1y ago

Milley says military is not woke: ‘I’m not even sure what that word truly means’

thehill.com Milley says military is not woke: ‘I’m not even sure what that word truly means’

Army Gen. Mark Milley pushed back on claims from Republicans that the military is “woke” and as a result not prepared to take on modern threats, saying he’s “not even sure what that word truly mean…

“What I see is a military that’s exceptionally strong. It’s powerful; it’s ready. In fact, our readiness rates, the way we measure readiness, is better now than they’ve been in years,” Milley said in a CNN interview Sunday.

Republican politicians and candidates have blasted the Pentagon for so-called woke policies, pointing to efforts to recruit a diverse group of military service members and be inclusive to transgender soldiers.

Those claims have also headlined efforts to reduce military spending.

99 comments

No one knows what the word woke means. Even people who use it can't define it. It's just a boogeyman word for things people don't like or want, and even they can't agree on it.
- I’m becoming more and more convinced that a “woke” person is anyone who calls right-wingers out on being overtly racist/sexist/fascist. Or maybe anyone who just isn’t obviously racist/sexist/fascist.
  
  It's a catch all just like "communism" and "socialism" were/are. Big words that people don't know the actual definition of that can sound scary
  
  It's anyone they think will call them out. They don't even need to be called out first.
  They declare something new is woke and then we call them racist/sexist/fascist
  They're the ones picking targets, not us.
  
  Always has been.
- Last December, a Federal judge asked DeSantis’s general counsel to define “woke,” and he did, thusly:
  He answered woke is "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”
  fascinating…
  source
  
  Really that's the closest we've come to an actual proper definition of the term "woke" by a conservative (and I'm like 90% confident that DeSantis' lawyers got that definition from the first few lines of the Wikipedia page on this term).
  Yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, other conservatives give very different definitions, or none at all. VICE asked several conservatives at CPAC for a definition of the term and got a bunch of different answers (and vague non-answers). During an interview a conservative author who wrote an entire book about "wokeness" couldn't give a definition of the term. A few weeks ago Noah Samsen made a response to an anti-woke YouTuber by the name "Think Before You Sleep", who simply defined woke as "communism" (whatever he thinks that means).
  For all intents and purposes, "woke" might as well just mean "anything vaguely progressive that I don't like".
- Ok a court filing, DeSantis lawyers defined "woke" as, "the belief that there are systemic inequities in US society and the need to work against them".
  Which is not bad as a definition, really.
  
  Shit dawg then I'm woke af fr fr
- Woke is when I don't like it.
  
  See also: socialism, leftism.
- It still means what it always meant. Being aware of society's injustices to the poor, downtrodden, or minority population and wanting to do something about it. They can't fucking stand that.
  Being against being "woke" truly reveals who they are. That they just want to sweep it all under a rug and forget about it.
  
  I think that's insufficient anymore if we are considering the right's usage of the word. Marketing or selling products to those groups counts as woke to the right.
- No the problem is that woke does have a meaning, and most people know what that meaning is. The problem is that if republicans actually defined it out loud they'd have to admit what they actually take issue with and what they're actually fighting, and doing so would basically be admitting that they're the baddies. It'd be saying the quiet part out loud. By avoiding acknowledging the actual meaning of the word they get to pretend that wokeness is a nebulous Bad Thing that should be fought against.
- Everyone knows what the word means, it's just impossible to define without sounding like a bigot. Because it means "not a bigot."
  
  for me, for example, it means “people who are all over their head with cancel culture”; it also means people [who use the word] are probably a bunch of far right crazies.
  So overall I guess it’s a way to describe the two far ends of the same thing
- "Woke is now defined in this dictionary as “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” and identified as U.S. slang. It originated in African American English and gained more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement."
- There is actually a real definition to it. For example one day I realized that black people live in a world different than mine.
  It woke me up to the realities of black existence
  That’s why it’s “woke”.
  When i had my kid and i read a bunch of stuff on parenting, i also came across those articles where black families needed to talk to their sons about police. It never occurred to me that people would need to so that.
- Republicans are woke AF
- Woke is whack
  Edit: LOL I meant the concept of "woke" being pushed by current GOP morons, not the concepts being described as woke
  
  So smurfy of you

The first few times I heard "woke" used, it was in the context of people who don't follow the sheep because they aren't asleep. Hence, they have woke up.
- Yes, and now the sheep are using it as an insult.
- It was always a vacuous ambiguous way to say someone was liberally enlightened without having to justify the claim with anything specific. That is true for both the positive and pejorative use of woke. I enjoy the song "Wide Awake" by Parquet Courts that made fun of the term in it's original use.
  
  That is true for both the positive and pejorative use of woke.
  At this point, from what I can tell, there is no truth for the pejorative use of 'woke.' It means whatever the Republican saying it wants it to mean. If they want it to mean anything at all but 'this is a bad thing.'
- I think it comes from like “wake up sheeple”

How can a military be "woke"? They literally tour the world killing brown poor people.
The word has no meaning any more, and likely never did.
- "Woke is the word I use to express my absolute and utterly baseless hatred for any Person, Thing, Idea or Concept, without having to resort to the hard slurs that would get me eviscerated and remove my plausible deniability" - Republican Zeitgeist
- Before the right co-opted it, it was a reference to being awake to social injustice and aware of systemic discrimination. Then the right grabbed onto it and decided that everything social justice is ‘woke’ and pretty much replaced SJW with it. Today it means anything ‘liberal’ with regards to social matters per the American Overton window metric.
  
  It gets more and more simple over time. Now it just means "things I don't like". Your tie is woke.
- They caught a lot of criticism for being 'woke' (in the sense of being socially progressive) a few years ago when they air this video as parts of an recruiting campaign.
  https://youtu.be/MIYGFSONKbk?si=CmbnyWYptJfnxOH8
  For the lazy it's an animated story of a woman that became a soldier who was raised by two moms. It touches on her advocating for the LGBT community and empowering women in the video.
  It's stands in contrast to the typical recruiting method of portraying tanks and generic disposable 18yr old men blowing things up by highlighting a personal story of a woman.
  It was part of a series of other similar videos released at the time. I think the controversy was from the perception that it was an attempt to appear socially progressive in a performative manner without actual resolving any of their problematic behavior like covering up sexual assaults.
  Another example of it I've heard from a LT I know is holding suicide prevention meetings and then treating soldiers in a way that makes them hate their life.
- Authoritarianism requires the support of the military and a military that's full of LGBT people won't support authoritarians that wants to execute LGBT people.
  It's got nothing to do with the actual quality of readiness of the military. It's theatrics to let minorities know they're not welcome, using the currently fashionable trigger word.
  
  Didnt they already prevent the military from trying to purge white supremacists or am I miss remembering?

How's not being woke working out for the slowly imploding Russian military?
- You mean the one only staffed by minority serfs and white male convicts?
  
  Where raising morale is when they shoot anyone who retreats?

Woke is rights for minorities, women, the LGBTQ community, non Christians, and workers.
It a code word for hateful bigots.
- Military understands morale is their most valuable asset.
  People are extremely motivated to fight to defend their rights and freedoms, and the rights and freedoms of the people they care about.
  
  Woke ass freedom fighters!

Absurd on the face of it. But making a cogent point is beside the point here, all they're really doing is sending the message that as soon as they're back in power, the military will be politicized.
Edit: Or possibly given the Russian military treatment; contracts awarded, real units never delivered, and the money all absconded with by craven oligarchs until the only way to prosecute a war is with mercs.
Edit 2: Merc squads padded out with penal legions. We do have plenty of prisoners, after all.
- The military would be changed to defend the regime instead of the country.
  Part of it was communicated via Trump's pardon of the war criminal. In Trump's mind, he was signaling that he would let the military do whatever they wanted in exchange for loyalty. For most of the military senior brass, it was a symbol of giving up on their ideals.

when you've got an organization filled with high school grads, funded by religious gun nuts, you're not gonna get the brightest people
- Tbf, the way Republicans use the word to mean anything, even I wouldn't be certain what the word means in that context.
  
  I think they're calling the Republicans that call the military "woke" not the brightest people, not Milley
  EDIT: actually I'm not so sure. Could be read either way

Can you imagine going through everything it takes to become a high ranking officer to then have to answer to these asshats?
- Just look at this guy's career. 44 years with his nose to the grindstone and boots on the ground just to have chickenhawks scream at you about "wokeness."
  
  General Milley is honestly my favorite Amaerican

These people never change. They complained when they allowed non white people to enlist. They complained when they stop segregating the units. They complained about woman, about inclusivity etc. They just keep moving the goalpost whenever there is progress then, claim the next thing will destroy the military. Just their thinly weiled prejudice.

I find it hard to believe that the largest and most effective organization designed specifically to kill or otherwise incapacitate whichever opposing forces their set against, isn't woke.
It's pretty obvious that Gen. Milley is wearing a wig, and what do you think he's hiding below that wig? Yep, you guessed it, blue and purple dyed hair.
I guarantee you that after this sham of a hearing, Gen. Milley's entire polycule was laughing at how xe hoodwinked us yet again.
FYI Gen. Milley's preferred pronoun is Xe, so put some respect on that shit.
- It's pretty obvious that Gen. Milley is wearing a wig, and what do you think he's hiding below that wig?
  My guess would be an M1A1 Abrams, painted in blue, pink and white.
  Gen. Milley's preferred pronoun is Xe, so put some respect on that shit.
  And if those idiots are going to keep up with this 'military woke' shit, Gen. Milley is going identify as a fucking/problem.

Most accurate headline ever, on both counts 😂

"Woke" could be taken as the opposite of "denialist".
Wikipedia defines "woke" as "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination", although today it's often extended to other prejudices besides racism.
Thus, "anti-woke" can be taken to mean "in denial about racial (etc.) prejudice and discrimination".
For example, we could say that the Association of German National Jews, the pro-Nazi Jewish group that existed from 1921 to 1935, was an "anti-woke" organization. This group sought to convince German Jews that they could drop their Jewishness and assimilate within a Nazi-dominated Germany.
- I would say that to be "anti-woke" isn't to be in denial but rather to be in favor of racial (etc) prejudice and discrimination. Otherwise, they would feel that there's nothing to be particularly against. More woke-neutral than anti.
  
  Denialism isn't that innocent. More than a few Holocaust denialists seem to have the position of "The Nazis didn't really kill the Jews, but they should have."

Why does anyone care what Miley Cyrus has to say about the military?!? I mean, she sits on a wrecking ball naked!!
What?
Oh, nevermind.
— Roseanne Roseannadanna

Not that I'm all stoked on a bloated US military, but the main reason our forces would not be prepared is due to republican fuckery, so to see a general get grilled about it by the GOP proves that irony and self awareness is long dead where those fossils are concerned

“This is a military that’s dedicated to maintaining our readiness, our capabilities, our lethality. And the thing that we also need to focus on is the modernization for the future character of war that I see fundamentally changing,” Milley said.
“This military is a lot of things, but woke, it’s not. So I take exception to that. I think that people say those things for reasons that are their own reasons, but it’s not true. It’s not accurate,” he continued. “It’s not a broad-brush description of the U.S. military as it exists today.”

This is the best summary I could come up with:
Army Gen. Mark Milley pushed back on claims from Republicans that the military is “woke” and as a result not prepared to take on modern threats, saying he’s “not even sure what that word truly means.”
Republican politicians and candidates have blasted the Pentagon for so-called woke policies, pointing to efforts to recruit a diverse group of military service members and be inclusive to transgender soldiers.
Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who announced he will retire at the end of this month, said the U.S. military is actually in better shape now than in years past.
And the thing that we also need to focus on is the modernization for the future character of war that I see fundamentally changing,” Milley said.
Ron DeSantis (R) argued that the military is being ordered around by a civilian “political ideology” and is “being infected by the woke mind virus.”
Those criticisms from Republicans have created “a real crisis” of confidence in military institutions, according to defense analysts.
The original article contains 393 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 57%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

On the other hand, reducing military spending would be nice. Just wish we didn’t have persecute people to do it

Woke ≠ Boogeyman in MAGAspeak.

Look, his job is to project strength.
The US military is holding officers a year after their contracts expire. It's calling expired contracts begging them to reenlist. It's calling in national guard members to active duty. It's weaker than it's been in years.
Does that have to do with woke stuff? I don't know. But if he's saying its stronger and more ready than its been in years he's lying. The US military is a fucking jobs program.
- Recruitment is low, but a large reason for that is their standards are kind of high relative to our youth. Less than 1 in 4 aged 17-24 are expected to be able to qualify.
  Visible tattoos? Sorry. ADHD medication in the past six months? Need a waiver. Test positive for weed? Sorry. Not many can even pass the fitness tests anymore.
  That being said, recruitment isn't the only measure for a strong military. You could very well be correct in your conclusion, but I wouldn't base it solely on that.
  
  I would think the lack of general care for soldiers after the fact is a big driving point of people just not wanting to even attempt it. Why put yourself through that rigorous experience if in 30 years you're disabled and fighting with your own government to help with living costs?
  I don't delve too much into Military things so I can't even say for certain if I'm on track with this. This is purely from an outsider's perspective.
- The US military is able to move faster, carry more, and attack bigger (or smaller) targets than ever before. Pay is just shit and we're not involved in any war anyone believes so no one wants to go in. Still the best Army. Being a jobs program isn't anything new or different than it's ever been.
- They did all of that during every war the U.S. has ever fought too. Were all of those wars "woke" wars?
  
  I never said it was because woke, only that he's lying about readiness because that's his job. The US military attrition rate is ridiculously high right now, and we aren't at war. Why? I'm not going to pretend to know why. Maybe the pay sucks. Maybe the prestige is gone. Maybe the forever wars for oil and opium soured people on the idea. Could be woke stuff, who knows. But the numbers don't lie, people don't want to be in the military as much anymore for some reason.

If he doesn't know what it means, how does he know the military isn't it?
- The military is accused of following a "woke agenda". If they don't know what it means they cannot be following it.
  Doesn't take a lot of brainpower to understand that.
  
  Unfortunately the brain you're speaking to is all gassed out.
- What does it mean then?

99 comments