If I read (or hear) the word “woke” in an article, I immediately know (with a high degree of confidence) what the political, economic, and societal orientation of the person using the word is. Why? Because those that originally made use of the word have almost completely abandoned it. The word has been hijacked from the originators to be used in very different ways.
The word “woke” has a very simple definition:
To be aware of historical events and attitudes and their continued influence within society.
There are other variations of the definition but it seems pretty straight-forward, doesn’t it? Simple. Should not be particularly controversial. But, as used by those who still use it, it is.
Do the people who use it as negative type of 4-letter word still use it with the original definition? I don’t know. It is possible — though, if true, it means that they strongly different in opinion (and deny the facts of primary source documentation) about how historians and sociologists view the past, and present, world.
If they use it with a different meaning, I cannot say just what that meaning may be. As used within speeches, articles, social media posts, tweets, and political campaigns it has no single consistent definition. It is used as an all-encompassing flag word to stand for everything negative that they believe exists in the people for whom they are using the word.
The word “woke” is not the only word that has been hijacked in such a manner. And this has greatly assisted the campaign to divide the country and prevent constructive discussion. There is a saying that is used to work out the foundational reasons for events — “follow the money”. In these expanding situations of forcing division where there should be none, the better slogan should be “follow the power”.
Hijacking a word does not benefit anyone. It just makes constructive dialog harder.
