“The problem with the word woke” (March 10, TribLIVE) delves into the woke mind. Woke was appropriated by smug white liberals to brandish assumed street cred. Then they used wokeness to bludgeon conservatives. When their opponents turned the tables, the “woke mob” cried foul, rechristened woke a racial slur and began a campaign to cancel the word.
Had the woke true courage of conviction, they would have taken their cues from what the LGBTQ+ community has done with the word “queer.” This term had little historically positive connotation until it was embraced by some as gay pride self-identity.
The woke constantly redefine terms and concepts in an effort, it seems, to malign and confuse the other side. But when they are dumbfounded by the inevitable pushback, they resort to knee-jerk name calling, whining, “that’s not what we meant.” When this fails? Cancel.
The woke wing of the political left seems to delight in inventing inanities that are, at best, misleading and, at worst, downright mendacious. Inflation Reduction Act? Hardly. Affordable Care Act? Come now.
A woke vision of a free and democratic society is to redefine terms to advance its disingenuous worldview, which they prop up by dictating when these words may be used, by whom, and how.
It’s no mystery why “gaslighting” was recently named the word of the year.
Peter Busowski
Jeannette