/
verb

1. past of wake

I haven't seen any leftist person used the term to describe themselves for a long ass while. Pretty sure it's just repubs using it to mock dems for overly PC stuff.

Anytime a minority, woman or LGBTQ person shows up in something that white men like.

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Anytime a minority, woman or LGBTQ person shows up in something that white men like.

I think women are allowed to exist as long as they simp the main male character.

According to Desantis's General Counsel, the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.

It was actually defined in court by DeSantis lawyers recently:

the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/05/desantis-florida-woke-critical-race-theory/

acknowledging that people should be treated equally regardless of race, gender or sexual orientarion basically.

What it actually was originally intended to mean, or what it currently means?

Because those are two completely different definitions.

It means whatever goppers want it to be; whatever's most convenient for them at the time.

It's whatever the right wing wants it to be at any given moment. Sometimes it can be 2 completely different things within the same conversation.

Sit back kiddies and let me tell you the Story of Woke:

So originally, "woke" was a term used by black people (predominantly) to mean they were aware of the actual systemic injustices that continue to plague the African-American community, how that affects us generationally, as well as how that relates to white supremacy. They were "awake" while the rest of us slept (i.e. continued to listen to profane music, be attracted to European beauty standards, sell drugs to our communities, kill each other, etc which only furthers the agenda of our "oppressors.") We typically refer to these people as "Hoteps," which is a word that became more derogatory in nature as these types started sounding more sanctimonious than righteous and began morphing into a more sexist/misogynistic rhetoric to coincide with their "black power" ideas.

Like most things black Americans come up with, the term was noticed by white folks a few decades after we were using it. And, of course, they act like they discovered something brand new and decide to appropriate it and run it into the ground. White liberals use it to mean being aware of social injustices and systemic racism and how that affects minorities/marginalized groups today (NOTE: Not just black people as was the original usage.) They wore it like a badge of honor/patting themselves on the back. This, of course, pissed of Conservative (see: racist) White people because if there's one thing they hate more than black people taking about racism, it's other white people doing so. That's when they decided to appropriate it from the Liberal White people and use it as a derogatory catch-all phrase they can use to demean any talk of social justice.

And THAT, my friends, is the true story of "Woke." You're welcome.

It's the past-tense of awake

A slur for good people.

basically it boils down to this:

10 seconds of a gay couple on screen? WOKE!!!

a female protagonist that isnt just a damsel in distress? WOKE!!

different cultures around the world being represented? WOKE!!

i could give more examples but im sure you get the picture... lol

The TL'DR of it is that when the writing or presentation is distinctly, unabashedly about filling a quota more than making a good character, so much so that even the groups you want to consume your media is put off by it (I'm looking at you, "Bros".)

Hell, Disney's 'The Owl House' has a huge fandom, and it's got blatant homosexuality in it, notably between the main character and her friend and a major character and her teacher-friend. 'Cause you know, it's a damn good show that doesn't place an absurd emphasis on itself as being LGBTQ-friendly is what it's about, whether in the promotional material and the series itself. Despite blatant gay romance and tension scenes in it, it's still just focused on making the characters and story good.

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got Strange World which... let's be real, no one was gonna go see that pile of shit, except me and the other two people in the world who bothered watching it. 'Cause from the very first trailer, it's all about promoting LGBTQ+ elements rather than telling the audience, y'know... what the movie's even about? That's kinda important.

Ragging on Disney a bit more, the MCU's another good example, notably phase 4. Male characters downplayed to hoist up their female counterparts in very unsubtle ways (See: She-Hulk telling Hulk she's better at controlling her anger despite him going through considerably worse and trauma-inducing events, losing the love of his life, consistently and outcast to society, etc.)
Then Phase 4 IIRC also introduced 15 male characters and killed off 5 of them, but introduced 29 female characters and killed off... none? One of them? I dunno, it's far higher.

"Brokeback Mountain" got a lot of love despite being LGBTQ+.
The "Alien" franchise got a lot of love despite staring a female lead.
Disney Princess movies, from 'Beauty and the Beast" to more recent movies like "Moana" and "Frozen" get a lot of love despite having female leads.
"Spawn" is a popular franchise despite staring a black lead.

None of those are called woke, and for good reason: adding diversity is fine. It doesn't matter if you have a little or a lot of diversity. What matters is that you EMPHASIZE it to a level that it stops being a story and starts being a university lecture on the subject, so much so that you actually end up alienating the consumers you're trying to appeal to.

epik_fail1 posted...

My personal observation is a word that people use to throw a tantrum everytime a PoC or lgbt person get some representation in the medias...

Like this.
No one cares if people get representation. The problem is the representation is done like shit to such a degree that even the groups getting said representation don't like it because its vapid. What good is a character whose primary defining trait is "She's a woman.", "He's Mexican", "She's trans."
It's like black superman and black Ariel. In a year or two, no one's gonna give a shit about them, because they're up against decades of another character that most know. Pretty sure black Ariel ain't gonna show up at the rides at Disney World.
They SHOULD be getting original characters that aren't sloppy seconds.

That's what I would call woke. Changing a character's skin color to fill a quota, but it doesn't mean anything in the long term, and is just for the short term. It sucks because there is a legitimate black Superman in the comics in the character Icon, but nah: let's go with a black version of an existing character, so that this representation is fleeting.

The "representation" argument's complete shit because you can't group them all together like that. Bringing existing characters to light is far, far better than changing a WELL-ESTABLISHED CHARACTER'S skin color or orientation or whatever, just for that alteration to become a very missable footnote instead of standing as their own thing like Black Panther.

^
Imagine giving a fuck about any of that pretend bullshit.

Basically any portrayal or representation in media of anyone who is not a straight, white Christian males will be labeled as "woke" by a certain group of what I generously call people

Its a catchy slang term that originally had a positive connotation because it meant being wise and aware, but now its mainly used to describe people who try to be way too politically correct.

PoundGarden posted...

Basically any portrayal or representation in media of anyone who is not a straight, white Christian males will be labeled as "woke" by a certain group of what I generously call people

By my observation, people are just tired of seeing race/gender/sexuality swaps of iconic characters because its creatively bankrupt and a blatant attempt to pander.

Being a decent person

lolife67 posted...

Sit back kiddies and let me tell you the Story of Woke:

So originally, "woke" was a term used by black people (predominantly) to mean they were aware of the actual systemic injustices that continue to plague the African-American community, how that affects us generationally, as well as how that relates to white supremacy. They were "awake" while the rest of us slept (i.e. continued to listen to profane music, be attracted to European beauty standards, sell drugs to our communities, kill each other, etc which only furthers the agenda of our "oppressors.") We typically refer to these people as "Hoteps," which is a word that became more derogatory in nature as these types started sounding more sanctimonious than righteous and began morphing into a more sexist/misogynistic rhetoric to coincide with their "black power" ideas.

Like most things black Americans come up with, the term was noticed by white folks a few decades after we were using it. And, of course, they act like they discovered something brand new and decide to appropriate it and run it into the ground. White liberals use it to mean being aware of social injustices and systemic racism and how that affects minorities/marginalized groups today (NOTE: Not just black people as was the original usage.) They wore it like a badge of honor/patting themselves on the back. This, of course, pissed of Conservative (see: racist) White people because if there's one thing they hate more than black people taking about racism, it's other white people doing so. That's when they decided to appropriate it from the Liberal White people and use it as a derogatory catch-all phrase they can use to demean any talk of social justice.

And THAT, my friends, is the true story of "Woke." You're welcome.

Pretty much what I was coming in to say.

superman_2000 posted...

By my observation, people are just tired of seeing race/gender/sexuality swaps of iconic characters because its creatively bankrupt and a blatant attempt to pander.

Then you're lying because "woke" isn't just used for character swaps and you know it.

lennethsoki posted...

<3 <3 I love life <3 <3

For someone with this sig, you sure seem miserable

lolife67 posted...

Then you're lying because "woke" isn't just used for character swaps and you know it.

Im referring specifically to representation in media, which was the focus of the person I was actually talking to.

superman_2000 posted...

Im referring specifically to representation in media, which was the focus of the person I was actually talking to.

Even then that's cap. Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Ms Marvel all received the "go woke, go broke" mantra. It really is just something that's said by a certain subset of people that don't like seeing minorities and women in media.

lennethsoki posted...

The TL'DR of it is that when the writing or presentation is distinctly, unabashedly about filling a quota more than making a good character, so much so that even the groups you want to consume your media is put off by it (I'm looking at you, "Bros".)

Hell, Disney's 'The Owl House' has a huge fandom, and it's got blatant homosexuality in it, notably between the main character and her friend and a major character and her teacher-friend. 'Cause you know, it's a damn good show that doesn't place an absurd emphasis on itself as being LGBTQ-friendly is what it's about, whether in the promotional material and the series itself. Despite blatant gay romance and tension scenes in it, it's still just focused on making the characters and story good.

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got Strange World which... let's be real, no one was gonna go see that pile of shit, except me and the other two people in the world who bothered watching it. 'Cause from the very first trailer, it's all about promoting LGBTQ+ elements rather than telling the audience, y'know... what the movie's even about? That's kinda important.

Ragging on Disney a bit more, the MCU's another good example, notably phase 4. Male characters downplayed to hoist up their female counterparts in very unsubtle ways (See: She-Hulk telling Hulk she's better at controlling her anger despite him going through considerably worse and trauma-inducing events, losing the love of his life, consistently and outcast to society, etc.)
Then Phase 4 IIRC also introduced 15 male characters and killed off 5 of them, but introduced 29 female characters and killed off... none? One of them? I dunno, it's far higher.

"Brokeback Mountain" got a lot of love despite being LGBTQ+.
The "Alien" franchise got a lot of love despite staring a female lead.
Disney Princess movies, from 'Beauty and the Beast" to more recent movies like "Moana" and "Frozen" get a lot of love despite having female leads.
"Spawn" is a popular franchise despite staring a black lead.

None of those are called woke, and for good reason: adding diversity is fine. It doesn't matter if you have a little or a lot of diversity. What matters is that you EMPHASIZE it to a level that it stops being a story and starts being a university lecture on the subject, so much so that you actually end up alienating the consumers you're trying to appeal to.

Like this.
No one cares if people get representation. The problem is the representation is done like shit to such a degree that even the groups getting said representation don't like it because its vapid. What good is a character whose primary defining trait is "She's a woman.", "He's Mexican", "She's trans."
It's like black superman and black Ariel. In a year or two, no one's gonna give a shit about them, because they're up against decades of another character that most know. Pretty sure black Ariel ain't gonna show up at the rides at Disney World.
They SHOULD be getting original characters that aren't sloppy seconds.

That's what I would call woke. Changing a character's skin color to fill a quota, but it doesn't mean anything in the long term, and is just for the short term. It sucks because there is a legitimate black Superman in the comics in the character Icon, but nah: let's go with a black version of an existing character, so that this representation is fleeting.

The "representation" argument's complete shit because you can't group them all together like that. Bringing existing characters to light is far, far better than changing a WELL-ESTABLISHED CHARACTER'S skin color or orientation or whatever, just for that alteration to become a very missable footnote instead of standing as their own thing like Black Panther.

I don't want to disapoint you, but Disney already changed Ariel's original appearence as the movie was based on a novel with a bad ending and was believed to be the self insert of a gay man.

superman_2000 posted...

By my observation, people are just tired of seeing race/gender/sexuality swaps of iconic characters because its creatively bankrupt and a blatant attempt to pander.

I can understand the race swapping thing, but I fully remember people throwing a tantrum about Tracer being a lesbian in overwatch and she was not an established character. Same with any shows with lgbt characters

epik_fail1 posted...

I can understand the race swapping thing, but I fully remember people throwing a tantrum about Tracer being a lesbian in overwatch and she was not an established character. Same with any shows with lgbt characters

Same with Zarya and her just being her.

lolife67 posted...

Sit back kiddies and let me tell you the Story of Woke:

So originally, "woke" was a term used by black people (predominantly) to mean they were aware of the actual systemic injustices that continue to plague the African-American community, how that affects us generationally, as well as how that relates to white supremacy. They were "awake" while the rest of us slept (i.e. continued to listen to profane music, be attracted to European beauty standards, sell drugs to our communities, kill each other, etc which only furthers the agenda of our "oppressors.") We typically refer to these people as "Hoteps," which is a word that became more derogatory in nature as these types started sounding more sanctimonious than righteous and began morphing into a more sexist/misogynistic rhetoric to coincide with their "black power" ideas.

Like most things black Americans come up with, the term was noticed by white folks a few decades after we were using it. And, of course, they act like they discovered something brand new and decide to appropriate it and run it into the ground. White liberals use it to mean being aware of social injustices and systemic racism and how that affects minorities/marginalized groups today (NOTE: Not just black people as was the original usage.) They wore it like a badge of honor/patting themselves on the back. This, of course, pissed of Conservative (see: racist) White people because if there's one thing they hate more than black people taking about racism, it's other white people doing so. That's when they decided to appropriate it from the Liberal White people and use it as a derogatory catch-all phrase they can use to demean any talk of social justice.

And THAT, my friends, is the true story of "Woke." You're welcome.

This person said it a lot better than I ever could have.

lennethsoki posted...

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got Strange World which... let's be real, no one was gonna go see that pile of shit, except me and the other two people in the world who bothered watching it. 'Cause from the very first trailer, it's all about promoting LGBTQ+ elements rather than telling the audience, y'know... what the movie's even about? That's kinda important.

Wasn't that only mentioned like 2 weeks before release tho. I mostly understand the point, but tbh that movie failed for terrible marketing, not for supposedly being woke

mehmeh1 posted...

Wasn't that only mentioned like 2 weeks before release tho

Yeah, none of the initial promotion for the film showed there were LGBTQ characters in it. I don't know what that poster is talking about.

mehmeh1 posted...

Wasn't that only mentioned like 2 weeks before release tho. I mostly understand the point, but tbh that movie failed for terrible marketing, not for supposedly being woke

Dude really outed his fake self.

lolife67 posted...

Sit back kiddies and let me tell you the Story of Woke:

So originally, "woke" was a term used by black people (predominantly) to mean they were aware of the actual systemic injustices that continue to plague the African-American community, how that affects us generationally, as well as how that relates to white supremacy. They were "awake" while the rest of us slept (i.e. continued to listen to profane music, be attracted to European beauty standards, sell drugs to our communities, kill each other, etc which only furthers the agenda of our "oppressors.") We typically refer to these people as "Hoteps," which is a word that became more derogatory in nature as these types started sounding more sanctimonious than righteous and began morphing into a more sexist/misogynistic rhetoric to coincide with their "black power" ideas.

Like most things black Americans come up with, the term was noticed by white folks a few decades after we were using it. And, of course, they act like they discovered something brand new and decide to appropriate it and run it into the ground. White liberals use it to mean being aware of social injustices and systemic racism and how that affects minorities/marginalized groups today (NOTE: Not just black people as was the original usage.) They wore it like a badge of honor/patting themselves on the back. This, of course, pissed of Conservative (see: racist) White people because if there's one thing they hate more than black people taking about racism, it's other white people doing so. That's when they decided to appropriate it from the Liberal White people and use it as a derogatory catch-all phrase they can use to demean any talk of social justice.

And THAT, my friends, is the true story of "Woke." You're welcome.

Ding Ding FUCKING Ding

In movie terms:
Racism is choosing the actor best representing the Majority just because they're the Majority.
Equality is choosing the actor (who may be either the Majority, or Minority) because they're the Best.
Woke is choosing the actor best representing the Mintory just because they're the Minority.

IShall_Run_Amok posted...

Dude really outed his fake self.

Really crazy that he wrote all that and still thought that no one could read through the lines. "Ooo, The Hulk should totally be able to control is emotions because, *checks notes*, worse stuff has happened to him! ...That's how human emotion works, right?"

lennethsoki posted...

The TL'DR of it is that when the writing or presentation is distinctly, unabashedly about filling a quota more than making a good character, so much so that even the groups you want to consume your media is put off by it (I'm looking at you, "Bros".)

Hell, Disney's 'The Owl House' has a huge fandom, and it's got blatant homosexuality in it, notably between the main character and her friend and a major character and her teacher-friend. 'Cause you know, it's a damn good show that doesn't place an absurd emphasis on itself as being LGBTQ-friendly is what it's about, whether in the promotional material and the series itself. Despite blatant gay romance and tension scenes in it, it's still just focused on making the characters and story good.

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got Strange World which... let's be real, no one was gonna go see that pile of shit, except me and the other two people in the world who bothered watching it. 'Cause from the very first trailer, it's all about promoting LGBTQ+ elements rather than telling the audience, y'know... what the movie's even about? That's kinda important.

Ragging on Disney a bit more, the MCU's another good example, notably phase 4. Male characters downplayed to hoist up their female counterparts in very unsubtle ways (See: She-Hulk telling Hulk she's better at controlling her anger despite him going through considerably worse and trauma-inducing events, losing the love of his life, consistently and outcast to society, etc.)
Then Phase 4 IIRC also introduced 15 male characters and killed off 5 of them, but introduced 29 female characters and killed off... none? One of them? I dunno, it's far higher.

"Brokeback Mountain" got a lot of love despite being LGBTQ+.
The "Alien" franchise got a lot of love despite staring a female lead.
Disney Princess movies, from 'Beauty and the Beast" to more recent movies like "Moana" and "Frozen" get a lot of love despite having female leads.
"Spawn" is a popular franchise despite staring a black lead.

None of those are called woke, and for good reason: adding diversity is fine. It doesn't matter if you have a little or a lot of diversity. What matters is that you EMPHASIZE it to a level that it stops being a story and starts being a university lecture on the subject, so much so that you actually end up alienating the consumers you're trying to appeal to.

Like this.
No one cares if people get representation. The problem is the representation is done like shit to such a degree that even the groups getting said representation don't like it because its vapid. What good is a character whose primary defining trait is "She's a woman.", "He's Mexican", "She's trans."
It's like black superman and black Ariel. In a year or two, no one's gonna give a shit about them, because they're up against decades of another character that most know. Pretty sure black Ariel ain't gonna show up at the rides at Disney World.
They SHOULD be getting original characters that aren't sloppy seconds.

That's what I would call woke. Changing a character's skin color to fill a quota, but it doesn't mean anything in the long term, and is just for the short term. It sucks because there is a legitimate black Superman in the comics in the character Icon, but nah: let's go with a black version of an existing character, so that this representation is fleeting.

The "representation" argument's complete shit because you can't group them all together like that. Bringing existing characters to light is far, far better than changing a WELL-ESTABLISHED CHARACTER'S skin color or orientation or whatever, just for that alteration to become a very missable footnote instead of standing as their own thing like Black Panther.

Imagine having such an embarrassing melty trying to explain all the mental gymnastics you perform in response to seeing black people and gay people on screen to discredit valid representation of minority groups in media.

Like, yikes dude.

Michael_Booth posted...

Woke is choosing the actor best representing the Mintory just because they're the Minority.

When has that ever actually happened?

lolife67 posted...

When has that ever actually happened?

Everytime a non-white, non-heterosexual has appeared on the big screen is the correct answer for these people, yet never one they will be open about and skirt around it with bullshit rationalizations.

DeSantis' lawyers essentially described it as 'not believing that the United States is perfect in every way just as it is.'

ellis123 posted...

Really crazy that he wrote all that and still thought that no one could read through the lines. "Ooo, The Hulk should totally be able to control is emotions because, *checks notes*, worse stuff has happened to him! ...That's how human emotion works, righ"

The Hulk complaints are especially dumb considering the entire point of Bruce's Hulk is that he SUCKS at controlling his emotions. That's literally why we have a Hulk to begin with!

It reminds me of a short conversation I had with a family member when a commercial with gay couples appeared on TV.

Them: So tired of this woke crap all over the place.
Me: what woke crap? This is normal.
Them: It is now, because they forced it on us.

My family is insufferable.