I Want To Be Woke!

 What is the antonym of “wake?”

According to Merriam-Webster thesaurus the antonym of wake is: slumber, resting, dozing, napping, and snoozing. I rather be: awake, stimulate, excite, and awaken.

I don’t want to stick my head in the sand and ignore what is going on around us.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary “woke” means,

1: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)

2: disapproving : politically liberal (as in matters of racial and social justice) especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme

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What does 'woke' mean and why are some conservatives using it?

The definition of "woke" changes depending on who you ask.
ABC News
ByKiara Alfonseca
January 20, 2023


The definition of "woke" changes depending on who you ask.

The term has recently been used by some conservatives as an insult against progressive values.

The term, however, was originally coined by progressive Black Americans and used in racial justice movements in the early to mid-1900s.

To be "woke" politically in the Black community means that someone is informed, educated and conscious of social injustice and racial inequality, Merriam-Webster Dictionary states.

One of its earliest uses was in a historical recording of the protest song "Scottsboro Boys" by Lead Belly. In that recording, it was used as a term about staying aware of the potential for racist violence as a Black person in America.

Once again the conservatives twist the meaning of words.

The term has since been co-opted by some Republicans as a pejorative term this midterm election cycle to signify the identity-based social justice issues that some Democrats and progressives push for, representatives from the Democratic Governors Association and Working Families Party tell ABC News.

"Woke" has been used by former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and several Trump-backed midterm candidates including Kari Lake and Mehmet Oz.

[…]

"We reject woke ideology," DeSantis said in his election night speech. "We will never ever surrender to the woke agenda. People have come here because of our policies."

Let us stop and think for a moment what he is saying.

He is rejection “woke ideology” in other words he does not want to know of the injustice around him. He does not want to know of the discrimination that is prevalent minorities. He doesn’t want to know anything about LGBTQ+ peoples. He doesn’t want to know of the oppression that he is crearting.

For example, DeSantis himself has implemented policies in schools that have been criticized for limiting discussion and curriculum on race, systemic oppression, gender and sexual orientation with the Parental Rights in Education Law and the now-blocked Stop W.O.K.E Act. He argues these laws give parents more say in what their kids learn in schools.

The New Yorker wrote,

“The references to ‘woke’ before 2016, 2017, 2018 were kind of straightforward. It means ‘socially aware,’ ‘empathetic,’ ” Thorne says. “Then the right, the conservative right, seizes hold of this word,” to heap blame on it for everything from deadly mass shootings to lower military recruitment.

And in the Rolling Stone magazine…

During her speech on Friday, 2024 hopeful Nikki Haley deemed “wokeness” a “virus more dangerous than any pandemic.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) argued Americans ought not to be governed by “deeply weird, nauseously woke people who hate George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Seuss, and Mr. Potato Head.” Ron DeSantis, grand poobah of the anti-woke, wasn’t there, but Moms for Liberty, the DeSantis-championing “parents’ rights” group, was, its members milling outside the main hall in navy “STOP WOKE” T-shirts.

To the young Republicans in attendance, the vernacular feels a bit cringe. “We don’t really use ‘woke’ as our term,” says Evan Masse, a student at the Community College of Rhode Island. Chris Johnson, the managing director of Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends, likened its use to how an out-of-touch uncle might search for the words to describe a nephew at the Thanksgiving table. “I think a lot of older folks use it if they don’t really know what they’re referring to,” he says. “It’s a catchall colloquialism.”

Most definitely! They have no idea what they are saying.

I don’t know about you but I rather be cognizant of the injustice around me then have my head buried in the sand.

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Update March 8, 2023 @ 6 PM

I just saw this in a newsfeed...

A GOP war on 'woke'? Most Americans view the term as a positive, USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds

By 56%-39%, Americans say 'woke' means being aware of social injustice, not being overly politically correct.

USA Today

By Susan Page

March 8, 2023

Key Points

• Attacks on 'woke' could complicate GOP outreach in a general election.
• Americans support teaching about ongoing effects of slavery but not 'critical race theory'
• There is a sharp partisan divide on use of gender-neutral pronouns.

Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a war on "woke," but a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds a majority of Americans are inclined to see the word as a positive attribute, not a negative one.

Fifty-six percent of those surveyed say the term means "to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices." That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.

Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, "to be overly politically correct and police others' words." That's the view of 56% of Republicans.

The findings raise questions about whether Republican campaign promises to ban policies at schools and workplaces they denounce as "woke" could boost a contender in the party's primaries but put them at odds with broader public opinion in the general election.

Sh... Don't tell the Republicans!

“Most Americans understand that to be woke is to be tuned in to injustices around us,” said Cliff Young of Ipsos. "But for a key segment of Republicans who make up the Trump-DeSantis base, 'woke' is a clear trigger for the worst of the politically correct, emerging multicultural majority."

As I said, I rather be "Woke" than brain dead!

In the early 20th century, "woke" was generally used as a call for Black people around the world to "wake up" to racial oppression. After the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the term gained wider usage to describe awareness of the continuing legacy of racial discrimination and systematic oppression.

Now conservatives have adopted the term as a rallying cry in the culture wars, signaling their opposition to everything from the teaching of the ongoing effects of slavery to the use of gender-neutral pronouns.

It is a good thing that the conservatives do not know the history of the word, that it was used for what we now say as "Critical Race Theory" to teach the oppression of the Blacks.

And when it comes to us...

On gender, a wide partisan divide

The partisan divide is gaping on matters involving gender.

Overall, those surveyed overwhelmingly oppose the use of gender-neutral pronouns to describe someone, 61%-36%.

But while almost all Republicans oppose gender-neutral pronouns, 87%-11%, Democrats support them by double-digits, 61%-37%. 

The clashing views are similar over whether people should be able to identify as someone other than "man" or "woman" on government documents such as passports and birth certificates. Overall, Americans oppose the idea by 61%-36%.

While 88% of Republicans oppose it, however, 60% of Democrats support it.

It is a good thing that the right-wingers haven't used focus groups... I'm woke what about you?

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Updated 3/11/23