Passive Aggressive Communication -
I’m sure there’s a better term for it, but that’s the term I’m settling on for now — passive aggressive communication. Our society and culture uses this form of communication, if we want to actually call it communication, to talk about politics, religion, relationships, community, values, and a whole assortment of things that actually matter and impact us.
The latest version of this has to do with the term “woke.” It’s a handy term used by conservatives in a pejorative way. And interestedly, it’s also used by more progressive-leaning individuals as well in a more positive way.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary offers two definitions for the term, which I find interesting:
- aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
- disapproving : politically liberal (as in matters of racial and social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.
I think that’s fascinating. Both definitions cite racial and social justice as a part of their definition, but the use of the term deflects the conversation away from those topics actually. For those that are disapproving, that’s the point I suspect. Talking about topics you don’t want to talk about is uncomfortable. Maybe you don’t know how to talk about them. Maybe there’s something personal about them. Maybe there’s something else involved. I don’t know.
