A long read but one I think some will find interest in. In short the charge is infighting among the ranks between leadership and stated goals of an organization. Elephant In The Zoom This is, of course, a caricature of the left: that socialists and communists spend more time in meetings and fighting with each other than changing the world. But in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election, and then Joe Biden’s, it has become nearly all-consuming for some organizations, spreading beyond subcultures of the left and into major liberal institutions. “My last nine months, I was spending 90 to 95 percent of my time on internal strife. Whereas [before] that would have been 25-30 percent tops,” the former executive director said. He added that the same portion of his deputies’ time was similarly spent on internal reckonings. “Most people thought that their worst critics were their competitors, and they’re finding out that their worst critics are on their own payroll,” said Loretta Ross, an author and activist who has been prominent in the movement for decades, having founded the reproductive justice collective SisterSong.
Isn’t “woke culture” just a way of saying anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-homophobic, etc…? Don’t really see that going away any time soon…. Younger generations are really into it. I expect it to grow and become so commonplace that people will stop giving calling it woke….
That was long. You won’t be surprised I wasn’t as moved as you about it. It basically was a long story with regular human conflict in organizations weaved into a narrative that it somehow that is unique friction in mission driven liberal organizations. He misses the GOP eating itself daily openly on TV in the select committee. Internal strife happens in every organization including secular, non-secular, military, political, business for profit, and yep, non-profit. I did agree with the author that we are in the difficult phase of several cultural issues (author calls it stage 5 which he says is started by a transformational event like Floyd). As he points out people get frustrated with the slow change until phase 6 when public opinion wins out so there is lots of friction during it. He didn’t mention gay marriage but that arc is what I think about as an issue that simply just won out public opinion. I found the ACLU story interesting. That’s a heck of a conundrum protect free speech by representing white supremacists. I get why they are struggling with it.
Look who’s given you negative responses. You must be on to something. Like anything else, wokeness can be taken to extremes, and as an old timer, it aggravates me at times. Fortunately, my children (ranging from 34 to 55) keep me honest. With even a little bit of an open mind (which your negative nellies have repeatedly shown they don’t have), one can appreciate the larger mission of wokeness and applaud it.
In corporate, it becomes just another type of bullying for activist employees who wish to wield that sword as opposed to work product. And then run to the union to complain about the man keeping them down or worse, trying to be the boss of them. Oh wait, that is gubmit bot corporate ymmv
No sir. Woke culture is an excuse to virtually lynch your oppositino under the auspices of anti-racism, anti-sexism, etc., by labeling them as racist, sexist, xeno/homophobic, etc.
I'd point out the major difference here is employees are pitted against leadership and management roles. Not only are they eating management they are eating each other. In effect destroying themselves from within.
Question--has America become more or less racist sexist etc over the last 60 years? How about 50? How about 30? 20? 10?
I think to many it is those things, but in the unforgiving eye of any particular individual or mob, completely lacking context and lacking any sense of compassion that people aren’t perfect but those imperfections don’t make them members of organizations that wear white sheets.
"Woke" when used by the "anti-woke," tends to function much the same way as many other Republican boogymen like "socialist" and "CRT." By that, I mean it's a perverse and intentional misrepresentation of a legitimate cause or movement that, like everything of and created by humans, is imperfect with examples of where good intentions indeed paved a road to hell. The disingenuous like to use these exceptions as evidence of a flawed cause, instead of viewing them as flawed representations of a cause with merit. EDIT: On second thought, "socialist" is slightly different. That seems more typically used as a dog whistle for "this costs money for something I don't personally care much about."
I'm not sure how to address your question. More or less racist, sexist etc as compared to what? Over the years I would say less as society has become more integrated both culturally and racially. Of course there are those that would differ from my point of view.
In some cases perhaps. Are you suggesting wokeness as a whole is misguided or just, in some instances, counterproductive?
I agree with that, but are you suggesting we’re a finished product and no more improvement is necessary?
No, concern for justice isnt going anywhere, but it is true that if you spend any time in any activist circles (of whatever political stripe), people will use the "issues" and concern troll to pursue their own petty grievances and agendas, and that can derail a lot of good work if you let them have their way. Also it sort of goes without saying that people most concerned with things like sexual harassment or racism will be hyper-aware of it in a group dynamic. Also, infighting is what the left does best, its always been part of the deal, before "woke" or "identity politics" were a thing.
I think America has become less of those things with each new generation being more diverse and integrated, and therefore more accepting of differences and in favor of real equality. But I suspect that most Americans are probably about the same level of racist/sexist/bigoted as they individually were 60/50/etc. years ago. For example, I doubt many klan members from the 60s and 70s have had drastic changes in their feelings about people of color.
We are absolutely not a finished product. The issue as I see it is to get Americans to act as one versus acting against each other. The my ox has been gored needs to transform into our ox has been gored instead of promoting division along racial and cultural lines.
Yes I found it very interesting. I have several thoughts , some of them conflicting. - it is really sad that this stuff has essentially caused progress to stop on other issues, and sad that these young people can’t or won’t see that. - I think there has always been a generational split between young employees and older management. Todays younger employees are more likely to be vocal about it where our generation groused about things but generally internalized them so as not to blow up their careers. (I on occasion expressed my frustration and it was not helpful to my career) - there is always a level of immaturatity and inflexibility at that age, however I think social media helps to exaggerate the impact and make them even more dogmatic. - at some point, if you ask somebody “how do you feel”, you are not going to get the answer you like, and it opens up a Pandora’s box. Maybe that is necessary in workplaces now but I’m not a big fan of it. It is like dealing with a toddler who falls down. If you react with a sad face and say a whiny “are you OK???” The toddler will start bawling. If you are stone faced or smile or politely laugh and say “did you bite the dust ?” They will probably shake it off. - employers talking to employees about their feelings about George Floyd just seems ridiculous. I would not want to work at such a company. Corporate managers are not therapists.
