Throughout my childhood and through today, I've always been a bit of a stickler for, and fascinated by, words and their usage. After all, words have meaning in context - and in meaning in context, there is power. People in the communications disciplines - journalists, propagandists, pundits, writers, and on and on - are well aware of this dynamic and use it for their purposes. I find my own interest especially piqued in the area of political communications and speech. How words are used and co-opted by one side or another can literally change the direction of the country by creating the frame within which the terms of the debate are held, and a few examples of the seen in the following:
"Liberal" - there was a well-coordinated campaign waged by the conservative wing of the country - businesses and well-to-do families - to turn this word into a pejorative. Specifically, I remember pundits in the 1980s, like the proto-Bill O'Reilly figure Wally George using this word in such a sneering, negative way that the intention seemed to be laid bare without any efforts to camouflage it.
"Resistance" - originally, this word was used to describe resistance against the entire political system. When Trump assumed office, the DNC co-opted the word to mean resistance against Trump - never mind the DNC's corruption and cynicism.
(pick your racist code word) - when overt racial slurs were driven to the verboten bin, racists figured out other ways to say and imply the same bigoted concepts.
The latest word to enter the ownership/co-option wars is the term "woke". In far-left and libertarian circles, the term refers to an awareness of how corrupted the entire political system is - left and right. You can go on any of the lefty video blogs by, for example, Sane Progressive or Claudia Stauber, and hear "woke" used in this way. These people know, like most people, about how openly corrupt the Republicans are, but what they devote most of their time to is removing the "good guy" masks from many of the players wearing the Democratic or liberal capes, especially "sacred cows" like Bernie Sanders. Other journalists and communicators who I would consider "woke" in this regard are Chris Hedges, Abby Martin, Peter Joseph, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and others.
Then there is the other way I'm hearing it used. I was driving to the light rail stop this morning to go to work, listening to the "Progress" channel on SiriusXM. Stephanie Miller was on, and while I didn't get the name of her guest, the same guest gushed and gushed about how many races the Dems have won since the 2016 catastrophe (she quoted seven, when the last figure I remember was that the Dems lost four straight special elections since last November.) Then I heard her say something along the lines of people being "woke". I nearly drove off the road in a fit of laughter hearing this, as the Stephanie Miller show has become a DNC propaganda outlet and nothing nearly approaching anything "woke". The DNC and their minions are trying to co-opt another progressive trope, thanks to corporate outlets like MSNBC and willing, supposedly "progressive" mouthpieces like Miller and Randi Rhodes.
An awareness of words and meaning, and use, is an invaluable tool in the quest to become a truly aware, "woke" citizen. Lacking this awareness leads to being manipulated, and falling prey to propagandists like Frank Luntz and his ilk. Become aware, and we tune out his kind, with the truth laid out in front of us.
