Russian President Vladimir Putin (AP/Press Association Images)
(Picture: AP)Everything seems trivial in wartime; even language feels inadequate. But if we can’t find the right words to describe something, how can we understand it? Woke is a good example. It’s a word I hate. I think it is supposed to mean, “conscious of bias” and it is supposed to make us less prejudiced. But it has come to mean, “weak,” and “stupid”. It fuels arguments on social media; it widens fractures when we should try to narrow them; it helps us to dehumanise each other, and from that it’s a short road to murder.
As irritating is the description of Vladimir Putin as a “strongman”. The very use of it is enabling, and lazy, because that is how he would like to be perceived. That is how he sees himself. Must we do his PR for him?
