We’re back with more woke! Here are a few things that were denounced as “woke” by the anti-woke warriors this week.
Let’s start with the weirdest one.
“Marvel’s Loki Being Bisexual”
In an indignant if oftentimes confusing post for The Liberty Daily, J.D. Rucker took aim at Marvel and the “Woke Disney Corporation” for turning its version of the ancient Norse god bisexual. And worse.
Rucker is disturbed that
the so-called “God of Mischief” has come out as gender fluid and is now proclaimed to be bisexual.
But it gets worse, at least in Rucker’s fevered imagination.
There’s an important aspect of Loki’s character … that makes his sudden bisexuality so disturbing. Loki has never used sex for pleasure. His character is purpose-driven. He has always weaponized sex to suit his purposes. … Through Loki, they’re telling impressionable children that bisexuality is not only acceptable but can be empowering for those willing to use it to their advantage.
To their advantage?
He goes on, and on:
Weaponizing sex is not a trait that should be coveted. It is an abomination unto itself when applied to heterosexual relationships. Once we throw in the “woke” LGBTQ angle, it becomes an enticement to commit sin on top of sin. …
This is not an accident. Disney made the conscious decision to position Loki squarely as an LGBTQ “outcast” within the Marvel Cinematic Universe because they know it influences those already confused about their own sexuality through the propaganda and brainwashing they’re getting in schools and entertainment. The more Hollywood trots out manufactured LGBTQ characters, the easier it is for them to indoctrinate the masses — particularly youths — into embracing that lifestyle regardless of their actual feelings.
It’s true. I watched Loki the other day and it turned me into a mischievous Norse god.
The Salvation Army:
The Salvation Army, as most Americans likely know, is a religiously-inspired charitable organization with a slightly scary name infamous in certain circles for its long history of discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. Now the group is being derided as “woke” for … standing up against racism?
As The Washington Times reported, the group last month put forth “a racial reconciliation” discussion paper developed by the group’s International Social Justice Commission “urging its members to apologize for past racial misdeeds.”
Our new friend Voddie Baucham — the demon-obsessed preacher — thinks the whole thing is just an attempt at “virtue signaling.” And the Washington Times itself worries that “a public perception of ‘wokeness’ might impact fundraising.”
People who think you can’t just declare yourself Korean:
“Influencer” Oli London, famous for getting plastic surgery to look like Park Ji-Min of K-Pop band BTS, recently came out as nonbinary … and Korean.
When people told him that no, you can’t just identify as someone of another race, London went all Rachel Dolezal on their asses:
In a YouTube video, London denounced the naysayers as “woke.”
“The only people that need to be canceled is the woke people,” London said. “Because they are so dangerous to freedom of speech in society.”
The Generals:
Last week I wrote about critics convinced that the US military has gone “woke.” They’re still talking about it. Indeed, this week none other than ex-president Donald Trump used the “w” word in an attack on the generals at a rally in Wellington, Ohio. As the Daily Beast noted, “Trump tore into military leadership, accusing them of becoming ‘weak and ineffective’ and ‘woke.'”
More The Week in Woke next week!
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@rabid rabbit
In most version of the myth. Herakles and Hades had a friendly wrestling match before the fight against Cerberus. Should Herakles won he could take Cerberus out of the underworld should he defeat it. In other version, they simply have a conversation and Hades agrees to have him “borrow” Cerberus provided he can restrain him. Herakles divine enemy in mythology was Hera, the wife of Zeus, but she and him make peace after Herakles saves Hera from a giant who tried to rape her while she was taking a bath in a sacred source.
@Alan
I’d never heard of that channel. Took a peek, the missus got interested in them and is now watching them all.
An entire night of no politics talk? I owe you one, big time.
Wasn’t there some relatively recent controversy over some of what’s actually in Norse mythology? Like, the guy who’s credited with uncovering much of it for a modern audience, Snorri Sturlison, supposedly made some of it up? Or am I misremembering things again?
As for Herakles and Hera, things may not be as simple as them being enemies. The name ‘Herakles’ means ‘Glory of Hera’ according to a thread in the long-lamented Mythology Usenet group, so it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that she’d be be his mortal enemy. Now her deciding to make Herk live up to that name’s meaning by giving him a ton of impossible tasks to perform to make him a legend for the ages, that would be an interesting twist on that story.
(Yeah, that idea’s been bouncing around in my head every now and then; need to write some of it down and make it a full-blown story someday.)
@redsilkphoenix
That was deliberate flattery on the part of his mother, hoping (in vain) to deflect Hera’s wrath.
Voddie Baucham thinks the Salvation Army is virtue-signaling? Well, maybe he’s right, maybe they are, but they’re the Salvation Army, and if they wanted to stop virtue-signaling they’d have to change their name.
@redsilkphoenix : that story of changed mythology ring a bell. In any case, I know of at least two versions of the Norse mythology, the “common folklore” current one who is heavily influenced by christianism, and the earlier one, where Thor is much less emphatized and giants and elves and whatnot are much more proeminent.
Notably, given when Snorri Sturlison was born, he probably was closer to the christianized version in any case.
@Mostly_Lurking: I second your plea to stop posting pics of Agent Orange. I still get nauseous when I see him, and my extension that blocks photos of him doesn’t work here.
David, pleeeeaaaaaase post something else instead.
I can’t say I know a lot about Norse mythology, but Thor kicking ass in bridal attire is one of my favorite moments in it ?
I watched it and really really liked it. It’s not usually the kind of series I’d go for so it was a pleasant surprise.
Now I’m interested in knowing which aspects of it you find problematic, if you’d like to share. I found it overall good but maybe I missed something.
I was outraged at the depiction of Hercules being Hera’s son, and her and Zeus being happily married. Even the twist on how he allegedly loses his immortality felt so full of crap.
Now I see they were bending over backwards,not only to make it family-friendly but christian-friendly as well.
It bothers me because no one forced them to adapt a Greek myth. If they didn’t like the story why didn’t they choose a different one?
I know, nearly all mythologies are not Christian friendly -even Christian mythology itself!
But still, there are a few good stories which do not include that much infidelity and attempted infanticide to choose from…
My favorite Loki story is “translated” into modern slang in “Loki Takes It Just a Little Too Far.” It sounds entirely like a fake myth, but if you look up the Lokasenna from the Poetic Edda, it’s all just retelling the actual story, in easy-to-understand form, and it’s hilarious. Reminds me a little of Drunk History. The whole site is great, though the language is definitely nsfw.
@Luzbelitz: The opening episode introduced a queer character only to kill her off that very same episode. The felt a bit ‘bury your gays’-y. Granted, it had more queer representation later on, but I can see how that might cause some people to turn away.
Aside from that I had no complaints/doubts. I especially dug Magne’s neuro=atypicality. refreshing to just have that be an aspect of who the protagonist is rather than his one defining feature. Also, Laurits being legit kinda unpredictable, yet understandable instead of ‘lol I so random’ is also appreciated.
@Alan: Overly Sarcastic Productions is great. The Red Reads thge classics and the pope fights being among my favorites.
Don’t even get me started on the Disney version of Hercules (or how much Kevin Sorbo sucks). I live in a heavily religious area, and I was taught in freaking kindergarten that Hercules was Zeus’s bastard lovechild. I was very big on Greek and Roman mythology back in the day.
@Battering Ram
Hey thanks for the recommendation!
I was on the fence about whether or not to give the show a try
I mean the original Loki r*ped his sister so this is definitely an improvement except oh right, these are Tr*mp supporters who think banging your siblings or offspring is a G-rated family activity. ?????
Well, I came here to get angry during my break at work, but disappointed. ?
@Ohlmann Yeah, there’s a reason why TVTropes has pages called “Everybody Hates Hades” and “Hijacked By Jesus”. Fittingly enough, I had just read the Wiki page on Anubis yesterday that points out the exact same thing. Explicitly NOT evil, popular and beloved by Ancient Egyptians BECAUSE he takes care of the dead (also his minimal involvement in the myths is the same energy as Hestia: too decent a deity to be involved in the shenanigans) yet modern takes tend to treat him as go-to villain simply because “death” and being the most recognizable one even more than Ra or Osiris.
I explicitly remember Greeks HATED that version for how inaccurate it is to the myths, but at least Hades was a charismatic highlight (along with Meg) in an otherwise “safe” movie (and yes, obligatory “James Woods is an asshole” mention).
And yeah, “Hunchback” was sanitized to hell (pun not intended) given how gross and depressing the original is, but again, “Hellfire” killed it and at least the late great Tony Jay wasn’t an asshole, as far as I know.
I read this initially as “people who think you can’t just declare yourself a Karen,” and was confused.
Seeing as making new interpretations that differ in any way from any other previous versions of a character is bad, I’m sure it was equally vile to make Kirk in the new Star Trek movies such a womanizing bro.
What’s that you say — it’s okay if the new interpretation lines up with your existing (flawed) understanding? Must be handy.
@GSS ex-noob
It’s always good times when people wax poetic in defence of things they know relatively little about. Here in Finland, back in 2015 a bunch of people worried about the influx of refugees was set on defending Finns and Finnish culture named their group “Soldiers of Odin”. I will never not laugh at that.
@Battering Lamb
Ahhh yes! I did pick up on that, it was a total bummer because she was also an excellent character… I guess I blocked it afterwards to enjoy the rest of the series.
Not only was it bury-your-gays-ish, I felt it was also the old trope of “woman dies to give man a purpose”.
I too liked Laurits character development, and the fact they respected his part-giant story.
@bcb
That would be easy: just get a kitty. Bam! You’re a Karen now 😀
What are they on about, Loki exudes bisexual energy
Shape shifter. Sudden bisexuality. Sure, Jan.
C.A.Collins : in western culture, gender is often considered more essential than shape or specie. It sort of make a little bit of sense in that physical bodies change more often than gender.
It however have a ton of little fun consequence you notice once you’re aware. Like werewolf have the same gender in wolf and human form by default.
Also, while bisexual people would probably like being shapeshifter, I can easily see shapeshifter being either gendersexual (AKA being attracted to a specific gender regardless of their shape) or straight (AKA being attracted to the gender opposed to their current one). That seem just as likely than bisexuality.
If someone hasn’t done a story on this called Queerwolf I’ll be very disappointed.
There’s a furry transformation art community on Twitter, that very often involves genderbending/change of sexual characteristics.
Not entirely unrelated, I just recently learned that some transfeminine people call their penis “hen”.
@Lumipuna
For a moment, I legit thought this was about the Swedish pronoun and wondered about discussing body parts using personal pronouns.
@Alan Robertshaw:
If someone hasn’t done a story on this called Queerwolf I’ll be very disappointed.
From Curse of the Queerwolf (1988), although the character seems to be turning stereotypical gay transvestite rather than transgender:
@ full metal ox
Sorry, just seen your post. Thank you!
So, I was onto the right idea. I wonder how much they’d want for the IP rights?
Of course, if I’m going to cash in on some of that sweet Twilight money, I need to get some similarly themed vampires in there.
The best I can come up with so far is Campires. Which is rubbish. Any suggestions?
(Twilight is still a thing right?)