Lucy_Little_Spoon t1_j6ia69u wrote on January 30, 2023 at 3:11 PM

Reply to comment by JadeMarco in When everyone is woke, the ones who are actually woke are the ones who aren't woke. by raydditor

Woke means you're aware of and care about social issues that affect people negatively, such as trans people being a heavily marginalised community under attack on a near constant basis.

Now, basic human compassion would tell you to care about an issue like that, but bigots would tell you you're woke for caring about an issue like that.

So which is it? Because it seems like they ARE the same thing, and also, that's an anecdote.

JadeMarco t1_j6j4jdw wrote on January 30, 2023 at 6:25 PM

Haven't the woke people given that name to themselves, though? They came up with it

Xralius t1_j6ihvig wrote on January 30, 2023 at 4:02 PM

Uhhhhhh no they aren't the same thing.

Its possible to care about such issues and not be compassionate, or be compassionate and not care about such issues.

Lucy_Little_Spoon t1_j6ipqgf wrote on January 30, 2023 at 4:53 PM

How is it possible to care about such issues and not be compassionate?

The only thing I can think of is people using certain social issues to turn a profit, like companies changing their logos to rainbow for Pride Month. But that's not caring about the issues, that's them using the issues to turn a profit, not the same thing.

Xralius t1_j6iubps wrote on January 30, 2023 at 5:22 PM

I mean you can be a huge douchebag and still care about certain issues. I mean fuck, someone can be a serial killer and still care about social issues.

You can "care" about issues because you think it makes you look better, or to feel good about yourself, or societal pressure.

You can prioritize in a way that isn't good. Putting small issues you care about ahead of big issues.

You can care about issues but have bad ideas / solutions.

You can care about issues and shit on other people who also care about those issues but are less vocal on it.

You can care about issues and shit on other people who also care about those issues but have a different opinions on those issues.

You can care about the issues but not actually care about the people involved.

Also... just because you are coming from a place of compassion doesn't mean you're right. Everyone is the good guy from their own perspective.

But more to the point, woke is not a synonym for "compassionate" by any stretch of the imagination. You can argue being woke comes from a place of compassion (which I'd argue isn't true for many people), but the words simply don't mean the same thing... at all.

Being woke just means social issues are important to you and you want progressive change regarding them.