An Englishman Looks Into the Bizarre World Of WOKE

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by Neil Bamforth

According to Wikipedia, “Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK) is a political term originating in the United States referring to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It derives from the African-American Vernacular English expression “stay woke”, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues. Woke is simple past tense and past participle of awake.”

Some time ago, having heard the word, which I mistakenly thought was an abbreviation of some kind as in ‘UN = United Nations’ or ‘BLM = Black Lives Matter’, I looked it up and, much to my surprise, discovered, as per Wikipedia, that it is in fact, just a word.

I suspect there may well be plenty of people in Britain who have yet to learn this. Mostly because they, frankly, couldn’t care less.

We, in Britain, have witnessed a number of so-called ‘WOKE actions’ that seemed, and still seem, bizarre to put it mildly.

Initially, many of us felt quite annoyed about it but, as Brits are apt to do, we soon started to see the funny side of it and simply laughed at the WOKE behavior.

Over the months since all this strange ‘WOKERY’, (If that isn’t a word already, I’ve just invented it), began, more and more bizarre, if not entirely unhinged, demands have come forth from the WOKES.

In the Netherlands, for example, the WOKE brigade has demanded that ‘Black Peter’, or, as the Dutch call him, ‘Zwarte Piet’, must be banned as it offends members of the BAME community.

Interestingly, BAME itself has, in some places, now become a ‘no-no’ description.

Quite how the hell anyone is supposed to keep up with what is and isn’t acceptable when the mad WOKES keep changing their minds is anyone’s guess.

Now ‘Black Peter’ in the Netherlands is a fictional character who is if you like, the ‘sidekick’ of Santa Claus, or Father Christmas.

Traditionally some Dutch would ‘black up’ their faces as part of the Christmas celebrations.

The fact that doing so represented the soot from a chimney that ‘Black Peter’ had gone down on Father Christmas’s behalf, and had absolutely nothing what so ever to do with race is, according to the WOKE brigade, irrelevant.

‘Zwarte Piet’ must be canceled say the WOKE brigade.

There is a small town in the north of England called Bacup. It isn’t too far from my home town of Oldham. Bacup has a traditional troop of Morris Dancers.

Now, if you have no idea what ‘Morris Dancers’ are, I suggest you look it up on Google. It’ll be easier that way than me explaining.

Just briefly so you get the idea –

Basically, ‘Morris Dancers’ are an ancient tradition up and down the country. They dress up in fancy clothes. Often have bells attached, and at certain times of the year, do traditional folk dances for various reasons.

The Bacup Morris Dancers black up their faces.

As a result, the WOKE brigade demanded they cease doing so. Indeed, the British Federation of Morris Dancers has surrendered their dignity by stating that unless the Bacup Morris Dancers cease to black face, their membership of the Federation will be stopped.

‘But’, responded the Bacup Morris Dancers, ‘it’s a tradition of over a hundred years and represents coal miners leaving the mine with their faces covered in coal dust. It has nothing to do with race’.

The Bacup Morris dancers must be canceled say the WOKE brigade.

I am delighted to report that, up to the time of writing, the Bacup Morris Dancers have politely told the WOKE brigade, and their Federation, to ‘get stuffed’ and intend to carry on their 100-year-old tradition and be damned.

Actually, they refer to themselves as The Bacup Morris MEN. Next thing you know the WOKES will be shouting ‘Sexist!’ at them.

Yes. Increasingly, we Brits are laughing at the insane WOKES, but, we laugh with a tiny bit of alarm in the back of our minds.

The toppling of historical statues. The vandalism of memorials. The attack on our freedoms of speech and expression. The increased bias of MSM in favor of WOKISM. (Is that a word or have I invented another?).

Slowly but surely, more and more Brits are waking up to the clear dangers of allowing the WOKE brigade to have their way.

You could say, we have woke up to the WOKE.

We daren’t go back to sleep either. If we do, we may find the WOKE brigade decide to cancel us in our sleep for not sharing their bizarre view of the world.

Read more articles about WOKE.

 

About Post Author

Neil Bamforth

I am English first, British second and never ever European. I have supported Oldham Athletic FC for 50 years which has made me immune from depression. My taste buds have died due to too many red hot curries so I drink Kronenburg beer and milk - sometimes in the same glass. I have a wife, daughter, 9 cats and I like toast.
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Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

Jess : Halfway through Series 9 of our ‘Supernatural’ binge watch… Lots to go… Don’t tell me!!!….I Loooove Crowley. Carol fancies Dean 😁😁

jess
Reply to  Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

Way weird I replied to this last night and it is nowhere to be seen. OOga booga working/ Anyhoo, she isn’t the only one. I’d do him and would not kick Jared Padalecki (Sam) or Misha Collins (Castiel) out of my bed. WHAT, don’y judge me you judge mcjudgertons 🙂 Dude that plays Crowley is actually a musician and he appeared on Doctor Who a while back.

jess
Reply to  Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

Meant to say also, I have been ugly crying since the finale. You will be so excited at season ten., it is a good one.

Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

Holte : 100% agree. Problem is, so many do get pissed off over silly things. Just laugh at the idiocy and focus on the serious stuff…. Like Jess says… We’re all WOKE on stuff we care about… Animal welfare, women’s rights etc etc

Loads don’t think that way. The WOKES go OTT on Morris Dancers, they’re a joke so the masses dismiss the serious stuff too.

That’s how the elite stay on top. Most are too dumb to think like you. I try too! 😁

jess
3 years ago

Hate to be the one who does this to you guys, nah I don’t really. Most of you are woke about women’s rights and the plight of animals. So you are woke even though you don’t like the term or have not heard it used. This has been your PSA about wokeness 😉 You are all welcome.

Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

Holte…. Jim Crowe and apartheid etc were serious issues. WOKES waffling on about Santa’s Moor or Mining Morris Dancers is actually counter productive. Piss people off with idiocy and they stop listening when it’s serious.

Holte Ender
Reply to  Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

I really don’t know why people get pissed off by silly things, also don’t know why people get pissed off by people who get pissed off by silly things. It really is small stuff. My mind is occupied by things, I regard as not silly things. In my own way I’m woke, aware, informed, mindful, receptive, conscious. I find it preferable to being unaware, insensitive, and other related antonym you can think of.

Holte Ender
3 years ago

I don’t have a problem with Black Pete. Not sure why St Nicholas hired himself a Moor to help him out. Marketing purposes I suppose. But whatever reason, I don’t really care.

Where I was raised we saw Morris Dancers every summer, none in black face. Wonder why some Morris Dancers black their face? Perhaps a tribute to chimney sweeps or coal miners. Again, I don’t care.

What do I think about people who complain about white folks dressing up in black face? Maybe they’re descended from activists who dealt with things a lot more serious than Black Pete or Black Morris. If today’s moaners had to deal with Jim Crow, segregation and apartheid, perhaps they would melt into the shadows and endure, like most sufferers did. But then the right wing media would have nobody to laugh at.

Neil Bamforth
3 years ago

So Holte, I enjoyed learning from your response, thank you.

But what’s your view on the WOKE idiocy regarding ‘Black Peter’ and Morris Dancers?

Admin
3 years ago

I don’t want to be ‘woke.’ I don’t want to restrict my definition of activism and intelligence to only include those who agree with me politically. I want to be open-minded and engaged. I want to be informed and passionate. I want to be an advocate and a human being beyond political issues. Maybe we can broaden the definition of “woke” to include these characteristics from both sides of the political spectrum, but until then I remain contently un-woke. So there 🙂

Holte Ender
3 years ago

The current buzzword of “woke” currently irritating large numbers of people is nothing new.

When Abraham Lincoln was making stump speeches, not to abolish slavery, but to stop its spread to the large territories west of the Mississippi, young Republicans in the free northern states, formed a group called “The Wide Awakes.”

Young men, dissatisfied with current political bickering, found a champion in Lincoln. They had chapters in all northern states and by election time in 1860 numbered in the tens of thousands.

They encouraged people to register to vote and get involved in the political process. I’ll dare to say, without them Lincoln would have finished second in the General Election. No Civil War, no 13th Amendment and slavery would have spread westward. Using Missouri as a base, the soon to be Confederates were already working on it.

When the South decided war was the only way to preserve their gentile, harmonious way of life, the Wide Awakes enlisted in droves to defend the Union. They put their Wide Awake mouths, where their Wide Awake money was.

Bill Formby
3 years ago

Well said indeed, Glenn. I think, therefore I am. I will be damned if I will change my language style just to please a bunch of numbnuts. 77 years learning to speak, or to misspeak, the American version of the English language is not going to change because of some misguided attempt by some group of malcontents
to gain recognition.

3 years ago

I like wokery and intend to use it forthwith, but for those who haven’t noticed the “left” as some like to call it in the US is undergoing the same kind of civil war as the “right.” We see it in the battle of terms and the insistence that everyone use them exclusively and in the manner prescribed by the Wokery. “Woke” annoys me not only because the demand is that it replace whatever one’s vocabulary can supply with that word, meaning what they insist it means for the sole purpose of thought control. As Pink Floyd has reminded us – we don’t need that. Being perhaps a tiny bit arrogant about my favourite language, I deeply resent having such things dictated to me as our language has many choices of synonyms with a subtle range of meaning and for me to choose a dialect word for a culture not mine is as offensive as forcing a coal miner to join a struggle not his own not that of his cultural background. Like all fundamentalist Wokery, it’s not about enlightenment, it’s about power. I do not surrender

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