I think the word 'woke' in the sense that it is being thrown around in here, really needs to die, by both people who use it as a commendation and also a pejorative. It is supposed to signify some kind of super progressive attitude, but of what exactly? Inclusiveness? Pandering to certain demographics? How is this a new thing? I would love to see someone try to even define it. I have never even heard of this term outside certain social media circles such as this forum. It's not a real word, it's a buzzword for media pundits to glom onto when they need to artificially gin up controversy or discussion about something. If anyone has a criticism (or compliment) that they want to voice of something, they should identify and explain exactly what bothers (or pleases) them, because this word 'woke' seems like a lazy crutch to me.
I just think its use here is indeed kind of silly but I believe it was an AH article that started it. Here's Mirriam-Webster's entry fwiw:
Update: This word was added in September 2017.
If you frequent social media, you may well have seen posts or tweets about current events that are tagged #staywoke.
Woke is a slang term that is easing into the mainstream from some varieties of a dialect called African American Vernacular English (sometimes called AAVE). In AAVE,
awake is often rendered as
woke, as in, “I was sleeping, but now I’m woke.”
'Woke' is increasingly used as a byword for social awareness.
It can be hard to trace slang back to its origins since slang’s origins are usually spoken, and it can be particularly difficult to trace a slang word that has its origins in a dialect.
Woke’s transformation into a byword of social awareness likely started in 2008, with the release of Erykah Badu’s song “Master Teacher”:
Even if yo baby ain't got no money
To support ya baby, you
(I stay woke)
Even when the preacher tell you some lies
And cheatin on ya mama, you stay woke
(I stay woke)
Even though you go through struggle and strife
To keep a healthy life, I stay woke
(I stay woke)
Everybody knows a black or a white there's creatures in every shape and size
Everybody
(I stay woke)
Stay woke became a watch word in parts of the black community for those who were self-aware, questioning the dominant paradigm and striving for something better. But
stay woke and
woke became part of a wider discussion in 2014, immediately following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The word
woke became entwined with the Black Lives Matter movement; instead of just being a word that signaled awareness of injustice or racial tension, it became a word of action. Activists were
woke and called on others to
stay woke.
Like many other terms from black culture that have been taken into the mainstream,
woke is gaining broader uses. It’s now seeing use as an adjective to refer to places where woke people commune:
woke Twitter has very recently taken off as the shorthand for describing social-media activists. The broader uses of
woke are still very much in flux, and there are some who are woke to the broader implications of
woke:
“Woke” feels a little bit like Macklemore rapping in one of his latest tracks about how his whiteness makes his rap music more acceptable to other white people. The conundrum is built in. When white people aspire to get points for consciousness, they walk right into the cross hairs between allyship and appropriation.
—Amanda Hess,
New York Times, 16 Apr. 2016
