Can anybody actually define what “woke” is at this point? It just seems like the catch all adjective for whatever the right hates now. Like giving black people the right to vote was “woke” back in the day.
And by the way, if handing over more control to the government is “woke”, then DeSantis is one woke motherfucker.
I think your use of the word "actually" is kind of telling.
I'm sure any inability to give a simple definition that works for some people "actually" has a lot to do with the complexity that it is probably attempting to summarize. Also, the term is used colloquially by many different people to mean many different things. This is normal when a term that never really had an ACTUAL definition in the first place becomes more mainstream in a language.
There are varying definitions of woke because many of the things deemed "woke" have had the term applied to them because what started as basic liberal tenants have been perceived to be pushed to the extreme even to classic liberals. To try and nail down each direction that progressivism has ran at lightning speed into extremism and collect all of that into one ACTUAL definition would create such a massive amalgamation of so many ideas and stances that it would render that singular ACTUAL definition pointless or too broad.
It's like asking what it means to be an ACTUAL Italian or an ACTUAL American or an ACTUAL European. For some things, it means something and for others it means something different. But using that as some sort of "gotcha" seems like an attempt to just dismiss the position because you haven't had a definition yet that you like from your biased position counter to it. And that's completely normal. It serves you and your worldview to view the term "woke" as a "rightwing" thing so that you can quickly and casually dismiss it until an ACTUAL definition that works for you arrives. The problem that high bar creates is that for a definition to register as ACTUAL for you, you'd basically need to become "rightwing" to lend it that credibility.
If you're response is simply "well give me a cookie cutter definition that I like or you lose" then you're really just setting up a high bar that only works for you and its probably unobtainable for anybody discussing it with you. Many people have given definitions of THEIR perception of what the word woke means. To act like nobody has "actually" defined woke seems like an unrealistic and unfair high bar for somebody to achieve. Basically they must define the word to the point it is ACTUALLY fits in your mind and then at that point you'd yourself become a "Nazi." But here's one definition that works for a classic liberal like myself. It's not THE definition but it's one that has some truth to it.
"Woke is a collection of ideas not building on liberalism but very often undoing them. Five years ago, Abraham Lincoln was not a controversal figure to liberals. We liked him. Now they take down his schools and tear down his statues. Really, Lincoln isn't good enough for you? Um, you know five-to-ten years ago, bedrock liberalism was we strive to be a colorblind society where we don't see race. Of course, we see it but it doesn't matter. That's not what woke is. It's that we see color and race all the time, it's always the most important thing."
Bill Maher, known super conservative right-winger.
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