This style of mocking and holier-than-thou antipathy towards the idea of being “woke” to the needs, concerns and pain of others is interesting to behold. It is a repeated poke-poke-poke to
agitate and keep agitated to make sure that those who care about justice and the well being of others know that they are mocked and disdained by a few dominance-fetishers who think care is a weakness. It’s the equivalent of the schoolyard bully who constantly bumps and pushes those they deem “weaker” and calls them “fag” or “pussy.”
It manifests here on TFT as this constant barrage of posts by a very small number of posters
repeating the same shallow insults over and over. “Wokester.” “Virtue Signaling.” It used to include “PC” as an insult. See how I disdain your care for others. See how weak I think you are. See how I can knock your schoolbooks out of your hand onto the hallway floor and you won’t do it back to me? That means I’m powerful. That means I’m alpha. In my head, anyway.
When a discussion in one of these threads directs towards why compassion is valuable, and why being aware and supportive of the lived experiences of others is not something people are ashamed of, the schoolyard-style bullies keep
name-calling for a while, then drop it, and go start another thread with their current mocking words; they run to another student and knock over
their books and stand around with their chest out thinking everyone admires their “strength” and dominance.
So - yeah yeah yeah. Wokester. Virtue Signalling. PC run amok.
I am **GLAD** to be awake to the realities of others. I was insulated for so long not realizing what my world was like for others.
I am **GLAD** to signal to others what virtues I find important; among them care, concern, justice
I am **GLAD** to know what language hurts, and avoid it in favor of lannguage that doesn’t hurt. Hooray for Politically Correct norms.
And I’ll keep thinking this next week, when I watch the bullies again posture and preen with their displays of
mocking and disdain, their acts of dominance-seeking where they try to knock others down so they can feel strong and worthwhile. And I’ll keep thinking, “how sad is that. They have to work so hard to feel worthwhile. They never feel content and loved. Gotta shove people to the ground so they can feel tall. No one taught them how to build to feel big, they only learned how to destroy others. And they don’t even realize that no one looks at that display and thinks they are powerful. Or - maybe they do know that, but they only know one way to feel powerful and they just have to keep using it, even while they know it doesn’t work.”
I know this and other posts will continue to sprout up. Mock the caring, disdain cooperative aspirations. Try to sell dominance as the only virtue. Beat the chest. Howl the monkey howls.
The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.