JabberWOKE anyone?
Also shun the Bandersnatch. Vorpal sword optional.
I’m sure you realized that I was aware that “woke” is not used by most people as I used it in Sunday’s Blog.
In general, it has become an conventional political attack word. I believe the best definition would be that it is as a catch-all label for what some see, or want you to see, as support for “extreme” diversity goals. Whether such goals are actually “extreme,” seems almost beside the point. It is just assumed and not argued.
I don’t think one can expect much more from angry partisan rhetoric. Once you label something as bad, with the label itself as the reason they are bad, you don’t have much more to say. I suspect most know that and aren’t interested in policy debate.
Given the long history of such epithets in politics, I don’t think any argument of mine will lessen their use.
Modernizing the phrase of the legendary Mr. Dooley, politics ain’t cornhole. Or as Harry Truman was reported to have said, stay out of the kitchen if you can’t stand the heat. I would add the smells and the spills.
Should one instead sling the mud back? I’m going to suggest not. I realize that high-road” strategies in the past have often been losers, but in the modern world of multiple channels of communication, they can be successful. The trick is to appear above the mud, but not above the battle. The Adlai Stevenson approach smacks too much of elitism. Holier than thou speakers, even with the best of intent, don’t win elections. They simply showcase how little they represent the rest of us.
How proceed then? Reagan did it with humor. So did the Kennedys. I recommend stories and analogies. Maybe a little washing off the mud, examining it, and asking what is this stuff.
And keep the examples simply and clear. Here’s what we did. Heard of Medicare? And here’s what we plan to do. Safe bridges and good jobs, good ideas?
Soaring, flowery, impassioned rhetoric gets you a line or two in the history books, if they are still on the shelves, but not a lot of votes. Near to home! Concrete, practical, is how democracy works.
And when all is said and done, “woke” is just jabber. You don’t need a vorpal sword.
“Beware the JabberWOCK, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”