Words are powerful and we should learn to master them for the benefit of the world. When I ran the “bully” series on this blog I’d get private messages that said, “Words are just words. They don’t harm. Only actions harm.”
Words aren’t “just words.” They shape how we think, how we act, and what we believe is possible.
So I want to talk about the word “woke” because social media and politics caused a lightening speed pejorative semantic shift that we dont often get to see happen right before our eyes. Sometimes it takes decades or generations for these types of shifts to happen.
It’s one of those words I don’t use because it doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. It’s a word that clouds conversation and because it was used in situations that abused its true meaning… it became a word easily weaponized.
The word “woke” at its root simply means being awake to injustice, choosing empathy, and caring about fairness. That’s it.
Over time the word got twisted into an insult. The left unintentionally set the stage by stretching the word beyond its original meaning (in marketing, by virtue signaling, and/or using it as a shorthand word for “morally superior”.) The right capitalized on that by turning it into a punchline. A powerful word that once called people to awareness now often sparks division instead.
I don’t use it because now it’s used to stir fear and fuel division. I have no use for words that turn compassion into a weapon.
I will use my words, sentences, and paragraphs to stay awake to the struggles of others. I will choose to care in the ways I know how and can.
Words do indeed matter so ask yourself when you write or speak what your intentions are because they bring actions to life.
BE MY EYES: A colorful pastel drawing I did of a butterfly 🦋
HASTYWORDS 
Truthfully, I have no idea how and when this word was first used since the first time I heard it was as an insult slung by the right wing. The first time I heard it, it was the very, very worst thing you could call a person or idea, an idea so far below contempt that you can’t mention it or risk being immediately sent to your religion’s place of punishment. I had never in my life heard a word used with such utter hatred, until recently when it has gotten even worse in the mouth of he who shall remain nameless.
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I hear it almost everyday and almost always in a negative way these days.
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I do hear it all the time now and always in negative ways.
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Pingback: HASTY – a word abused and transformed – cabbagesandkings524
It is sadly easy to turn a word with meaning into into nothing more than yet another four letter curse.
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Your ending sentence, “Words do indeed matter so ask yourself when you write or speak what your intentions are because they bring actions to life.” is very true and speaks volumes but so many do not listen to that at all. I am guilty of it myself. Not to get Biblical but I am going to get Biblical (ha) because it always bothers me when people say words don’t hurt or they are just words. Even the Bible tells us that the words we speak hold weight. Proverbs 11:9, Proverbs 15:4, Proverbs 16:24, Proverbs 18:21…and there are many more verses. Proverbs was written by King Solomon who was renowned for his wisdom even outside of the Bible. Belief or not, if a man thought to be one of the wisest to ever live is writing that you should watch your words, maybe you should. (I don’t mean you directly, I mean as a generalization).
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It really makes very little sense to think words don’t matter but very little seems logical these days 🌸
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You really hit the nail on the head here, Hasty. It’s been so weaponized that it’s toxic.
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