If someone asks you what WOKE is

[BaronChocula]

SHORTEST ANSWER: Having a true sense of justice against culture war bullies.

SHORT ANSWER:
Standing up to the structural bias of privileged bullies who punch down at otherwise innocent people who are perceived to be dangerous because they are different.

LONG ANSWER:
There are segments of law-abiding Americans who have not traditionally realized full and equal protection under the law. There are also segments in American society who find it satisfying to continue to prevent those marginalized groups from realizing full and equal protection under the law. One who is woke stands up for the struggle of those marginalized (though I hate that word) people. So if a trans person writes a children's book with positive trans or black characters, that is not woke. What is woke is speaking out against anti-woke bigots who try to ban that book.

[Scrivener7]

1. Understanding that the experience of others is different from your own experience.

Understanding that the experience of some segments of our society have consistently been denial of rights and opportunities.

Respecting your fellow humans sufficiently to allow them to be the interpreters of their own experience.

Respecting their right to determine the boundaries of discussions of their experiences which you do not share.

Not demanding they allow you to set those boundaries when you have not had the experience and they have had the experience.

[GeoWilliam750]

17. So much of the problem would seem to be authoritarianism versus humanitarianism

As a total - on balance - society will tend to lean slightly right.

There must be some compensation for the risk for capital, but what we have now has gone much to far.

A person must feel mostly fairly compensated - Adam Smith.

[hlthe2b]

2. Everyone here will get your suggested answers. Call me elitist and a snob, but most RWers will

glaze over after the term "structural bias," given any context they have likely ever heard that term would be with respect to the much-ado-about-nothing (given it has never been formally taught outside law schools) CRT wars.

Having glazed over at that point and seeing that they are expected to read and comprehend more than 140 characters thereafter, you've lost the battle.


Just saying. Even if I clearly agree with your constructs, you'll need to dramatically dumb it down if you are going to debate with most of those convinced by Fox that it is a "thing." Sadly, that likely means playing Senator John Kennedy's "folksy" schtick to find the vernacular that will stick. There is a reason that Oxford-trained lawyer does that.

[Duppers]

22. +100

[BaronChocula]

27. I mostly agree BUT

IMHO, not using terms like "structural bias" because of how it lands with RWs is giving them control over how you speak, and when that happens you lose. I do agree that you can explain to curious people that structural bias in America is for example (in dumb terms) white people simultaneously accusing black people of stealing white jobs AND being too lazy to find work.

Fact is, RWs are so far gone they won't hear anything you say. But that shouldn't stop you from speaking intelligently.

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. Living like the red sentences in the bible actually mean something.

[TomSlick]

30. DING, DING, DING!

We have a winner.

[sanatanadharma]

4. Being woke is the opposite of being a jerk

[LakeArenal]

7. Winner.

I was going to say: I don’t need to define woke as it not a “thing”. It’s a figment if the cult’s mass hysteria.

[maxsolomon]

5. Just go with Wiki:

"Alert to racial prejudice and discrimination."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

6 words. Even shorter than your shortest.

[Silent3]

6. Not entirely accurate, because "woke" is about all kinds of unfair discrimination...

...not just racial discrimination. The fight for racial justice is, I believe, where the term first arose, but the meaning has expanded.

[maxsolomon]

8. Call me an originalist, then.

I'd like to keep it focused on discrimination against Black folk, but I'm aware this isn't going to happen.

Last week I saw a rainbow-flag installation in my neighborhood referred to as "woke".

[hlthe2b]

9. At a time when bias has become deadly towards so many of us--by race, ethnicity, gender,

gender orientation and other factors, I'd say it is time not to be exclusive, but rather join together to fight back. I'd say we've seen today what happens when we do NOT.


In the immortal words of Niemöller, "First they came for..."
https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/first-they-came-by-pastor-martin-niemoller/

[maxsolomon]

13. bias has always had deadly consequences.

i think there are fewer deadly instances of racial or gender bias in America now than in recent decades, but we are vastly more aware of every incident now.

regardless, the term has expanded to be more inclusive as it's simultaneously been turned into a pejorative by the RW.

[MadameButterfly]

10. I'd love to hear a history of how this word came to be

Does anyone know? Does anyone really understand it?

It used to be Socialism was the dirty word, but it was used to compare Democrats to 3rd world totalitarian countries that exhibit none of the ideals of Socialism. Meanwhile libraries and roads are not considered Socialism. Social Security is only Socialism if you or your elderly parents aren't drawing a check.

No one slamming Socialism really understands it. It's just bad, no need to explain. They had to start accusing people of pedophilia because people get that, but it's hard to make that charge stick to just anybody. Woke is handy because it's so ambiguous it allows them to demean Democrats without having any reason at all. They just have to make up stuff because they don't have anything real.

[maxsolomon]

11. wiki has an entire section on origins:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woke

[Whiskeytide]

12. To me it means that we should try not to be assholes ...

… to people just because they are different from us. That’s hard for me because I’m an asshole by nature. But I’m trying to act like an asshole only to people who deserve it for reasons other than the fact that they’re different from me.

[BaronChocula]

28. word

and props

[Basic LA]

14. I thought it just meant ...

... the opposite of Bigoted Rube.

[William Seger]

19. Exactly, and the "culture war" is a war on their culture of bigotry

It's not hard to predict who would be violently opposed to an anti-bigotry movement.

[lame54]

15. Shorter answer: Caring

[Cheezoholic]

16. I am so sick of buzz word politics

Seriously, it's fucking stupid.

[Kennah]

18. Not asleep

[judesedit]

20. The opposite of ignorant

[rickford66]

21. Empathy

[markie]

23. ...

[jayschool2013]

24. An even shorter answer

Woke = Empathetic
Wokeness = Empathy

Take your pick

[Mr.Bill]

25. Under the right ciecumstances, and for shock value, try this:

Woke is an awareness that the police are murdering unarmed black children without consequences.

That's generally a conversation ender.

[BaronChocula]

29. Love it!

[Demobrat]

26. I would never try to answer that question.

I would just say

If you don’t get it it’s because you don’t want to get it.

I don’t try to explain things to brick walls.

[BaronChocula]

32. Exactly

But there are more people out there than the brick walls who don't quite understand what woke is.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

31. I love the legal definition of woke

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[niyad]

33. Short answer: conscious and caring.