CNN —

As the National Book Awards came to a close on Wednesday, finalists for the prestigious literary prizes took the stage in New York to speak about the Israel-Hamas war, with others at the ceremony also choosing to address banned books.

  • Omega@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Republicans have tried demonizing him as woke trying to indoctrinate our children. So unfortunately unlikely.

    • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Demonizing probably the nicest man in history is a good indicator that you’re the villain.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Fred Rogers is the guy this particular thread of the post is referring to. He would have made an interesting casting choice for Kunta Kinte.

        • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Though it could be argued Mr. Rogers was woke. That would, however, make it hard to argue woke is a bad thing.

          • Lem Jukes@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            that’s because “wokeism” has become a right wing dogwhistle for basically ‘anything that forces us to confront our shitty and outdated ideas’.

            • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              They did the same thing with “social justice” before that and “political correctness” before that. Words don’t mean the same thing to conservatives.

          • Omega@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Whether woke is good or bad depends entirely on how it’s defined. I generally see it as an antithesis to ignorance. So a combination of both educated and rational thinking.

            Sometimes it describes things that are educated and irrational thinking, which is ironically what the right does a lot. Basically fear mongering.

            Then you just use the two interchangeably to make it sound like rational observations are radical.

            • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Well, your first definition is the original one. The second one is the disingenuous one conservatives use. They did the same thing with “social justice” and “political correctness”. Conservatives never come up with anything or good, they just ruin shit.

              • Omega@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Oh I know. But even then they’re intentionally inconsistent so the good and bad gets mixed in together.

                • Algaroth@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  “some people suck”. That is the unfortunate truth of any society. But all my examples started as good things. Shitty people stirred shit into them. It has to be said that people who actively fight progressive movements are assholes. Any history book can tell you that, if they don’t burn it first.