What is woke? Do you have any idea, because the folks who use it to describe everything from gender inclusive books to AP African American studies classes can’t quite seem to define it. The past few weeks have seen a rash of viral instances of frequent users of the term unable to define what in the hell it means. I guess wokeness is a lot like the Supreme Court’s definition of pornography, hard to explain but you know it when you see it.
Woke entered the lexicon on the left. “Stay woke” was a frequent refrain among civil rights activists for a number of years. It’s a reminder to be mindful of who and what you’re fighting for. It’s since been co-opted by the right and used as a catch-all term for anything that offends their delicate sensibilities. Much like “dude” or “smurf,” woke can be used in a multitude of contexts, each with a slightly different meaning.
No one on the right is able to define what woke means because it doesn’t matter what it means. It’s simply a bucket in which to carry their never-ending list of grievances. When folks on the right refer to something as woke, it is most often because that thing had some measure of empathy or inclusion about it. LGBTQ children’s books are woke.
Diversity goals are woke. Teaching the objective truth about American history is woke. Apparently, Silicon Valley Bank is so woke it failed. Woke is everything and woke is nothing.
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