Monday, November 25, 2024
There is woke.
There is anti-woke.
And now I propose there is anti-anti-woke.
It’s not as long as antidisestablishmentarianism.
Nor as cute as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, which is the shortened version of
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, and imho is the only way it should be written.
btw I can pronounce the whole thing!
But that’s Welsh and so is not the longest word in the English language, which is antidisestablishmentarianism.
But that’s neither here nor there as my point is that antidisestablishmentarianism was a movement opposed to those who wanted to no longer have the Church of England the official Church of the nation. And woke and the supposed woke movement was opposed by the right who made a thing of it by claiming to be anti-woke. The problem being that there is no specific meaning for woke. It seems to be defined by those who claimed to be woke and pointed the finger at those who weren’t woke enough as being for caring for others and sympathetic to the plight of others less fortunate or who were oppressed through no fault of their own other than being born of a certain race, gender, religion, or place.
Those who then claimed to be anti-woke seemed to define it as being opposed to giving a hand out to those they see as undeserving moochers. This is an old argument in new clothing. Remember the Greatest Generation? They were the returning GIs from WWII. They got to go to college on the GI Bill. A government handout! It was fashioned by the Dems. Then there’s the aid to farmers. They get low interest loans from the Agricultural Department. Most farmers and certainly not Fox News types even know it’s the Ag department because they work through local banks. As Michale Lewis pointed out in his book about this one Agricultural Department worker points out that without this program rural America would look like rural China. Republican bankers have been salivating over grabbing those loans so they can jack up the prices and make big bucks. Maybe with Trump in and Project 2025 they’ll succeed.
Elon Musk did not become the richest man in the world all on his own. He had tons of help from the U.S. government. And my point is that you don’t do it, whatever it is, on your own. Others have helped you. Either it’s a mentor or a government program – something. The anti-woke folks are opposed to making anything systematized. Better to let people scrap and beg.
I remember an example from when George “Papa” Bush was President. Someone in his detail was in tough straights due to some unforeseen incident. They passed the hat and gave him the money. Tip O’Neil pointed out that The President had just vetoed a bill that would have done the same for millions of folks. “The Dole” was what FDR was always afraid of being accused of doing. Grace Perkins talked him out of that notion and we got Social Security and Medicare. But Republican Senators and Republican appointed Supreme court justices are hoping to cut all that back. Yeah, don’t want anyone getting something for nothing. Oh you want to give me a luxury trip to wherever? How nice. What’s wrong with that? Hum.
Then there’s the student loan debt. They should have to pay it off like I did, back in the day! Yeah. Back in the day the government made sure you got a great deal. Today’s students are saddled with interest rates bordering on usury and not allowed to refinance. Not only that but universities are being run like corporations . They charge the maximum they can. Don’t use their endowments to help students and keep growing that nest egg. For what? It’s not clear.
No wonder folks are pissed off.
So if woke means helping folks – I’m for it. And if anti-woke means “F. U. I got mine you get yours.” I’m agin’ it. I guess that makes me anti-antiwoke.
See where I’m going with this?
And if you wish to comment and your comment includes “Yes, but …” Well, God Bless you, because I won’t.
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