Are you woke enough to tell me what one can be woke about?

It’s an old term from the early 00s and later that was used mainly by Black activists on the left to delineate awareness of progressive issues. It’s now used by the right mainly to denigrate the left. Not really worth bothering with understanding much about.

Meaningless concept, other than what @janbb has referred to (conservative talking point/propaganda term).

I dunno. It’s not totally useless.

I appreciate that it tells me something about people, based on how they use the term.

^ True. People do use language to signal. And we can tell much about a person by the signaling they engage in.

Virtue signaling, sure.
But also when it’s used as a pejorative.

Think @janbb nailed it – and I totally agree it’s mostly not worth defining or debating.

But speaking for kittens everywhere, people should be taking more naps and spend less time being “woke” to left or right ideaologies.

It works as a derogatory term for individuals, groups or corporations that use current social trends as virtue signaling to save face for their own benefit but deep down don’t really care. That’s how I would use it.

Woke=alert to injustice in society, especially racism.

To me it simply means educating yourself on the realities and facts of any given issue.

There’s a lot of history many people simply don’t know, like the Japanese internment camps in the US post Pearl Harbor, The Tuskeegee Syphilis study, etc…

How anyone can feel it’s wrong to educate yourself on injustice is beyond me, so yes, I think it’s a good thing. And yes, I lean in all political directions on specific issues.

Honestly, I think it’s one of the best moves by liberals in a long time, socially. I personally wouldn’t use it a battering ram against other people as some do, but for fomenting positive change, which can never be a bad thing in my book.

On the right they call it being “red-pilled” (from The Matrix), but it’s the same concept: being aware of a level of a reality that others are ignorant of.

Now “woke” is mostly just a synonym for “progressive” or “social justice” or something along those lines and it is mainly used pejoratively.

@Demosthenes In a VERY red state and never heard that term used in reference to this subject. Interesting.

Frankly the only negative I hear is that Dems do use it as a battering ram (as I referenced above) which tends to make some people truly interested, shut down. I think some of you may be surprised at how many conservatives are awakening to social injustice and just not interested in admitting it or discussing it with you because it’s gotten abusive too many times.

Yes they were upset about the riots and violence, but they understand the sentiment and frustration. If you think people in the Midwest and South are not aware of race issues, you don’t know us very well and haven’t seen some of the modern cases presented in our courts.

For example: Senate Bill 5 in Missouri literally caused cities across the entire state to lose revenue post Ferguson, and it’s still in place and enforced, in the name of lessening racial tensions and injustice. We’re talking LOSING millions of dollars since it passed so police cannot target minorities in our state.

Be patient, it’s actually working.

I pretty much only encounter “woke” as a term right-wing Internet troll’s attempt to ridicule not-right-wing people and perspectives, or in some not-so-political joke memes.

yawn

I have nothing against fighting against injustice. Heck, I fight myself. What do you think my writing and my rant on here are for?

Currently I’m fighting for:
– The right for students to be educated in a humane and flexible environment.
– The right for customers to be fully informed about their service and be able to communicate honestly with service providers without fear of being conned.
– The right to debate, the right to engage in discussion without fear of rejection from a disagreement.
– The right to freely choose whether to get married or not, and who to marry.
– The right for people to choose what to do without fear of being labeled as a bad person.
– The right for the word “no” to be accepted literally.
– The right for honesty to be regarded as a virtue, not a sign of mental retardation.
– The right for disabled people to be treated equally.

What I am really against is the people who are not fighting for equality, but superiority. They want themselves to be recognized so that others would bow at them. These are the people who make the honest people who are fighting the good fight a bad name.

^^^ If that is the definition of “woke,” sign me up!

@Mimishu I’d vote for you if you ever ran for office!

I don’t think I am woke enough to explain the term. I don’t like the term, but can appreciate any movement or effort for civil rights, for equal opportunity, and for understanding.

@Mimishu1995 “What I am really against is the people who are not fighting for equality, but superiority.”

This is my issue with “Wokeness” also. A good deal of the controversy surrounding it has to do with the fact that it’s not sincere. It’s an insidious tactic used by one group to claim moral superiority over another or as an avoidance measure by one group to prevent future attack from another. The bottom line is that neither group really care that much about the issues that have been weaponized. That’s the difference, if it is sincere then it’s not “woke” On the flip side it can be fired in the other direction also and used as a smear to undermine something that really is legitimate. It’s just bad all around. Most liberals can see the latter but not the former. It’s usually the opposite for conservatives.

My Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, printed in 2012, doesn’t list it. The term is too new.
I always thought it was a term used, in a way, by people who deem themselves superior, to piss people off who aren’t aware of the meaning.
How “woke” is that??

Woke is the same as libtard or Let’s Go Brandon or Karen or snowflake.

If you say any of these words I will immediately ignore you.