The Great White Dope

I concluded my last post, part three of my language trilogy, on what an exciting and sometimes frustrating thing it is when languages evolve, especially when it happens before our very eyes. Sometimes it happens so fast it's hard to keep up. 

Take the word "woke". Woke is one of countless words that have entered Standard American English by way of Black American English. It's been around longer than I thought. According to the current Wikipedia article on the word, in the 1930s, the great blues singer Lead Belly used it in a song he wrote about the Scottsboro Nine and being black in America in the time of lynch mobs: 

I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there – best stay woke, keep their eyes open.

According to Oxford English Dictionary, the first written appearance of the word is found in the headline of a 1962 New York Times Magazine article about white appropriation of Black English. The article was written by the author William Melvin Kelley who may or more likely, may not have been responsible for the title which to my ears anyway, sounds like it may have been written by a copy editor trying a little too hard:

If you're woke, you dig it.

The Wikipedia piece then sites a 1971 line from a play about the political activist and author Marcus Garvey written by Berry Beckham which puts the word more in its contemporary context: 

I been sleeping all my life. And now that Mr. Garvey done woke me up, I'm gon' stay woke. And I'm gon' help him wake up other black folk.

In this context, to be woke means to be aware of the ways of the world such as injustice, intolerance and needless to say, racism.

In recent years, woke has been hijacked by the ultra right as a catchall phrase for, well just about everything they don't like, especially all those inconvenient nasty little facts that suggest this country may not be as lily white as they picture it to be. Today the word is used almost exclusively as a term of sarcastic derision, even among people who don't subscribe to Trumplicanism. 

In that sense it's like the term "politically correct" which originally was used without irony by the left to describe, well just about everything they did like. The difference is that PC was always a troublesome term with authoritative connotations that sounded like it could have been lifted straight out of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984. 

Of late, "woke" has been lumped together with PC, Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, Critical Race Theory and other labels and expressions, as red herrings designed to send shivers up the spines of the MAGA crowd. Which is a shame because at least to me, in its original context, woke is a damned good word, spot on, immediate and to the point. It evokes care, passion and action for the betterment of the world, even if the attitudes of some of the members of "woke culture" may be rather stringent in their attitudes. Anyone who is to the left of Donald Trump has moved on from the word in its original context which for them has become as outdated as the phrase "twenty three skidoo."

So guess who just uttered the word "woke" the other day.

I didn't think there was any way I could dislike Aaron Rodgers more. As the all-star, MVP  quarterback of the much despised (around this house) Green Bay Packers, Rodgers has been a thorn in my side and my son's ever since he began picking apart the defense of our team, the Chicago Bears, after taking over from the equally annoying Brett Favre in 2008. Of all the heartbreaking moments for my son and me that came courtesy of Rodgers, the final game of the 2013 season had to be the worst. The NFC North Championship came down to that one game. With the Bears up by one, the Packers had the ball with 4th and 8 on the Bears' 48 yard line with 48 seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter. Sorry for all the football jargon. Anyway, all that stood between the Bears and the playoffs that year was one lousy 4th down stop, and this is what happened.  

To add insult to many years of injury, a few weeks ago during his last game at Soldier Field in Chicago to date, after running the ball in for a touchdown, he taunted Bears fans by saying: 

I'll own you all my fucking life, I own you, I still own you, I still own you.

The act was pure bush league for sure, despite what he said being undeniably true. 

Of course all that is forgivable because had you asked me a couple weeks ago if I'd like to see Aaron Rodgers in a Bear's uniform, I'd have said in a heartbeat, "hell yeah."

So what happened in the past couple weeks?

Aaron Rodgers got caught with his pants down. 

He tested positive for COVID and had to truthfully address his vaccination status. It turns out that Rodgers is not vaccinated. 

Here I'll go on record with a somewhat unpopular opinion at least among my friends and family by saying that I understand why some people are hesitant to get the COVID vaccine. Despite the overwhelming evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective, we have to admit that no one knows for sure the long term effects of the vaccine that is being put into our arms. As I mentioned in other posts, I believe a healthy skepticism is a good thing, even skepticism of science that has certainly failed us before. On the other hand, blind skepticism of science especially if it is ideologically motivated, is worse than a blind faith in science.

Anyway, I believe that Aaron Rodgers and anyone else who chooses not to get vaccinated has a right to do so.

HOWEVER...

All of us have to be responsible for our actions, especially when it comes to the health and safety of our fellow human beings. The best evidence we have is that the most effective way we can get ourselves out of the grips of this pandemic, is for as many people to be vaccinated as possible, AND continue other preventative routines such as social distancing, mask wearing, etc. 

If people choose to exercise their right to not be vaccinated, it is their RESPONSIBILITY, to follow the protocols for the unvaccinated, set by their places of employment and the recommendations of government agencies devoted to public health and safety. This includes frequent testing, even more stringent mask wearing and social distancing, and most important of all, being honest about vaccination status. 

From all signs, while Rogers was tested frequently, he failed to live up to the protocols for the unvaccinated, and was clearly dishonest* about his vaccination status. By doing so, he unnecessarily put the people closest to him, especially his teammates at risk of contracting a potentially deadly disease. 

That is more than bush league, it is unconscionable. 

Then to add insult to injury, something we've seen he's used to doing, rather than coming clean and apologizing for his actions, Rodgers doubled down, claiming he's the victim of a "witch hunt" (where have we heard that term before?) against people who think differently from the norm about the virus. 

Rogers said this in a TV interview:

I realize I’m in the crosshairs of the woke mob right now, so before the final nail gets put in my cancel culture casket, I’d like to set the record straight on some of the blatant lies that are out there about me now.

He didn't elaborate on any of those "lies" about him but he did go on at length espousing discredited information on the three major vaccines, including the risk of them causing infertility.

Then Rodgers did something predictable as a newly anointed member of the good ol' boy, conspiracy theory slinging, anti-woke mob/cancel culture warrior club. He played the Martin Luther King card:

The great MLK said, ‘You have a moral obligation to object to unjust rules and rules that made no sense.

Usually the MLK card is played by white guys, and sometimes women, to prove they're not racists when they are in the middle of arguments that could be construed as being racist. I'm not exactly sure why Rodgers felt the need to bring up Dr. King since race is not at issue here. Maybe it's because so many of the people he works with are black, and who through his selfish negligence he's put at risk. Perhaps he feels the need to bond with them in some misguided way.     

Anyway if you've been reading my posts, you know exactly how I feel about the MLK card so I won't go about beating a dead horse.  

But he could at least have correctly quoted the man. I believe this is the quote he was trying to summon up: 

One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

I'm not exactly sure how a rule designed to protect the health and safety of people is "unjust."  Remember, there is no company rule in the NFL that requires players to get a shot in the arm, as there is for people in other professions such as public servants. All Rodgers had to do was follow the league protocol for unvaccinated players, and of course admit that he's not vaccinated. Those protocols may be time consuming, impractical, and just plain irritating, but unjust? C'mon. Rodgers went on to say that the protocol for unvaccinated players was simply a means to "shame them."

Sorry dude but if you're in the middle of a 134 million dollar contract to play a game, playing the role of the victim is not a very good look, especially when you compare your personal gripe to the struggle for civil rights and an end to poverty. 

Oh and you wanna talk "cancel culture?" I have two words for you, Colin Kaepernick. 

Now it's not really fair to compare Rodgers' actions with Kaepernick's, after all, the latter's public acts of protest during the national anthem had absolutely no potential for hurting anyone. Sure he pissed off a lot of people, but that's all.

And where has Kaepernick's football career gone after he took his famous stand against police brutality? That's right, he's been cancelled.

One the other hand, by not being clear about his vaccination status and not following NFL protocols for the unvaccinated, Rodger's put the health and safety of his teammates and other people he came in contact with at risk. And his punishment so far has been a $14,000 fine, which in his salary range doesn't even constitute a slap on the wrist.

But let's face it, no NFL sanction other than banishment from the game (which ain't gonna happen), would cause Rodgers much harm. 

At this writing, Rodgers is scheduled to return today to play in about an hour against the Seattle Seahawks in Green Bay. No doubt he will receive a hero's welcome in his home stadium. My fantasy is that a few of the members of the Packers' offensive line, the guys who put their health and safety on the line every play to protect their quarterback, "accidentally" miss some of their blocking assignments against the Seattle defense. That probably won't happen because offensive linemen are way more expendable than multi-million dollar quarterbacks, especially one of the best in the business. They unlike him, could be gone in a flash. But that's what is would take to show the bum Rodgers that what he did to his team really sucked.   

What's more, maybe then he'll understand a little better what woke really means. 

Is what Rodgers did unforgiveable? Certainly not. But this time if you asked me if I'd like to see him play for the Bears, in a heartbeat I'd say this: "not in a million years."

 *Rogers when asked about his vaccination status last August, told reporters that he was "immunized." Satisfied with the answer, the reporters present didn't press the issue. It turns out what Rogers was referring to was the a homeopathic "immunization protocol" prescribed by an unnamed medical team, not the vaccine which is what any reasonable person would have deduced from his answer.