For the last year all I hear is some people (pretty much conservatives) calling other people (pretty much liberals), WOKE. What does woke mean? There is no definition, nor can anyone who uses the term explain what it means. I was reading The Week magazine and came across this article in the March 24, 2023 volume. A USA Today/Ipsos poll released recently offered 2 definitions of “Woke”, and 56% of the respondents chose the positive one: “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” Only 39% picked “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” The best explanation of a definition for “Woke” I found was in the following cartoon from The Week.
I find that all those using the term “Woke” to describe something they don’t like or agree with to be the most hypocritical I have seen. Take this for example: some conservative law makers and some non-law makers are the first to jump and proclaim first amendment rights (Freedom of Speech), but Gov. Ron DeSantis signs laws into place that stop people from saying gay, lesbian, transgender or any other word that medically/legally describes someone’s orientation, because they feel it is offensive. They implement laws like this under the disguise of keeping our kids safe. Sounds very similar to Vladimir Putin taking Ukrainian children from their parents and giving them to Russian families and saying it is better for the kids. I would hate to actually teach kids, that there is nothing wrong with being gay, lesbian or transgender. Or maybe teaching them that no matter who you are being kind, considerate, hard working and loving is what matters. No! these same people who implement laws that take away basic human rights are concerned with socialism. Can you say autocracy or dictatorship. WAKE UP!
Wait, here is another one. How about we remove all books that talk about homosexuality, lesbianism, transgender, slavery, race or the holocaust from the libraries and soften history like it never happened. Oh, it makes people feel bad about the history of this Country. People should feel bad about the history of this Country. We sucked early on. It started with how we treated Native Americans. Oh, wait they were savages right? No that is what they said in the Disney movie Pocahontas. We didn’t say that for real? What we did as a young nation was offensive, and it should be talked about. What would suck, is if we didn’t learn from it and continually change to be better. That, in my opinion is why we are a great nation. We learn from our past and we get better moving forward. And I’ll say again the same folks wanting to remove books that talk about our history are the same folks who cry about socialism. You don’t’ want to understand the history of this country and how it has shaped us, that’s your issue. Don’t stop others from learning and growing. You’re a hypocrite. WAKE UP!
If you don’t like drag shows, don’t go. Unfortunately, you’re missing a really good show. It is art, it is performance. I don’t mind any of it. If you don’t want kids to see the show, then don’t take them. Most drag shows don’t allow kids under 18 anyway. And just because there is a drag show showing in a bar, restaurant or theatre near you, doesn’t mean all the kids in town will want to become drag stars. The people who perform in drag shows, are not child predators coming after your kids. It doesn’t work that way. If you’re that concerned about child predators, then shut down the churches & the boy scouts as well. I won’t even bring up the lopsided statistics. I do have a problem with someone wanting to limit my rights or take them away completely. I want to learn and understand about others. If that is so bad, then call me Woke. You still don’t know what it means. If you want to keep your head in the sand, and not grow or change and become a better human being, then that is your choice, don’t stop others from doing so. All I would say to you is WAKE UP!
Just so you don’t think I am so woken that my eyes are closed, here is one for the conservatives to latch on to. All the statues that have recently been removed from in front of buildings or town centers and have not been destroyed, should be placed in an indoor museum or outdoor garden for all to see. We should not erase history. We should explain it. Let everyone know who these people were, what they did and how they shaped our country. Good or Bad.
Finally, I need to highlight one other issue that has been bothering me and I had to bite my tongue when I saw the posts on Facebook. I promised my family I wouldn’t respond to people on FB who post stupid shit. And there is a lot. There were several blatantly ignorant posts about transgender people while this person objectively sexualized women. One of the posts shows a picture of a transgender person (In this case an assigned male at birth whom identifies as a female) besides a picture of a cisgender woman (one who identifies with her assigned gender at birth) in a bikini. Super Model as was posted. Still not sure what that means. The comment about the transgender person was about how bad she looked, and is this really a woman. One of his respondents actually made a comment about the transgender woman’s choice to feel or dress like they did. At the same time the person who made the post goes on to state how sexy the person in the bikini was and wouldn’t you rather have one over the other. First of all, making an objectifying comment about a woman in a bikini shows how ignorant they are. Not to mention, no one knows if the super model in the bikini was straight, lesbian or shit, non-binary. Trans people are just people. They can appear as “convincing” or ambiguous as they please. They are still people. I guess that doesn’t matter if you’re attractive. It’s only worth making negative comments against someone who isn’t so attractive. Not once did anyone say, I wonder how nice either person is, I wonder what they are going through being a transgender person, I wonder if either of them do anything for their community. Nope, it was all about looks.
If your still unsure about it. Look up the “The Daily Show – Brave New Girl” on youtube.com (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kgQADIHVSA. )You will see what I am talking about.
Your first mistake is believing that someone who is LGBTQ has a choice in how they feel. You can say any of us has a choice in whether we act on our feelings, but that’s like telling me not to love my wife or be attracted to women as a heterosexual male. If you ever had a family member or close friend who is LGBTQ then maybe you would feel different. Maybe you would take the time to research and understand before criticizing someone. You would learn it is not a choice. You don’t wake up (no pun intended) one morning and say I think I’ll be gay (not in my brothers’ case). If you do wake up and say that, it is only because you have come to the reality that, that is what you are and have been since birth. Read about it.
I bet those Christian conservatives who shun the LGBTQ or put laws in place to discourage them from being who they are, would never once question why their God (male, female or matter) who is so kind, could be so cruel to put a female in a male’s body (or vice-verse) and set them loose in this world to face constant criticism and discrimination. The same Christian conservatives who would send their money to the Trump organization (so he can spend it on defense lawyers, you idiots), are the same who quote the bible (at least the sections they like) and don’t ever live what they were taught. Sorry to tell you folks, there was a lot of LGBTQ shit going on during the time the bible was written. As someone recently reminded me, wasn’t it Jesus who said feed the hungry, clothe the naked and provide shelter for those in need? By all accounts Jesus was a socialist. No one wants to talk about that. Maybe he meant only do it for those we really like.
WAKE UP!