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Woke in Plain English: "Discourse"
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Woke in Plain English: "Discourse"

Oct 29, 2021
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Woke in Plain English: "Discourse"
boghossian.substack.com

Discourse. Discourse means things people write or talk about. But it also means how people talk about or write things. When the woke use the term “discourse,” they're using it to mean stories, often called narratives, that people tell themselves and others. The word "discourse" is used to switch the conversation, and even the understanding of what people talk about, from capital T Truth to personal experience. A discourse turns the conversation from something that's a fact about the world to one's personal lived experience.


For example: The woke almost never use the word obesity. Obesity is a word that's part of a medical discourse (which is just another discourse or way of talking about things). The woke prefer the word "fat." This is because "fat" is not attached to the effects of obesity: diabetes, blood sugar, diet, etc. "Fat" is also a word that is used to describe, whereas “obesity,” they believe, is a word that's used to condemn and oppress fat people.
In using the word "discourse," the woke switch to a more subjective view of reality, one which validates the experiences of individuals over objective facts and truth.


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Woke in Plain English: "Discourse"
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