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Helen’s Place LLC Update: September 30, 2024
Since the original posting of this article in February 2023, Donald Trump defeated Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential nomination. However, the commandeered definition of “woke” is still in use by the GOP. This article proposes a better definition of the word. Perhaps one day it will be so.
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February 28, 2023 22:19
Sometimes you have to show defiance to learn and think for yourself.
This is true for youth protesters in Florida and around the country, reminding us that they aren’t going to give up their freedom any more than the Ukrainians fighting Russia will give up theirs.
For the most part young people aren’t having the book banning in Florida, and their protests will likely continue and grow louder.
It would be great if people would stop name calling, but the war of words will not end until the culture war battles are over, Young people are determined to win, and in the end they will – even if they have to wait for the older folks to die off.
Never underestimate the next generation, because when they have to the young will go vote out the people threatening freedom and our democracy.
These may be the end times for the last gasp of older authoritarian wannabes, and the culture wars are ugly. Out of the trash-talk rubble, words are frequently commandeered by opposing forces and twisted around.
Take for example the word “woke.” Some people may remember the origins of the word “woke,” meaning “to wake-up” in the black vernacular, as in:
“You better get woke, because before you know it, we’ll be speaking some bastardized form of Russian,” (Urban Dictionary, nmichave, 2016).
This word was misappropriated by the right to be anything and everything the right wants it to mean in vague fashion, such as Ron DeSantis saying, “Florida is where woke goes to die.” “Woke” is now a code word for anything the political right doesn’t like about democrats, democracy or anything else.
The “monkey see, monkey do” pattern of using “woke this” and “woke that” gets tiresome after awhile. Politicians and conservative talk show hosts use it so frequently one could lose count how many times they spew the word “woke” in a sentence.
Some say – “don’t you have an original thought in your head?”
Perhaps one day the history books will reflect that this period of American name calling and book banning, is just “stupid,” as James, Carville, political strategist, likes to point out.
But okay, if we’re in the war of words, “woke” could just as easily be taken back to mean:
W.O.K.E.
We
Observe (then)
Know
Everything
I’m in the know! I’m awake! I’m aware! This positive affirmative form “W.O.K.E.” allows us to live in the moment, put down our phones and unplug from social media for a while.
Now try it in a sentence – We observe (then) know everything!
Related audio/video recording:
Ari Melber discusses Florida book banning with substitute teacher:
YouTube, MSNBC, February 6, 2023, “’Outrageous’: Florida teacher rips DeSantis’ censorship, criminal threats”
Other related article you may be interested in:
Public broadcast discusses book banning in Florida schools:
WUFU, Dave Dunwoody, February 5, 2023, “Book ban in Florida’s public schools rankles many”
Discusses the actions of politicians and teachers, and the critical role that voters will play in deciding the future of American public school education:
Helen’s Place LLC, March 31, 2023, “In Education Culture Wars – Actions Speak Louder Than Words”
Helen’s Place LLC is an information and educational materials company celebrating English Language Arts, Cognitive Science and the love of birds. It’s the maker of printed instructional, educational, and teaching materials for children and adults in the field of English Language Arts and Cognitive Science.
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