Can someone define woke for me?

That is an important distinction. Woke is still used in the black community correctly, so hearing people say that doesn’t matter because other people are using it differently is infuriating.

 

When I see an article that uses woke in the title I tend to bypass it. The bias is implied in the use of the word.

 

I'm with you 100%.

 

To me, a white person who is woke is different than it is for a person of color. The white person is on a journey of empathy, compassion and understanding. IMO, it takes more than just those feelings. White people have to have a full picture of what it's like to be black in this country. You have to read history. You have to talk to black friends and ask them about their experiences.

For a person of color, it's a complete comprehension of where they fit in our society and the forces that put them there, but without victimhood. It's more recently become a construct between straight, cis-gendered people and the LBGT world.

Few things trigger me more than someone calling me or someone else "woke." My pulse quickens and the muscles in my right arm tense up. That person instantly becomes an enemy. I don't tolerate any culture war vocabulary. People who can't articulate their ideas or opinions any other way are hopelessly myopic and incapable of understanding or caring. They are a neurotoxin to our society.

 

I would say once the incorrect or alternate use becomes dominant, it is impossible to employ the 'correct' use without some irony. I'm sure "gay" is still defined as meaning happy or light in the dictionary, but no one is going to use that definition in its older use unless they are reading out loud a book from 1920. That's just the way language works, you cant control it, because it isnt static.

 

The twitter and talking points definition has become entitled and judging in a hypocritical way. It no longer matters what the actual definition is. Definitional appropriation?

 

unfortunately democracy is making this list.

 

Ultimately though, the writer rarely has control over the headline

 

Gau is not the best comparison. A better comparison is “literally”. “Literally” might be the most misused word in the English language, but that doesn’t mean it’s original meaning is ironic or no longer valid.

 

Its not the meaning that's ironic, its the the usage. Its ironic because it cant not be juxtaposed against the other understood "incorrect usage."

 

Here's a better depiction of "wokeness.". Libs crack me up.

 

Unless I never understood what irony or juxtaposition mean, I don’t get this. It’s not ironic, and yes you can juxtapose the two definitions. There are many words that have more than one meaning. There is original woke and Fox News woke. The fact that Fox News woke has become popular in the last 12-18 months doesn’t mean that the original meaning went anywhere or isn’t in use.

I’m sure you didn’t intend this, but you are coming off as implying that the original definition created by black people no longer applies because a group of white people started misusing the word.

 

Sincere question: Was the word used in the Black community to describe/identify Black folks who had such awareness? Or was it assumed that Black Americans were aware of and understood the racial injustice against them and therefore the word was used more to describe non-Black folks who also "got it"?

For the record, as a White guy, I can't remember for sure but don't think I recall hearing the word until maybe the middle 2010's. Based upon a quick search, it appears it may go back to the 40's and was pretty widespread in the African American community by the 1960's. Not that surprising since I have been and remain ignorant about a lot of things I should have known earlier.

 

I like to go with 'trump'. It originally meant to outrank, or to defeat something or someone. Now it means acting like a winner when you are the ultimate loser.

 

I'm just saying it cant not be used unironically given how its evolved. If some black kid reads the Autobiography of Malcom X and starts to understand something, and people say he's woke now, its impossible not to find some irony there. Does reading one book make you understand anything? On the one hand, you might have picked up some knowledge which has opened up a possibility for new understanding of social conditions, on the other hand, reading one book doesn't make you knowledgeable about anything. Since "woke" can basically mean pejoratively reading one book and thinking you 'get' racism and oppression, that irony will always be out there for the people who sincerely have their minds changed by reading a few books.

 

There are probably people who think that someone who is woke is an immigrant from Wake Island.

 

Respectfully, I don’t see a big distinction between the two options you presented. Kind of the same thing. You normally heard it in the phrase “stay woke” or “stay awoke”. It’s not something you heard every day. If someone was discussing an injustice you might hear it, or if someone was discussing a conspiracy.

For example, Rodney King beating then successive acquittal of the cops would have warranted a stay woke comment, but could just as easily been a conspiracy theory about the government purposely making abortion more available in black communities to kill our children. I would agree with the former but not the latter.

 

Vile weed!

 

Your point is becoming increasingly contrived the more you try to justify your original premise. I’m seriously getting lost in what you are trying to say.

 

Woke = Anything that triggers IQ Dad & Putin's Puppet.