Star Trek icon William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk in Star Trek: The Original Series, took to Twitter to explain what “woke” means.
The conversation started when Shatner responded to a now deleted tweet criticizing millennials for striking individuals from history who have been deemed “intolerable” by them.
Shatner wrote:
“Those children who grew up in that kinder gentler world use Presentism to remove books, have decided that any historical figure who has done things that by today’s society are intolerable should be struck from history. How is the next gen going to learn from past mistakes?”
Those children who grew up in that kinder gentler world use Presentism to remove books, have decided that any historical figure who has done things that by today’s society are intolerable should be struck from history. How is the next gen going to learn from past mistakes?🤷🏼♂️ https://t.co/lcFsmHRZeK
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 7, 2019
Shatner would double down explaining that he finds it “utterly ridiculous” that individuals would attempt to use presentism, the idea of interpreting past events with current day values and concepts, in order to erase individuals views because they don’t adhere to current day PC culture.
I’m not being obtuse at all when I say I find it utterly ridiculous that supposed learnedly people use presentism to erase the past b/c they want to pretend that past views that are not “PC” by today’s standards were wrong. What happens when today’s views are tomorrow’s follies? https://t.co/xGgp7Zqs9E
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 7, 2019
Given the original Tweet he was responding to was deleted, Shatner clarified that it “was a threat that Millennials could erase my past work.”
Shatner also explains it was in reference to Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Wilder Award which was renamed. According to the New York Times the award was changed in 2018 by The American Library Association because of “culturally insensitive portrayals in her books.”
The American Library Association specifically stated that the award was changed to “align the award’s title with the ALSC’s core values.” Those core values are “inclusiveness, integrity, respect, and responsiveness.”
The original tweet was a threat that Millennials could erase my past work.🙄 Her is Laura Ingalls Wilder & the Wilder Award which was renamed b/c Presentists complained her books contain disparaging sentiments of the 1870’s towards indigenous people. https://t.co/ugOdeoplUT
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 7, 2019
Shatner continued that the Library association made the change due to complaints.
The Library board did it in response to complaints. Do you really think that in 2018 Baby boomers or Gen X suddenly realized these books were bad? 🙄 https://t.co/ZQxsKPRTqm
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 7, 2019
That’s when Shatner would explain what “woke” really means. He writes, “To be woke is to be uniformed which is exactly the opposite of what it stands for.”
No it got adopted and reworked to be the joke it is today. To be woke is to be uniformed which is exactly the opposite of what it stands for. https://t.co/vH57LdwrDp
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) November 7, 2019
What do you make of Shatner’s definition of woke? What about his defense against presentism?