The Woke Whistle
The Woke Whistle
People complaining about "woke" are talking about *very* different things.
1. I’m Not Saying It’s Racism But . . .
This week’s episode of The Focus Group might be the best yet. Sarah was joined by the NYT’s Jane Coaston and they talked about culture wars and woke. (If you aren’t subscribed, get on that. The show is here.)
Sarah talked to groups of both Republicans and Democrats. Among other things, the groups were asked to define what “woke” means.
An African-American woman in the Democratic group said the following:
The term “woke” means “stay educated.” And that’s all it means: “stay educated.” But when you hear—and it’s typically used by white Republicans—when you hear them saying “the woke generation,” they’re talking about black people.
This brought me up a little bit short, because I typically view the complaints about “woke-ism” as having to do primarily with transgender issues.1 But as Coaston notes, the magic of “woke” is that everyone gets to fill it with their own Stuff I Do Not Like.
And lo’ and behold, here is what a white Republican woman from one of the other groups gave as her definition of woke: