Two guys are talking in a bar. It is a public area. There is no effort to speak privately. The men happen to be related by marriage but that is not germane to their discussion. They are merely discussing issues of the day. The bar is called Facebook. It is a place where people gather to chat and socialize.

Admittedly this kind of conversation could have been better suited to a real pub, just not the pub of Facebook. On Facebook total strangers are able to jump in with peculiarly moronic and laughable insults. But sometimes it makes one think.

Woke nimrod is one of those. Poof! My mind exploded with all sorts of questions.

Nimrod is not hard. A nimrod is a skilled hunter although the usual reference is to the use of the term in venerable old Loonie Tunes cartoon character Elmer Fudd who was an ineffective hunter of Bugs Bunny. This is an ironic first use of the term. Woke is the past tense of wake and did not make sense juxtaposed next to nimrod. This sent me off to the internet of all knowledge to discover that according to Miriam-Webster:

Other information states the earliest known use is the 1970’s. Embarrassed by my ignorance of street terms but enlightened by Miriam-Webster, the translation of woke nimrod seems to be an ineffective hunter who is aware of issues of racial and social justice.

I do not hunt for things other than things that my wife has put somewhere special and has consequently misplaced but I am aware of social justice issues. Mr. Brueggemeyer’s comment is still confusing.

It was not helpful in understanding the soft bigotry of low expectations. For that I plan to listen to the Buzz in the near future. My brother-in-law is better informed than I in matters of wokeness.

I should not have teased Mr. Brueggemeyer by referring to him as a silly twit. The term is redundant. Twit was sufficient, nevertheless, he believes as do many older white men that black men when confronted by police merely need to comply with police orders. All will then be well. News reports indicate otherwise. And yet here we are; stuck in an odd belief/disbelief pattern of mistrust.

This mistrust of the police did not happen overnight and does not seem to be unique to black men although black men seem to get reported on by the newsies. The pattern of mistrust will take time to heal. The issue itself is larger than can be imagined by old white men such as me and Mr. Brueggemeyer. But perhaps, just maybe over time, we of the woke nimrod ilk and those of the unwoke nimrod movement will be able to thoughtfully discuss issues such as these as gentlemen with respect for the other’s stance. Perhaps we would include black men in the discussion.

Maybe that could happen someday over a beer in a bar, instead of the advertising platform of Facebook.