73 - Nick Clairmont - The Language of Wokeness

Nick’s writing for Arc Digital:
https://medium.com/@nickclairmont

Nick’s “Word of the Week” column for the Washington Examiner: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/word-of-the-week-brand

Nick on wokese for Tablet:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/woke-language-privilege

Some particularly relevant essays of Nick’s:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/word-of-the-week-community
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/word-of-the-week-intersection/ar-BB19p8vw
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/word-of-the-week-capital
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/word-of-the-week-marxist
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/word-of-the-week-trauma
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/word-of-the-week-problematic

Additional References
My essay on academic writing for Areo:
https://areomagazine.com/2020/07/06/writing-wrongs-why-academics-write-so-badly-and-how-that-hurts-them/

Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay, Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody (2020)

Kate Burridge and Keith Allan, Euphemism & Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon (1991)

Thomas Nagel, “The Absurd” (1971)

Black Panther, Marvel Studios (2018)

My essay on Freddie Mercury for Areo:
https://areomagazine.com/2018/11/11/a-persian-popinjay-a-review-of-the-film-bohemian-rhapsody/

Timestamps
01:58 The language of wokeness—who uses it and why
07:58 The word “woke” and the self-labelling of the Social Justice left
16:48 The terms “systemic” and “systemic racism”
21:12 Twitter’s impact on real life
23:05 Language as a social project
30:08 The terms “people of colour” and “AAPI” and “Black” with a capital B
43:35 The term “erasure”
45:58 Sloganeering in lieu of debate
54:13 Marxism as a fashion choice
01:03:05 Intersectionality vs. race blindness
01:14:53 Groups versus individuals, communities, connections
01:27:08 The term “problematic” and the problem with enforcing politeness
01:33:46 Gestural politics and the term “settler colonialism”
01:40:08 New terminology in response to the coronavirus, giving up on lexical pedantry, why good writing is important