4 ms·

The most virulent forms of racism are a symptom of material conditions, eg., that poor black people live uniformly in one area, and rich white people in another

The most virulent forms of racism are a symptom of material conditions, eg., that poor black people live uniformly in one area, and rich white people in another. This creates a competition for local resources, including demands on police time and attention. This competition reporduces racism, in that it is very hard not to have racism when "looking out for one's own" is a racial matter. What we have in Wokeism is a pseudo-politics, in that, it make no material demands. The woke concern is against alleged "implicit" forms of racism which "harm" graduates jockying for position within large corporate structures. It reads a little like "what happens when the upper middle-class discover that they too may, possibly, have been discriminated against".

concordDance 5y ago
> What we have in Wokeism is a pseudo-politics, in that, it make no material demands. A plain reading of this seems false. Wokism definitely makes demands.
- MrsPeaches 5y ago
  material [1] demands. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism
  - SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
    I can immediately think of one woke policy that is considered to be a material demand: UBI, also Medicare for all and reparations for black people.
    - mjburgess 5y ago
      As do people on the the right ; indeed I see UBI as a more right-wing policy which simplifies the welfare state. I don't think this has anything to do with wokriem
    - MrsPeaches 5y ago
      Sure, I was just clarifying what GP wrote as the reply seemed to have missed/not understood a key nuance. Also providing a little context to what I assumed was meant by “material demands”, based on the quote from GP below. > The most virulent forms of racism are a symptom of material conditions, eg., that poor black people live uniformly in one area, and rich white people in another.
dragonwriter 5y ago
> What we have in Wokeism is a pseudo-politics, in that, it make no material demands. That’s because “Wokeism” doesn’t exist. Being “woke”, was never a descriptor of a politics but of the state of being aware of and engaged in social and political issues affecting a disadvantaged (originally, specifically Black American) community. It’s now morphed into a label assigned by outside group to anyone whose politics the speakers disagrees with for being too focussed, or focussed in the wrong way, on identity issues. So, yes, there is no coherent material program of Wokeism, because Wokeism isn’t a thing. Now, within the broad mass that any user of the term labels “Wokeism”, there are many groups that have within them extensive, coherent lists of material demands,
- mjburgess 5y ago
  Wokeism has come to refer to a type of (basically religious) revival which is happening across the western middle class. it sometimes includes a political project of 'equality'. Whether you like the term or not, it is very hard to simply deny the revolution in identity construction currently taking place. Watch the latest CIA advert which emphasises neauvox-oppressed identity markers over. It emphases how the CIA allows you to 'be yourself' qua how you are a member of an oppressed group. Whatever you want to call /that/, this is what I am talking about.

concordDance 5y ago

> What we have in Wokeism is a pseudo-politics, in that, it make no material demands. A plain reading of this seems false. Wokism definitely makes demands.

MrsPeaches 5y ago
material [1] demands. [1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism
- SamoyedFurFluff 5y ago
  I can immediately think of one woke policy that is considered to be a material demand: UBI, also Medicare for all and reparations for black people.
  - mjburgess 5y ago
    As do people on the the right ; indeed I see UBI as a more right-wing policy which simplifies the welfare state. I don't think this has anything to do with wokriem
  - MrsPeaches 5y ago
    Sure, I was just clarifying what GP wrote as the reply seemed to have missed/not understood a key nuance. Also providing a little context to what I assumed was meant by “material demands”, based on the quote from GP below. > The most virulent forms of racism are a symptom of material conditions, eg., that poor black people live uniformly in one area, and rich white people in another.

dragonwriter 5y ago

> What we have in Wokeism is a pseudo-politics, in that, it make no material demands. That’s because “Wokeism” doesn’t exist. Being “woke”, was never a descriptor of a politics but of the state of being aware of and engaged in social and political issues affecting a disadvantaged (originally, specifically Black American) community. It’s now morphed into a label assigned by outside group to anyone whose politics the speakers disagrees with for being too focussed, or focussed in the wrong way, on identity issues. So, yes, there is no coherent material program of Wokeism, because Wokeism isn’t a thing. Now, within the broad mass that any user of the term labels “Wokeism”, there are many groups that have within them extensive, coherent lists of material demands,

mjburgess 5y ago
Wokeism has come to refer to a type of (basically religious) revival which is happening across the western middle class. it sometimes includes a political project of 'equality'. Whether you like the term or not, it is very hard to simply deny the revolution in identity construction currently taking place. Watch the latest CIA advert which emphasises neauvox-oppressed identity markers over. It emphases how the CIA allows you to 'be yourself' qua how you are a member of an oppressed group. Whatever you want to call /that/, this is what I am talking about.