Posted on May 3, 2021
The ignorance that underpinned empire and slavery still has staunch defenders | Zoe Williams
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It seems that the government’s war on woke is box office gold, infinite spite fired at an endlessly replenished stream of targets, none of them moving very fast, since they totally weren’t expecting culture secretary Oliver Dowden to even be aware of their work.
But, ask anyone who uses it pejoratively to describe another person what “woke” actually means, and it turns out to have a specific usage. In an academic or museum trustee, it means anyone who talks about decolonising the curriculum, as in the case of the academic whose reappointment to the board of the Museum of Greenwich was reportedly vetoed by Dowden. In the context of youth, it’s the ones on Black Lives Matter protests, unless it’s the ones posing a threat to a slave owner’s statue.
Its purpose is to reframe any anti-racist activism or intellectual inquiry as a threat to either public order or British heritage. It’s tactically rather neat – if you’re unwilling to say “racism is good, actually”, then it’s hard to lodge a heartfelt opposition to anti-racists. Yet if you can interpolate some other dearly held principle (history, public order and, oh go on then, freedom of speech), claim it is under attack and pledge to defend it with all your might, well, here’s the emotional heft you were lacking.
That argument, where it relates to history, rests on a parallel idea, that anti-racist revisionism is seeking to erase the past. If we take down a statue of Cecil Rhodes, we begin an act of conscious forgetting, which corrodes the national identity.
But, ask anyone who uses it pejoratively to describe another person what “woke” actually means, and it turns out to have a specific usage. In an academic or museum trustee, it means anyone who talks about decolonising the curriculum, as in the case of the academic whose reappointment to the board of the Museum of Greenwich was reportedly vetoed by Dowden. In the context of youth, it’s the ones on Black Lives Matter protests, unless it’s the ones posing a threat to a slave owner’s statue.
Its purpose is to reframe any anti-racist activism or intellectual inquiry as a threat to either public order or British heritage. It’s tactically rather neat – if you’re unwilling to say “racism is good, actually”, then it’s hard to lodge a heartfelt opposition to anti-racists. Yet if you can interpolate some other dearly held principle (history, public order and, oh go on then, freedom of speech), claim it is under attack and pledge to defend it with all your might, well, here’s the emotional heft you were lacking.
That argument, where it relates to history, rests on a parallel idea, that anti-racist revisionism is seeking to erase the past. If we take down a statue of Cecil Rhodes, we begin an act of conscious forgetting, which corrodes the national identity.
The ignorance that underpinned empire and slavery still has staunch defenders | Zoe Williams
Posted from theguardian.com
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 7
Posted 3 y ago
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MSgt Steve Sweeney
3 y
SFC James Welch - Are you saying the average Confederate soldiers were slack-jawed yokels without an understanding of politics and the world around them, and were being manipulated by landed officer class? You think those manipulative, land-owning officers ever told their troops how freed blacks would take their jobs and mooch off the government... basically like they continue to do today?
They did fight to keep slavery, whether they knew that was what they were fighting for or not.
They did fight to keep slavery, whether they knew that was what they were fighting for or not.
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SFC James Welch
3 y
You know, I wasn’t there, but some of my Ancestors were and I have read many letters written by those who were. My Great Grand Parents had an old chest with things from their Parents which included letters from the War. I have read the History of Kentucky Units and the men assigned to them. It’s easier to do that now than when I began. Don’t take my word for anything, do your own research and see what you come up with. Just because a person was born in the South doesn’t mean they are a Racist.MSgt Steve Sweeney
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MSgt Steve Sweeney
3 y
SFC James Welch - Doesn't mean they are not either. I am sure many of the people that grew up in Germany in the 1930s didn't harbor any resentments against Jews until they were offered up the Jewish race as the cause of all their troubles. It doesn't take much to convince people that other people that do not look, think, or pray like they do are the ones that are causing all their problems.
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Edited 3 y ago
Posted 3 y ago
The problem is that "woke" does not specifically refer to race and colonialism. Often those who are "woke" use it pejoratively about anyone and everyone whom they think is not "woke", i.e., anyone who doesn't subscribe to a far left-wing worldview. The other day, I saw some friends on Facebook berating anyone who didn't subscribe to the idea that college debt should now be forgiven. Because I didn't subscribe to that belief, I was labeled selfish and uncaring. I am left of center, but I will not be dictated to when it comes to my beliefs and decisions.
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Sgt Jim Belanus
3 y
the past is the past and can't be changed, therefore it shouldn't be forgotten but put to rest
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