The writer of the letter “Tables turned on the woke” (March 22, TribLIVE) only deepens the mystery regarding the word “woke.” It originated in the Black community to denote “awareness.” I never heard that usage until it began to be used by the political right. There is, to my knowledge, no “woke wing of the political left.” The term was “appropriated” by the right and turned upside down.
Use of the word “woke” has become bizarre. A columnist recently referred to air traffic controllers being selected for their “wokeness.” (I have no idea what that means.) By a logic I do not understand, the letter-writer concludes that the left has reacted to charges of “wokeness” by engaging in “cancel culture,” another term invented by the right. “Cancel culture” is a poor substitute for a perfectly good word, “censorship.” Censorship is government control of what people say and think, such as what is going on in Florida.
The right uses “wokeness” to attack things they don’t like by hiding their attacks behind the term, while using “cancel culture” to defend things they do like, such as censorship. After all, it is embarrassing to have to admit that one is against students learning about the horrors of slavery or that gender is more complicated than we ever thought. Much better to pretend that those things aren’t real, mere left-wing propaganda.
Political discourse in our country is in a sorry state. The energy and thought needed to solve our problems are instead taken up by arguments over “alternative facts” and the mirage of stolen elections.
Robert Supansic
McKeesport