My definition of "woke" is to be sensitive and empathic to the issues and struggles that marginalized people face in their daily lives, to defend their rights as human beings, and call for changes where appropriate and necessary. The marginalized include people of colour, LGBTQ+ folks, and the homeless. As a liberal, I've been called "woke" many times when I've defended civil liberties. I take it as a compliment.
abortion is wrong...late term abortion is wrong... turning women into men and men into women is wrong.....teaching children the above agendas are wrong....forcing those agendas upon everyone is wrong...
I have wondered why the animosity for a long time. Many years ago it used to be mostly the difference between the approach being top down vs bottom up. It saddens me to see what's become of this country. I never cared about whether I wanted to be democrat vs republican, I spent a lot of time studying the issues and came to my own concllusions no matter where they fell. IMO, I believe the trojan horse was Ronald Reagan and then, the Koch Brothers and Americans For Prosperity.Just those 2 pieces could fill volumes. It was also about this time that cable news took over. Before that, we had 3 choices for news which basicaly said the same thing, and we heard the same thing. Also, IMO, Government is not the boogeyman and neither are liberals or democrats. Nothing is perfect, but holy cow. And I'm sick of being attacked. If you look into Americans For Prosperity (AFP) alone it would explain a lot of things. "Big business" has strangled us. Insurance companies run the "medical" profession, our food chain is ruined by chemicals and other methods of big companies, it goes on an on. All the while spreading lies and pitting people against each other. Like the saying goes, money is the root of all evil. The hatred for democrats is intrenched and goes way before Reagan but when you add those other things into it, the situation now is toxic. And now with "news" bombarding with lies and agendas, it's like fuel on the fire. I prefer the rural life but unfortunately the rural areas are besieged with misplaced thinking. I've "joked" with relatives in Canada, for them to make room for me but after attending a family reunion this summer, I was astounded by the thinking of my relatives there. The genie is out of the bottle now so I don't know where this is going but to me, it's sad and scary. I don't usually say much because I don't like being attacked but I couldn't help but comment so you didn't think everyone thought the way you probably see the most of.
I stand corrected. You wrote that it was “veiled racism” but the point still stands and is accurate. You wrote it but if your own memory doesn’t serve you correctly then perhaps you might have to do what an instructor once told me: Look it up yourself so that you may learn better. Just as I am totally against a primarily black organization doesn’t mean I dislike black people. With that, I dislike the mindhive that stands as the present day liberal movement because of what that movement includes e.g. near mandatory diversity in the job place whether that person is qualified for the job or not. My heavens, look at Biden’s cabinet including the White House press secretary. Everyone was hand picked but not because of what good they would do within the parameters of a specific job but rather, what social grouping they proclaim to be in. Even Biden’s pick for SCOTUS had to be a black female and none other in any other social grouping was allowed to apply which, by the way, totally busted the back of the Civil Rights Bill. Yet, when I or any other person says anything about any of those picks, we’re homophobic, racists and bigots; not because we’re ticked off that we’re paying someone strictly because they’re black or one of the alphabet people.
Thank you for your thoughtful answer, Susan. From where I sit, there have been two major factors that have polarized the U.S. in recent years, widening the gap between liberals and conservatives. The first was the election of Donald Trump. He stirred up and pandered to the conservative extremists of the country, a large proportion of them gullible, uneducated, rednecks. The COVID pandemic pitted anti-government, anti-science, conspiracy theorists against those who trusted the science and the best advice of medical experts. And during these times, the media...especially FOX news and various "experts" on YouTube fueled the fire by spreading falsehoods and often outright lies. That's not to say we don't have the "us vs them" attitude in Canada. We surely do. And a lot of that attitude has been influenced by U.S. media. A lot of what happens in the U.S. affects us north of your border. Sometimes it's positive, but in recent years, it's been very negative.
I am aware that I used the term "veiled racism." Nothing wrong with my memory. The fact that you refer to LGBTQ+ as "alphabet people" speaks volumes. That is disrespectful.
I think Donald Trump gave a voice to the disenfranchised and those who felt left out of the political world for many reasons. Plus, so many people are hurting in so many ways...financialy, emotionally and in every way. Then you add in the culture we live in. The sad thing is the politicians are feeding off that for their own purposes, not to make things better. We're supposed to be in the "information age" and yet so many people don't spend the time and energy to really look into issues and instead take bullet points, labels and all or nothing thinking to heart. (which is a longer way of saying what you described I guess ) Now that artificial intelligence (AI) is hitting the scene, I think we're really in for trouble. I remember my first computer in 1993. I was so in awe, I felt like I had the Library of Congress at hand but yet even then I knew that it's like anything else, it can be used for good or for bad. I'm not one for organized religion (which isn't to say I'm not spiritual) but I think it's time I read the Book of Revelations! And yes, we all influence each other, especially in the computer age, we live globally yet so many have such narrow views. I also think what has added to the distrust is the fact that people have been lied to in so many ways which adds to people not believing science, government and just about everything which, in some ways it's good to look into everything but too often that doesn't happen. So many have tunnel vision. I don't know if you can open this but it's pretty on target.
Hmmmmm...you complained about liberals being insulted and here, conservatives are extremists ; gullible, uneducated, rednecks. Trump, in an emergency, set the vaccines in motion and chose (what I see as) the worst overseer--Faucci. He was president and used the science available and provided alternatives, or the right to use alternatives in the emergency . Democrats forged ahead, also in an emergency, to put covid sufferers in nursing home causing the deaths of so many elderly even though Trump had provided Navy hospital ships which were snubbed by the Democrats of NY. Trump is a big mouth self promoter but I would again choose Trump over Hillary ANY time. He stood up to N Korea, China and never would have had the war in Ukraine happen, having a working communication with Putin--not collusion. He had us energy independent. Trump was working on getting our border secured. But Biden threw that in the toilet and now millions of unmasked, unvaccinated illegals cross into our country. They are cutting fences, losing livestock, taking what they need...Your border is longer and substantially unprotected and a lot of the drug cartel is in the NW protected by our laws at the moment... We were told we could not even work if not vaccinated/masked shutting down interstate commerce and killing our small businesses--just as bad as sanctions. So we had a trucker demonstration. Laws take time and they did not have time. The destruction happened even with demonstrations. Bur people noticed. It will continue. The media sees to it.
I fully agree with you, except for the Book of Revelations part, as I'm an atheist. LOL But, I get what you mean. I am distressed by the narrow-mindedness of people, as you've described, and the massive impact technology has had in shaping thoughts and attitudes, a lot of it to the detriment of creating a peaceful society. So many factors at play. To be honest, I worry for the future of our children. I think they'll have many more challenges than we've had in trying to live a happy, productive life.
I know you're an anti-vaxxer and a Trump supporter. I'm not going to bother debating you. I know nothing I say will have any effect on your way of thinking.
Is it disrespectful to say “state” instead of a particular state? Is it disrespectful to say “mam” instead of the person’s name? Was using Gregg’s shorthand disrespectful of the English language? Do Note: The Plus (+) sign added to the conglomeration indicates those not heretofore included, so can that not also mean: Straight starts with S and is within the alphabet so am I being disrespectful of straight people too? How about B as in, Black or A as in Asian? Of course, B could also be for beastiality but thus far, I think the alphabet group has stayed away from that one. Again, all you are doing is virtue signaling which has absolutely no validity in a conversation because the only fact included in the conversation is the one based on self aggrandizement for which I have no need. Now, if you will, do attempt to put your emotions and your imagined purity of thought behind and what you believe others will think of you if you looked at the real facts and proceed onward. No more baffling folks with BS but rather, try dazzling everyone with brilliance instead of sociopolitical garbage and highly disrespectful name calling. It pays in the end.
I haven’t said too much in this thread because it hits one of my pet peeves and I imagine I’m in a minority position. I think a (huge) part of the problem is that we create labels for ourselves. I’ve always hated labels, everything from Mr./Mrs. to theist/atheist, to liberal/conservative. These labels we self assign are what allow people to take the short cut of not getting to know someone as a unique individual. Read the label to know the product. We should try banning the use of titles and adjectives for a while, just as a start.
I was thinking of the laws with hate crimes in mind. A crime is a crime, Whether it is against a woman, man, child, gay, black...what has been failing here is Prosecuting those who break the law no matter their label. We are experiencing lots of crimes where they don't bother finding the criminals, like in all the black on black shootings in Chicago, going on for years Then there is the mowing down or gradmas and kids by a recently freed-by-bail-jerk south of Milwaukee who drove his truck through a Thanksgiving parade. The liberals wanted to defund the police to help educate the alleged bad guys. Now the Mayor of New York is working on making it ILLEGAL to wear masks because more and more people in hoodies and masks are getting braver about crime and facial recognition does not work with a mask on. Irony music?
I have heard a couple of E. Adam’s speeches and I’m a little more than impressed. There are some things I agree with and some things I do not but overall, it really looks like he is trying to lead and help.