Here in the Netherlands they accuse people of being a ‘deugmens’ which literally translates as being a ‘virtuehuman’, a human with virtues. Except for possible pretentiousness, having virtues is hardly a bad thing, quite the opposite. Being politically correct has negative connotations, but most of the time it’s very easy to explain why something is politically incorrect, because the incorrect route has often proven in the past to be disastrous. People used to talk about ‘political correctness gone mad’ but now very often any political correctness is deemed bad. Woke is considered by some to be one of the worst insults you can get, but waking up and seeing that there is terrible inequity in this world, seeing that we are very whatever-centric in our thoughts/actions and questioning all that, is hardly a bad thing. Now the question is, do we need to reappropriate these words, reclaim and reframe them, or should we ignore them and move beyond them because people have been so deeply conditioned with ‘woke=bad’ no questions asked.
In Germany the derogatory term used is “Gutmensch”, good human.
It’s the narrative the right has created, and you can see it in those terms. The narrative is of course that people on the left pretend to be full of virtue and good but in reality are dreamers full of idoologies that can’t survive in the real world. That and not beeing able to practice what one preaches (like still using airplanes while advocating for a more sustainable lifestyle) are part of what they have constructed “woke people” to mean for them, as far as I understand it at least.
Maybe I’m drawing a connection that isn’t there, but I equate this with the behaviour in some circles of being suspicious of people who don’t partake in drugs, drinking, corruption, debauchery, etc. It’s kind of like you can’t trust people unless they have some vice, or at least an “edge” to them.
But maybe this behaviour is not related to this “deugmens” or “gutmensch” labeling.
I suspect a lot of derogatory terms across many cultures/languages are generally rooted in sarcasm. Pointing out the irony/oxymoron in the term just makes them feel/act even more self-righteous.
Here in the Netherlands they accuse people of being a ‘deugmens’ which literally translates as being a ‘virtuehuman’, a human with virtues. Except for possible pretentiousness, having virtues is hardly a bad thing, quite the opposite. Being politically correct has negative connotations, but most of the time it’s very easy to explain why something is politically incorrect, because the incorrect route has often proven in the past to be disastrous. People used to talk about ‘political correctness gone mad’ but now very often any political correctness is deemed bad. Woke is considered by some to be one of the worst insults you can get, but waking up and seeing that there is terrible inequity in this world, seeing that we are very whatever-centric in our thoughts/actions and questioning all that, is hardly a bad thing. Now the question is, do we need to reappropriate these words, reclaim and reframe them, or should we ignore them and move beyond them because people have been so deeply conditioned with ‘woke=bad’ no questions asked.
Well said. The people that have been clamoring “wake up sheeple” are now mad that people are “woke”.
In Germany the derogatory term used is “Gutmensch”, good human.
It’s the narrative the right has created, and you can see it in those terms. The narrative is of course that people on the left pretend to be full of virtue and good but in reality are dreamers full of idoologies that can’t survive in the real world. That and not beeing able to practice what one preaches (like still using airplanes while advocating for a more sustainable lifestyle) are part of what they have constructed “woke people” to mean for them, as far as I understand it at least.
Maybe I’m drawing a connection that isn’t there, but I equate this with the behaviour in some circles of being suspicious of people who don’t partake in drugs, drinking, corruption, debauchery, etc. It’s kind of like you can’t trust people unless they have some vice, or at least an “edge” to them.
But maybe this behaviour is not related to this “deugmens” or “gutmensch” labeling.
I suspect a lot of derogatory terms across many cultures/languages are generally rooted in sarcasm. Pointing out the irony/oxymoron in the term just makes them feel/act even more self-righteous.