How do you define WOKE?

I don't use the term because I honestly don't know what it means.

I thought that I had an idea.

When I first heard the term a few years ago I thought it referred to people with and interest in current events and who were awake to or aware of trending topics particularly around human behaviour.

Now it seems that the term is used as an insult but nobody who uses the term can provide me with anything but a nebulous hodgepodge of grievances and personal dislikes.

"This person is WOKE because they disagree with me and therefore I can dismiss everything they say as wrong" appears to be one of the ways it is used in OLO.

Has the term reached its use by date?

Does its meaning constantly morph into something else?

I'm interested in what others think.

"This person is WOKE because they disagree with me and therefore I can dismiss everything they say as wrong"

WTF? - Not Again,
From my own observations & experiences the Woke consider themselves to be enlightened & switched on, knowing everything better than the rest because they attended University for a while. They're the ones who only have made-up racism & discrimination as an argument & most of them live off Govt hand-outs or are employed in Govt bureaucracy. In a word, they're Leftists without a cause.
As the definition gradually changes they try to make it sound like these examples copied from the net;

While you're obsessing over your diet, people are starving in the world. Get woke.
He's so woke, he suggested we go to the Women's March.
You can take a quiz to test how woke you are.
I'm a woke black girl and I'm not gonna let anyone push me around.

I only encountered this word here, on OLO.

I will keep using it as the past tense of 'wake'.

using it as the past tense of 'wake'.
Yuyutsu,
Although they actually believe that they're awake to what's going on, in reality they're mere sleep walkers in dreams of their ideology !

Hello Indyvidual,

Thank you for the response.

You say "only have made-up racism & discrimination as an argument"

I'm not sure what that means (the made-up part).

Are these the only social issues of concern or are their more?

Does someone have to fall into all of these categories to be woke or is there a minimum number or even hierarchy of wokeness?

Is wokeness a scale say from "slightly woke" to someone being "a total woker?"

I know I'm being flippant in that last sentence but I'm still puzzled.

Good Morning WTF,

I don't use the term woke.

I've only encountered it on this forum -
where it's been used in a derogatory manner.

I've looked it up on the web and we're told that
the English meaning of woke is:

"Being aware of and actively attentive to important
facts and issues (especially issues of racist and
social justice) and identified as US slang."

"It originated in African American English and gained
more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the
" Black L:ives Matter" movement. By the end of that
same decade it was also being applied by some as a
general pejorative for anyone who is or appears
to be politically left leaning."

And who says we can't learn anything on this forum?
(smile).

You say "only have made-up racism & discrimination as an argument"
WTF? - Not Again,
Much so-called racism is nothing more than the only available excuse for those who blame others for their own faults when things don't go their way.
I've witnessed this many times myself. There is far less racism than is claimed but there is more exploiting racism than is being admitted to.

Foxy,

You have given the original meaning assigned to "woke" however, like many other words the meaning attached to the word has been warped.

The meanings more closely associated with "woke" are

Sanctimonious,
Intolerant, and
Arrogant.

Shadow Minister,

I did say in my earlier post that woke has become a
"general pejorative - for anyone who is or appears
to be left leaning." Especially as we've seen - on
this forum.

It has been warped into expressing contempt and
disapproval. Some have latched onto the term and
weaponized it as an easy way to dismiss or
discount issues or grievances that they may not
agree with or find them too progressive, or
not be able to understand them.

The simple four letter word is an easy way of
trying to silence people - and avoid uncomfortable
conversations. Its become a way to dismiss very real
concerns.

This type of signaling is disrespectful - and counter-
productive.

Woke is merely a substitute for 'progressive'. The left like to think of and call themselves 'progressive' as if every moronic idea that grips them is an advance in civilisation.

Saner minds hated calling these people 'progressive' since it is clearly a misnomer.

And then the term 'woke' popped up via black American slang. It is used ironically to refer to people who think of themselves as 'progressive' to mock the fact that they rarely are 'woke' to what's really going on.

So if you are 'woke' and are called such, just, in your mind, substitute the word 'progressive' and you'll feel better about yourself. You'll still be wrong but you'll convince yourself otherwise.

mhaze,
rather well said !

They used to be called "Trendies".
eg someone who insists on being addressed by a pronown such as "they".
such as "is they there ?"
Pronouns can be anything, you could insist on being addressed as
"sludge" or "gearbox" etc etc.
A Woke judge in SA has instructed that a woman who was raped must
refer in the court to the man as "she" because he says she is a trans.
It does really get to that ding-a-ling state.

Foxy,

The term "woke" has assumed the characteristics of those claiming to be woke which are far from flattering. For this, you need to point the finger at the sanctimonious and intolerant idiots that corrupted the meaning of the word.

Shadow Minister,

I'm not really all that concerned about the word.
I don't use it

Foxy,

No rational person would.

Thanks for the responses,

The terms progressive and trendies do not have much meaning these days either and are not used all that much because they mean different things to different people.

So if I am make the statement along the lines of "Well I'm not Woke" am I telling others that I do not demonstrate the behaviours of a woke person?

Isn't this just another form of group virtue signalling which I believe is a woke characteristic?

So is wokeness a scale? If not what is the cut off point?

Just as we have Godwin's Law for internet forum discussions I think we will soon have a similar Law for the term woke.

I'm not really all that concerned about the word. I don't use it
Foxy,
The more the word is used the more highlighted this insidious mentality will be & countered for the good of all !

Shadow Minister,

Most people think they are rational.
And word choice usage - depends on so
many different things.

I feel that it is important to stop using
"woke" as an insult. That's an attempt to silence
serious issues.

Here in Melbourne we had the running of the Melbourne
Cup yesterday.

After 150 years of being a fixture on Australia's
social and sporting calendar, the relevance and
place of the Melbourne Cup Carnival is now being
questioned by more and more Aussies.

From concerns about animal welfare to gambling, there's
a vast amount of reasons that many people are saying
No to the Cup.

Others argue that the Cup is a multi-billion dollar
industry and not only creates thousands of jobs, but
brings Australians together for a day of social
celebration and Fashions on the Field. It also puts
Australia on the International Racing scene.

Is it "woke" to criticize the Cup and have concerns
about the relevance and place of the Cup in 2023?

stop using "woke" as an insult.
Foxy,
I totally agree & that's why I don't use it as an insult, I use as a wake-up to draw attention to the insidiousness of the Woke mentality !
Disregarding & even attacking the efforts of those who feed them is what makes the Woke the greater percentage of economic parasites in society.

Undyvidual,

Let me get this straight. Are you saying that those
who are concerned about social issues and such - you
consider to be parasites?

That's a bit insulting isn't it?

I feel that many of us are "woke" and we may not
even be aware of it. Because many of us educate ourselves
on current events and political issues. And often we become
socially engaged - such as posting on discussion forums.

There are people who watch the news 24/7 and they don't let
a single current event slip their notice. I know people who
utilize grassroots efforts to engage with their communities
to raise awareness of any issue that is important to them.
The federal Member of Parliament in my electorate is
such a hard-working person.

The usage of language and the word "woke"
is just one example in some cases of rampant
political polarization. because we'd rather assume that
people "on the other side" are misinformed et cetera,
rather than acknowledge the viability of different opinions
or priorities.

Many pf us have made that mistake on many issues.
Of which I am not proud - but I guess it is understandable
when you're passionate about certain things that are important
to you.

It's a learning process.
Although some of us are either too old to change or too set
in our ways.

" stop using "woke" as an insult".

Its not being used as an insult, but as a more accurate way to describe a certain class of people. These are people who used to luxuriate in calling themselves 'progressives' and now hate the more accurate term 'woke'.

"Just as we have Godwin's Law for internet forum discussions I think we will soon have a similar Law for the term woke."

So calling someone 'woke' is the equivalent of calling them a Nazi? But I get your point. Its always been part of the project of the leftist progressives/woke to control the language to control the debate. Anyone who has read '1984', or, more precisely, anyone who has understood 1984, will understand the process. Totalitarians to the last.

My federal Liberal Member of Parliament I consider to
be woke. He is plugged in and is very much aware and
involved in his community. He's totally socially engaged
and has raised awareness in the community of many issues.

Which to me simply goes to show that we can't really
pigeon-hole people when we have educated impassionate
individuals on all sides of an issue.

Of course it is much easier to assume that people
"on the other side" are misinformed rather than
acknowledge the viability of different opinions or
priorities.

"Of course it is much easier to assume that people "on the other side" are misinformed "

Well reading posts like the last, its certainly easy to see that people are misinformed about the meaning of 'woke'.

The meaning of woke is clear enough
and clarity is a big virtue in these times.

Are you saying that those who are concerned about social issues and such - you
consider to be parasites?
Foxy,
No, I'm not at all saying that & I made that abundantly clear. There's a huge difference between holding your hand out for benefits derived from those whom the Woke criticise & understanding the dilemma of helping people in need. Demanding funding for Arts & other frivolities in times of economic downturn does not fall into the category of need. There is no merit in spending time on something no-one wants to buy off you or has no use for.

Just as "gay" originally meant cheerful and carefree, woke used to mean socially aware.

When Foxy says her MP is woke I hope he's not an obnoxious virtue signaller that she implies.

Shadow Minister,

The Member of Parliament that I was referring to
in my earlier post is Keith Wolahan - the federal
Liberal MP for Menzies who replaced Kevin Andrews
in my electorate. He's genuine, caring, and
very involved in his community and is actively
attentive to important facts and issues.

Yes, words certainly do change. The term "woke" Thris
being used today by some as a stick with which to
beat people who like MP Keith Wolahan aspire to
the values of being aware and actively attentive
to important facts and issues (especially issues
of racial and social injustice).

The stick is often wielded by those who don't recognize how
un-woke they themselves are, or are proud of the fact.

As long as injustices remain - new words will emerge
to describe them.

Woke is the past tense of wake. Like so many words these days, its meaning has been changed/manipulated by social engineers. It is now used to deride people who are politically correct, virtue-signalers, Leftists, etc.

I prefer the old description for these people: arseholes.

So many words - so many different connotations.
So many different usages.

I prefer the word "Ignoramus" for someone who's
both stupid and an asshole.
( But make sure you're not the toilet paper).

Then there's the word " Prick"- especially if
you're dealing with someone who's a total cactus.

And of course - there's the old - "Jerk" and "Dick."

"F-wit." and we could go on, and on. But most of us
stop "kvetching" - because it's rude.

Talking about words - how many of us know
where the origins of many of the words that we
use come from?

Words like - Chutzpah, klutz, glitch, kerfuffle,
kow-tow, apparatchik, hazard, juggernaut, to mention
just a few.

The term Woke was only recently introduced by the indoctrinated & designed to refer to themselves as "Woke" as in supposedly being more aware than the lesser educated. Little did they know how this term actually exposed their meagre mentality. It back-fired within a very short time. Woke is now generally accepted to describe half-baked pseudo intellectuals making a nuisance of themselves everywhere !

Foxy,

etymology or entomology?

Shadow Minister,

you asked about etymology?

Be careful of the words you say
Keep them short and sweet
You never know, from day to day
Which ones you'll have to eat.

You asked about entomology?

I wish I was a glow-worm
A glow-worm's never glum
How can you be unhappy
When a light shines out your bum.

"This person is WOKE because they disagree with me and therefore I can dismiss everything they say as wrong"

- Seems reasonable.

WOKE means awake to issues of social justice, social wage, gender identity, racism, rape culture, white privilege etc.

It's a phrase used firstly by people who push a far left progressive mindset on things to describe themselves, but is also a catch-all phrase used by the non-progressive to denigrate them.

"Woke, among other things, is an elaborate system for escaping any accountability for one's actions. It's a functional personality disorder." -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLrT-Yos6Zw