Lionel Shriver Explains Why An Alternative Word For ‘Woke’ Is Necessary

[@macnadoodle]

Woke is western Maoism.

[@zoltan-zq3xe]

100%

[@east-saxon]

Drivel

[@MrRickytuk]

It's a religion. Wokism seems like a pretty decent name for a religion.

[@johnhuddleston8647]

Thank you. I was going to say woke is essentially communism.

[@PlainsPup]

“Woke” is shorthand for postmodern identity Marxism. As such, it’s an extremely apt and useful word.

[@RichardEnglander]

'Regressive Left' has always made sense to me

[@jennifersimons4142]

Woke stands for Willingly Overlooking Known Evil

[@east-saxon]

Drivel

[@manicmadpanickedman2249]

Words have strict meanings and are easy to define its called a dictionary and everyone else is just not with the program You realize that if you can change the meaning of a word By purposely using out of context That is worse than defamation It's litteraly an infringement of your human rights because what is the bill of right written in ???? Words obviously Those words don't mean anything if they do not have a static definition How many people wold go to jail if you started teaching people that saying "taking the dog for a walk" Now defines as "punching your neighbor in the face" Either by rewriting the definition or by purposely using it out of context . And notice too they fail to provide an example of what is wrong ??? If it's falsifiable than that means there is an example that shows how its (write or wrong right?)😂 See bad pun but proves the point it is in the dictionary look it up

[@BennyMcGibbon]

Great comment. These people love pointing at so called oppressors because they cannot get near the fact that they will have to have confrontation in their daily lives. There are no Bruce lees in real life. There's always someone bigger and tougher than you. You have your confrontation then move on, all this scheming and manipulation is all designed to remove anyone that will confront you. Them.

[@pialakin6517]

🎯

[@SaltyGammon567]

"woke" means that everyone is amazing and beautiful and perfect, unless you're white, Christian, western, straight or hard working.

[@colinpumpernickel2605]

I've got an alternative for "woke". It's "thick". The dumbing down of education has led to very limited people gaining influence in the work place and it has resulted in this mess. The proliferation of new universities and the sending nearly 50 per cent of school leavers to these sink institutions has been a disaster. You can't democratise elite education. The very definition of a university should be an elite institution not a holding pen to keep academically limited young people off the unemployment stats.

[@SuperiorMoon]

Another term for woke is self-righteous.

[@BrendaNeedle]

What about phony.

[@Lorraine-p4r]

Loony Leftie original word, I still use.

[@peterdixon7734]

Indeed. That includes the political correctness of, for example, calling Mankind "Peoplekind", etc. That goes all the way back to the early 1970s but was not thought to constitute a serious threat at the time.

[@davidlangley1725]

what about pathetic?

[@metgirl5429]

Narcissist comes to mind 🤔

[@stephendalton1648]

How about sh/te

[@oekmama]

No, I think it needs to stand as a historical marker of this very strange time.

[@spector969]

I think the term 'woke' is perfectly adequate, because it REALLY annoys woke people.😂

[@Truthnowhere2020]

Lionel is right, Woke is going the way of far right and misogyny. All have lost their actual meaning.

[@lilmmissmuffet]

We used to call them 'Loonie Lefties' it worked.

[@louiseparker1915]

Authoritarianism?

[@peterhar74]

End Woke now

[@ianinkster2261]

The reason why we're fumbling with this word "woke", is because the institutions normally tasked with naming and taxonomizing ideologies (namely, the academy), are themselves the institutions that went on fire. So we left with vague folkish terms for the prevailing ideology of the age. Whereas previously the prevailing paradigm was "The Christian Liberal Tradition", recognised as such by a healthy academy.

[@WilliamWilliams-o4u]

My favourite replacement would be "humourless"

[@bruceberkow]

"Cultural Marxist"?

[@Jackie157_]

Lets. Call it state puppets on show

[@mrharpable]

Nah. They are woke.

[@Magpie6656]

“Nonsense “.

[@barryevans791]

Brilliant, the plan ain't working, time for a re-branding.

[@bilal1671]

She beautifully interchanged palestine with hamas as a propagandist. You will loose this fight against wokism if you didnt remain completely truthful. Sow as you reap.

[@JimmyDreadNDMS]

I respect the honesty in the admission that the word "woke" was in fact, stolen from the left, maligned, and used as a perjorative; with those on the right, in opposition, wearing being anti, or non woke, like it's something one should take pride in. It had been part of Black cultural slang since, at least, the 1960s; meaning to be "progressive, cognizant of the struggles faced by marginalised groups; such as Black & Brown people, women, LGBT, the poor & disenfranchised, and those, affected by myriad facets of those issues, through intersectionality (as defined by Kimberlé Crenshaw); such as racism, sexism, misogynoir, classism ,etc. From the verb, to "awaken"; being "woke" was to emphasize with those facing those societal issues, and help alleviate them, through allyship. It still means the very same thing, to this day. The disingenuousness of many in opposition, is that they feign ignorance to its definition; because it is a virtuous characteristic, and to label yourself with antonyms of "woke", is declaring oneself to be; •Tone-deaf to injustices •Racist •Apathetic to inequality •Sexist •Selfish •Heartless I say; whom the cap fits, let them wear it...

[@robertdexter5342]

Mon! You have a new subscriber!!

[@georgesdelatour]

I think you’re overdoing it. In the 1960s Black Americans might have been using the word “woke”, but you’re retconning a lot of 1980s and later American academic language into an earlier time. Back in the 1960s, “progressive” was still understood to mean “Communist, but I don’t want to say directly that I am”. “Marginalised groups” didn’t come into general use until the 1980s. “Brown” people were a tiny proportion of the US population in the 1960s. The term LGBT only came into use in the late 1980s. Kimberlé Crenshaw first used the word “intersectionality” in an academic paper from 1989. “Misogynoir” is a word first used in 2010 by Moya Bailey. You say that anyone who disagrees with any of these apparently perfect ideas is infinitely malevolent. But they have been critiqued from the Left, by Adolph Reed, Mark Fisher, Slavoj Zizek etc.

[@mogznwaz]

How about NeoMarxism?

[@lesliefish4753]

How about "Useful Idiots"?

[@ruthcollins2841]

More like "useless" than useful!😅

[@AlexDuggan68]

How about "Pro-Pedo". To call someone who disagrees with woke as far right doesnt necessarily mean they are a nazi; so to call a woke person as Pro-Pedo doesnt mean they like kids, its just that many of the ideals come from philosophers and entertainers that liked kids.

[@B_Lion.]

Fascism.

[@B_Lion.]

@johnny71c no fascism isn't exclusive to the far right. It can be anyone who exhibits fascist controlling behaviour.

[@mrsentencename7334]

@@B_Lion.fascism is the final form of leftism. All the Italian fascists were socialists. Think I’m joking? look into the subject

[@Michael-jx9bh]

As long as the woke people are bothered by "woke" being used to describe them it will do. After all it's not meant to be complimentary. The origin of the word "woke" is irrelevant. Lionel seems to wanna discuss it because the very people the word describes doesn't like it, ergo it should stay in use.

[@etteridge]

Applied Postmodernism or AP. That’s what I’d use.

[@Robert-Downey-Syndrome]

Talk TV really knows how to gently brush up against the important issues.

[@shughy1]

Woke is cognitively sleepwalking into a dystopian authoritarian nightmare

[@jeffreydamonte67]

I’m not sick of the word woke. I’m sick of the woke lunacy at work and in the kids’ schools. Let’s ditch woke, self-esteem, and political correctness, and bring back truth, merit, and competition.

[@bcoxal]

"Self-righteous" will do.

[@cynthiajohnson9412]

I respectfully disagree that we need a new word for woke. I think it times of chaos and confusion when forces are intentionally unclear and stirring up rancor, we should not rely on short-hand terms, i.e. jargon and slang. We should be specific and clear and verbose, if need be. We don't need one word to replace 'woke' we need many - many powerful and to the point words like ignorant, arrogant, sanctimonious, jargon-spewing, control-freak hypocrite. Then for debate purposes prove each word independently with principles, examples, and evidence. Start with sanctimonious - no one has the right to judge or control other people's hearts and minds. Your mind is your own private, inner sanctum - by invitation only. And the sanctimonious 'ist/phobe-spotters' are cordially invited to mind their own bees wax. And for the record, I am transphobic. I am frankly afraid of big, angry men in dresses screaming at me, threatening me, and calling me names. I submit any reasonable women would be be walking on egg shells, afraid of angering such people. Transphobia is a perfectly rational response to a fear of stepping on someone's delusion. There is plenty of evidence and testimony to prove it triggers rage, vindictiveness, and violent outbursts.

[@elkabongg2716]

I agree that the best way to tackle the ideology is to target specifics and take it apart bit by bit. However not that many people have the time and wherewithal to compose long and complex arguments, some will only use short snappy comments or say nothing and others just skim past and won't read long intricate paragraphs. I think the word Woke is useful to cover a wide range of evils and if somebody can come up with something better and more fitting that would be great.

[@cynthiajohnson9412]

@@elkabongg2716 Well, I think you hit the nail on the head, the dumbing-down process is our problem. We don't have to lower ourselves to meet the stupidest among us. I don't know where that ridiculous standard came from anyway - another woke idea that we have to be inclusive of everyone, no matter how dull and lazy. Well, I don't think we can go any lower, so we might as well start the process of climbing back out of this hole we've dug for ourselves. And if they don't know what is being said, well no time like the present for learning. The whole damn internet is a dictionary and I, for one, am sick to death of offering exposition to people too lazy to look something up. No more remedial support for people who lack even basic curiosity about the culture around them. P.S. In case you haven't noticed the disingenuous patterns of the woke, there's nothing wrong with using the word 'woke'. Frankly, they just don't like being called out so they make up excuses. Let's just retake control of our language and say, dammit, you know exactly what it means. It means phony people using condemning, weaponized cultural Marxist rhetoric to subjugate others for the purpose of elevating themselves, while hiding behind protected classes of so-called marginalized groups.

[@cynthiajohnson9412]

@@elkabongg2716 And I have to say that one of the biggest motivators toward learning in human history has been the desire to keep up, stay in the know, and not get left behind. And this idiotic inclusiveness drive has destroyed that motivating impulse to stay on top of things. It's like an no-idiot-left-behind movement and we're all standing around waiting for them, and they ain't coming.

[@fiveleavesleft6521]

​@@cynthiajohnson9412 Philosopher Ken Wilber characterised it as "the cultural leading edge of society collapsing in on itself". A "progressive" culture has to have a respected and somewhat trustworthy elite pushing ideas forward. Post modernism and the ideological takeover of institutions has seriously undermined that. The constant attempts to label the likes of Rogan/Peterson/Weinstein "far right" is the attempt of a failed elite trying to stave off and discredit a more grounded and coherent "leading edge" from taking over.

[@Oceanfoxy]

Mind virus and cult

[@neonatalpenguin]

How about "Bigoteering"?

[@Arripa-777]

So Woke means Caste system ? How awful ! It was abolished in India.

[@mattjones1776]

Woke has become slang for Neo-Marxism. There's no mystery about it, you just have to read up on the subject.

[@andybrice2711]

_"Identitarian"_ is quite a useful word for for people who place vague ideas of identity above material reality, on both the radical left and the far right.

[@WilliamWilliams-o4u]

Doesn't matter what you call it. If it's overused any substituted word would also become overused.

[@jpvoodoo5522]

Grievance collectors is a term I have heard. Terminally aggrieved is another. Race essentialist has been used. But identity essentialism might cover all of the other groups.

[@530jazzercise]

woke is any action or phrase that denudes christian culture

[@annamacbriar2766]

There needs to be a new term for it in the DSM.

[@gdes4063]

Funnily enough, a Marxist Leninist in Black Panther founder Huey Newton warned the American left against 'sloganism' and 'phrasemongering' in the late 1960s, saying that it always waters down your movement because it leaves opponents the opprtunity for reinterpretation. The black Panther motto was 'All power to the people', which we now know as 'power to the people' - two very different ideas. It happened with woke too. It was well intentioned (awake to societal injustice) but was just too goofy and faux hip on the face of it that it deserves to have been pilloried and contorted into the joke it is today.

[@SJK-ROW-K]

We have another word we’ve been using it for a while now - DEI - not broke don’t fix it

[@jimmyb79]

Critical theory cultists

[@run2cat4run]

Our anti woke Tories isn’t woking out

[@donpietruk1517]

How about the New Puritans? It captures the secular religious aspects of much of the movement.

[@julieclonan2427]

Marxism

[@elkabongg2716]

Identity politics describes part of it but doesn't fully encapsulate the doctrine and philosophy in the way that Woke does. Those who say it does not exist are doing so because it is an effective term in denigrating their ideology. The only problem with it is because it covers the all the wide aspects of the ideology including identity politics, sexism, racism, the levelling down of competence and achievement, climate and eco fanaticism, globalism, open borders, feminism, various phobias and isms and more and when you see an individual esposing part of the Woke doctrine you can be pretty sure they sign up to the whole lot. The difficulty is when asked to explain what Woke now means in its pejorative sense you cannot give a sufficient definition in a short and snappy sentence and most people give a partial description that only covers one or two aspects. I think we should stick with Woke until somebody comes up with a better alternative because it is gradually getting through and rattling them and is why you are seeing attempts to discredit the term. My suggestion would be for leading figures like Lionel Shriver to put forward a good template to answer the question what does Woke mean that others can refer to and use.

[@NPC--666]

Racism, sexism?

[@Arripa-777]

& communism.

[@cashkitty3472]

It still works as does DEI and equity ecr

[@Arripa-777]

Another word for Woke is " JOKE " !

[@fiveleavesleft6521]

I use "dogmatic identity politics".

[@0ccam5Raz0r]

Trans-virtuous Able to switch ideology to match trending virtue signaling.

[@thehazelnutspread]

Stop allowing the crazies to dictate our language.

[@nicopohl2060]

There already is a term right and ready for use: "International Socialism".

[@bruceberkow]

"New Authoritarian"?

[@katiebarron4706]

I actually disagree with Lionel here. Woke is exactly the word we need and that's why it is considered 'overused.' it's too damn useful. We need an easy to remember, versatile, punchy, umbrella term for all this nonsense. It's not a coincidence that normies are finally noticing and speaking out on what is going on because we finally have a name for it. When i used identity politics or sjw in the past, unless u were chronically online no one knew what the f you're talking about. Use the word woke and my 90 year old grandma knows what I'm talking about. Changing the word at this point would only confuse normies who are finally waking up. Slang terms are crucial in spreading social awareness even if we can't all define it the same way. We know it when we see it. Like Karen. I say a replacement word will come when a replacement is needed. That's just my opinion.

[@mrharpable]

Bingo

[@charlytaylor1748]

How about TV for tiresomely virtuous?

[@mrharpable]

We still use zealot and that is now a negative

[@timdarville4827]

I love Lionel Shriver, but no - ''woke'' is a great word, neatly reflecting the idiocy of these people.

[@randomtanjnt9441]

Didn't the Pope just cover this?

[@jim-es8qk]

communism?

[@fabiopaolobarbieri2286]

I don't have a better word for "woke", since everything I could propose - e.g. "PC on steroids" - is longer and less suited to use as a formula. But I do have a definition. Woke is morality gone feral: what happens to the natural instinct that forms ethics or morality (if you see a difference between the two things, which i don't) when it loses its anchorage in common human experience and ideas. In the last couple of centuries, we have worked at driving morality out of every natural place where it once was an instinct, that hardly even needed to be cultivated. We have driven it not only out of what is now called sexual life, but also out of medicine, out of politics, and certainly out of business. And what has happened is that the natural instinct to cling to the decent and to abominate and reject the indecent now wanders in the desert like a wolf, like a hungry lion hunting for prey. We now treat people who misgender pronouns as once our mothers treated prostitutes, and our fathers anyone who suggested that our mothers were in any way like prostitutes. And being rootless and wandering, the monster of feral morality can never be settled, and can never be satisfied. New categories fall under its condemnation every day. Now we have come to the point where feral morality approves of the mass murder of Jews and of the mass mutilation not even only of teen-agers, but of pre-teens. From where we stand, any deeper abyss cannot be seen; but we may be sure that there is one, and that feral morality will find it.

[@knowbs2122]

Take out the O from wokery and add AN

[@terryr7622]

Didn’t the term actually start in the black community regarding racism? I remember hearing that word well over six or seven years ago

[@esmith6656]

the young and the woke-- someone needs to create this generation z. soap opera.

[@RockyWarhol]

Race Marxism. Critical social justice. Identity politics. Or simply racist. Whenever there is sexism, racism, Anti-Western, Anti-White or some other bigotry then use words like bigot, racist, sexist etc.

[@martino2794]

The Cult

[@Runner2000]

There is another word for “Woke.” Maoism.

[@shylinh5939]

To me it means authoritarian, faux liberal.

[@self-publishinghelp8596]

Neo-Marxism, cultural Marxism is very accurate.

[@guitarboogieboogie]

Wokeist, Wokeoid , Are also useful words,

[@geoffallen2835]

Listening to Shrivers concerns about wokeism, it seems to me that it has invaded both sides of the political spectrum in the US and other western cultures. One side, the liberals, a prevailing force at many universities today, they demand equality and openness while often giving precedence to minorities over the majority. A kind of reverse racism, sexism and even to religious adherence. An open mindedness where the brain falls out. The other extreme, the ultra conservatives, under the guise of traditional values, actively counters this movement by their own cancel culture. It's very unlikely that a black person would become a Republican president or even as a running mate, or, an openly atheist politician will get voted in to either of the main parties, at almost all levels of government. I’m always amazed at how snow-flakey “traditionalists” become, when their perceptions on their deeply held biases are challenged. Shouting people down with calls of “woke” or “racist” in a dialog of any kind, is meant to as a conversation stopper. It adds nothing but destroys any chance of meaningful conversation.

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

Regressive religion, it needs to be condensed into one syllable.

[@fromchomleystreet]

“Woke” has a lot going for it. Alternatives are either too specific (Identity politics” for example doesn’t cover the same range of stuff) or inaccurate (“progressive” shouldn’t be tarnished by using it to describe things that are inherently regressive, and anything involving “left” both fails because some of these positions are NOT left wing in any meaningful way, they are in fact quasi-religious rather than truly political, and because much of the pushback against woke comes from WITHIN the left, from old-school left wing people who thoroughly reject it)

[@JT-rx1eo]

It's predictable and funny how some on the Left try to distance themselves from the "woke". The difference is merely a matter of degree, not kind. Even "moderately Left" people use grievance, victimhood, and identity politics, and who's modus operandi is to subversively infiltrate society's influential institutions (media, academia/sciences, pop culture/art, government agencies, corporations, etc.), to gain control and corrupt the institutions for their agenda goals. And to lie on an institutional level. Bill Maher still thinks the the Right is more dangerous to the country (and the West in general) than the Left. That of course is delusional.

[@onlygazza]

“Religious cult”suits most of them to the t

[@Guillhez]

idk, but satanism could work, it spiritually describes the problem and it even has a 1980’s nostalgia flare to it

[@dimercamparini]

Nonono...I dont agree..you DONT stop to use a word when it finally have reached the mainstream and start to be used and comprehended (for what it actually is) by the common dude in the street... On the contrary...this is exactly what is needed to progress in fighting that ideology... Deleting "woke" and start to use another obscure and just for "specialists" terminology would actually slow down the progress and the ultimate winning by a lot. (sure the other side will try to minimize and dismiss it once it's reached the general public...but the net positive effect still remain and is far better than the occasional "naaaah...it doesnt exist, is just a conspiracy theory")

[@mon11nom]

Grievance monger

[@LS-xs7sg]

Spitefully Mutant?

[@laurafenton6776]

Just like Islam

[@ll0013ll]

wokestinians

[@benshithero3037]

Woke has no meaning and never did. Its a phantom standard(a standard without a standard like "normal" used basically to lower other people ans meaning something different in the minds of anyone who uses it. Besides a movement gone years ago in inner cities. It doesn't, its a phantom enemy with no solid definition or thus accountabity so you can point it as a collective weapon against whatever you want and that's why you found it so useful but it never clear definition it was always a mindless weapon. Also, human beings are not IDEOLOGICAL they are humans. To refer to humans as an ideology or it or thing is a clinical sociopath pattern trait of objectifications and demonizations much like when the buffalo bill character in silence of the lambs said, "it puts the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again. Its like say, "it acts conservative religious and political or it gets the hose again. People aren't ideological they are people. The author of silence of the lambs did research on Sociopathy to develop her character in the book. That trait is real and somewhere conservatives picked up the habit from among them somewhere So surely you should all stop identifying children as an "ideology/radical ideology", they are not ideological, they are children. and quite frankly you'd shouldn't be eyeing them up like Hannibal Lector at your influences of concept on society. When matters are weaponized people resist them as weaponry. Using a kin to war, if at to the war you are that, especially when you're weaponry is of poor designs don't wonder at things like being cancelled. There were a many poor used to be rich Southerners after the civil war. If you don't want civil problems don't attack your fellow civilians. Attacking them for saying you are attacking them because you don't see it their way at how you were so attacking them is not, not attacking them. Its attacking them, for complaining you were attacking them and just because people don't use the n word so much anymore doesn't mean all the poor people in the world magically vanished and certainly not the love of money vanished which may have a slightly different slant on it, but the love of money was still the basis why slavery why racism why any kind of discrimination, and the love of money didn't disappear and so neither really did the discriminations. Tgey are still valid to say are there in this or that from, because as long as the love of money is the root of all evil and the love of money is present so is the evil and its discriminating practices. Woke is a magic invalidation word. Not for black people or any other sort of people, rather pretty much all of them even been discriminated against just as long as they ain't the ones holding the money or the genuine equal opportunity to have it. Yall complain about Satan and at same time pretty much say he up and quit so everyone should just relax and tske it up the butt from the rich guy now? Yall got some content issues with your stories. Yall like, "Relax, its not about us touching your private parts against your will/about sex at government gun point at by the law, its just about political and social economic and theocratic dominance"? Hate to tell you this but the scandals you got going on in your churches shows as quite the relative to your politics and its pretty nasty. You think people ain't noticing you getting all grabby, but they do. Yall get more decent proposals or don't expect people are gonna accept them. Yall even often say they ain't even your cup of tea, why you gotta get all grabby than?