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some guy's avatar

If folks want to influence those not already in their tribe, they would do well to appear objective and examined within their beliefs. I can't tell you how many times I have 'shut off' authors who generously castigate 'the other side' while finding no fault in their own. Boring. Insincere. Biased. Emotions-only with no logical backing. The world, I hope, will belong more and more to those with more honesty.

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some guy's avatar

SteveQJ has this honesty. And sometimes? he wraps that more difficult point for some into the end of his writings after establishing that objective credibility throughout the first 80%. It is a beautiful thing.

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Peaceful Dave's avatar

You gave me a start. I'm Some Guy on Medium and when I saw a Some Guy writing something I didn't write I forgot where I was for a moment.

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Nov 19, 2022
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Peaceful Dave's avatar

The curse of the 21st century is that people appropriate words and give them a different meaning. "Woke" is now associated with the people you speak of. In its early use it was spot on. The origin best as I can tell:

It turns out that woke is simple enough. From the liner notes of "Lead Belly the Folkway Years":

“When I come in a train, I stop in Las Vegas.

This white fellow was with me. He sat down and

I thought it was all right. Man taps me on the

shoulder and says, ‘I’m sorry, we don’t serve

colored.’ And I says ‘Oh, no you don’t?’ and he

says, ‘No.’ And that white fellow got up too. We

ain’t got to eat in Las Vegas. So many places like

that. I just feel sorry for them people. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐢𝐧’𝐭

𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐞𝐭.”

Lead Belly's woke, as the article points out, has morphed into something else.

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Nov 20, 2022
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Peaceful Dave's avatar

I wish my reading queue wasn't so stacked. That looks like it might be an interesting read.

As for meaning being fluid, that is a curse. A quote from a worthwhile Medium author:

If you can simply appropriate a term and claim you have identified into a group, while inventing your own parameters as you go — there is no group." -Alison Tennent, the Celtic Chameleon

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