Bogus Boghossian, Podcast
The conservative and moderate press is making a hero and martyr of Peter Boghossian, who resigned his position at Portland State in protest against Wokeness. As usual, says Thomas Fleming, they are being gulled by a poseur.
The current use of the W word is analogous to somebody like Mick Farren using American slang, with a straight face, in the 1960’s. Or Abbie Hoffman slipping into jive. A black man with a habit of smoking a bushel of marijuana, falling asleep for ten hours, and waking up at two in the morning to Coast to Coast AM may have said something like: “They don’t tell you ’bout dat in school, how da pyramids was generatin’ ‘lectrictity from they ancient wisdom an’ all dat. You got to be woke ’cause they try’n to control you. ” Then the most stiff and “plastic” people out there adopt this bit of black vernacular and use it as if it magically transforms them into the salt of the earth; like Elizabeth Warren using the word “folks” on television. The subject matter for qualification as awakened is also changed from challenging (however absurdly) the status quo to reenforcing it.
Sometimes when I hear the word “woke” it reminds me of the Nazi term, “Deutschland, erwache!”, also sometimes “Deutschland, erwacht”. I wonder how the “woke” crowd would respond to being told this? “Woke” is a stupid, ungrammatical term anyway. Those who talk about being “woke” sound like uneducated three year olds, which is really what they are. Shame on the “educators” who taught them to talk like that.
Peter Boghossian even has to use an extra “s” in his name. The Armenian with that surname that I remember was Sam Boghosian, an outstanding guard on the undefeated 1954 UCLA football team. An Armenian from Fresno–all Armenians in California were from Fresno back then, including William Saroyan–Sam Boghosian later coached at UCLA and then with the Oakland Raiders. He was highly respected by all.