Is woke the way to treat others?

When we were at St Andrews, a group of us used to play word games in the Union Bar. One was Tom Swifties, then called Tom Swiftlies. “The bird is on the wing, said Tom swiftly.” “I’d like a Martini, said Tom drily.” “I’ve had my ECG, said Tom wholeheartedly.” “My backside is sore, said Tom notwithstanding.”

Another one we invented ourselves was to summarize essential meanings into three words, sometimes four. “Courage is fear faced resolutely.” “Foreign aid comes down to buy their stuff.” “The moral law is don’t offend gratuitously.” It does rather focus the mind to go to the essence of the idea and avoid the trimmings.

One can question, of course, how accurate some of these simplifications were, but the aim was to get some essence of the idea into a compact definition.

‘Don’t offend gratuitously’ is a good starting point for the way to treat others. If they have done nothing to offend you, then don’t offend them. Various surveys indicate that the default is to treat people fairly unless they have given you cause not to. We want to live in harmony and on good relations with our fellow citizens unless their behaviour merits otherwise.

Some elements of wokery claim to be offended if you do not use the precise language they demand. This is about power rather than offence. They want you to jump through their hoops, and if you do so, they will change the terms yet again.

‘Don’t offend gratuitously’ isn’t about that. It is about treating people decently until they give you reason not to. Many of the woke lists about what terminology should be adapted or replaced, terms such as ‘chest-feeding’ or ‘pregnant persons’ could be replaced by a much simpler command to treat people decently. It is possible that a few magistrate’s court and tribunal decisions would soon build up a body of precedent about what people on juries and tribunals considered to be decent.

You don’t need to spell it out in detail, but can allow people to determine how it should be interpreted. It comes from below, expressing what people feel to be decent behaviour, from the unwritten rules that govern our social behaviour. It does not come from above in an attempt to mould us into what others think we ought to be.

Most of us want to live harmoniously with those around us, and treating people decently is a good way to start.