USA Today: Most Americans Think It’s Good to Be WOKE

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Sometimes it seems that those of us with a social conscience, those of us who believe in equality and humanity, are reviled with the use of the new term ‘woke’ that is bandied about like something distasteful and disgusting. But guess what? The majority of people actually believe that ‘woke’, as used in the 21st century vernacular, is a good thing! Take a look at Diane Ravitch’s post …

Diane Ravitch's blog

Take that, DeSatanis!

USA Today conducted a poll and found that most Americans think it’s good to be “woke.”

Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a war on “woke,” but a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds a majority of Americans are inclined to see the word as a positive attribute, not a negative one.

Fifty-six percent of those surveyed say the term means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.

Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” That’s the view of 56% of Republicans.

So, do you want to be informed and aware?

Or do you prefer to be uninformed and asleep?

By the way, I got an email inviting me to attend…

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33 thoughts on “USA Today: Most Americans Think It’s Good to Be WOKE”

  2. Jill, watching the John Oliver “Last Week Tonight” show where lambasts DeSantis, one of DeSantis staff defines “woke” similar to how Diane did. To which Oliver noted that sounds like something I want to be. To be truthful, the word “woke” is to be used as a sledgehammer label without the user knowing what it means. They have just heard enough by pseudo news labeled a to know it means something bad. I do think it is important to ask folks who use it what it means. So, back to my mantra, if someone uses a name call or label, they should be ignored as neither is a good argument. It should be noted this is also Donald Trump standard mode of arguing. Keith

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    • I watched that clip the other night and loved it! Oliver has a unique talent for tongue-in-cheek humour and he was spot on with this one. Did you see his rebuttal on Seth Meyers’ show after DeSantis criticized him? Here’s a link in case you missed it: https://youtu.be/_iQ_YhMnbBo

      And yes, I agree … the right are using the term ‘woke’ as a dog whistle to denigrate people who follow their conscience, but I don’t think it’s working out that well for them.

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      • Jill, thanks for the link to the John Oliver interview. One thing that makes his show so good is he and his team do their homework, far more than many of their subjects do. One thing I have surmised is these politicians will see opinion entertainers like Carlson, Hannity, et al, cover a topic like wokeness, critical race theory, trans, etc. and weaponize a rebuttal, start deploying said weapon and then watch the opinion entertainers pick it up and run with it. To me, it is a lot like these legal TV networks looking for court cases to merchandise into viewers and money. If you ever wondered why certain cases get more intention, it is because they are hand-selected and sold as such. Keith

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        • Agreed … they do their homework, and John Oliver is passionate about his views! I agree with your labeling of Carlson/Hannity/Ingraham et al as ‘opinion entertainers’, for they don’t even bother to seek the truth or the facts, but rather follow the old adage, “if it bleeds, it leads.” If it will rile the masses, then they will not only report on it, but embellish on it. But what bothers me most is why/how so many people keep falling for it. Has our system of education already failed so badly that people don’t understand what governance is and how the media is supposed to earn that right of free press?

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  3. It’s a handy word.
    If someone uses it is a derogatory manner you know they are a narrow-minded sort with a tendency to prejudices and probably don’t like seeing too many clothed women in major roles in films
    A bit like people who head their reviews of films or audio books with ‘Meh’ which translates into ‘I have a limited vocabulary’ (small wonder they did not appreciate the work they were supposed to be reviewing)

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  4. I think using that term is not a great idea. You either realize people are persons and not cattle or you don’t, and treat them that way. As someone said yesterday, basic tenets of treating others with the same treatment you expect yourself is a rule we should all follow. No matter what race, religion or gender they are. Just common basic sense. Putting what I personally think is an inappropriate word to encompass the “golden rule” just makes it easier for it to be bandied about as the “new thing”. The right way to treat people is a choice each of us makes.

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    • It was the Republicans and MAGAts who invented the word, meaning anyone who leaned left. They wanted to make it a curse word. I said years ago I am proud to be woke, and I still feel that way. Woke is just a word, first intended to insult, but now we have co-opted it from them, and nade it into a pisitive. It is a wonderful word. I AM WOKE!

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    • I don’t like the use of the term, either, but it has become a part of the day-to-day vernacular in the socio/political language of the time. Given that, given what it’s said to stand for, then I’m in. It’s rather like a few years ago when the biggest insult the bigots could throw at me was to call me a ‘snowflake’. I would always smile and say, “Thank you, for snowflakes are beautiful and unique!” If they want to call me ‘woke’, meaning that I care about such things as education, history, ALL life, equality, facts, and justice, then fine by me … I take it as a compliment.

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  5. “Woke” really isn’t part of the normal American vocabulary. It isn’t a word that most people would use in ordinary speech. So people are not clear on the meaning of “woke”.

    The divide is between those who mostly watch the propoganda networks (such as FOX), and those who mainly watch the entertainment networks.

    I don’t watch much TV. I get my news from radio and online. And “woke” is rarely used except when describing the antics of DeSantis or some other right wing reactionaries.

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    • Duh’Santis is certainly not “woke” in anyone’s definition. He is conducting a “war on woke,” as he puts it. He might as well be living in the 50s… 50s BC that is!

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    • I agree … ‘woke’ seems to have taken on numerous meanings. Like you, I don’t watch television at all, get my news from what I deem to be fact-based, reliable sources, and for a long time I was able to ignore the disdain I occasionally heard for ‘woke’. Eventually, though, it was popping up everywhere, so I did a bit of research and frankly, whatever those who are ‘anti-woke’ stand for seems to always be the complete opposite of my views, so I guess that makes me ‘woke’. But I agree … it’s a pointless dog whistle innovated simply to try to denigrate those of us who care about such things as humans, the environment, justice, and equality.

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  6. As long as I don’t hear a clear definition of the term ‘woke’ I refuse to pay any heed to it. I first thought woke would stand for awareness, which is always a positive state of mind. But then in the modern, American context woke was reduced to an inherently selfish and evil thing I don’t want to identify with.

    Same goes for ‘Social Justice Warrior’ and ‘left’. Traditionally I’m both, in the context of the 21th century I rather not.:/

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    • How do you view treating all people well, erasing bigotry in all its forms, being aware of the struggles of people, caring for the environment, etc., as a “selfish and evil thing”? Just curious.

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      • Exactly! That’s why I’m so confused. The so-called “woke” people in the 21st century are everything but caring, they are selfish little monsters or, when actually really woke in it’s pure form, they are bullied and derived by the neo-cons. That’s why I would never admit being woke … or left.
        For me being woke and left means being aware of societal injustice and fighting for workers’ rights against capitalism. In the modern American definition both terms mean something else entirely.

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          • What “people” am I looking at?
            Come on, Jill, you can’t be that blind to the world around you. Haven’t you noticed the paradigm shift in the last, say, 20 – 30 years? When I grew up there was no “woke”, we had different kinds of awareness.

            And left was purely reserved for the political spectrum, nothing to do with sociological stuff.
            Social Democrats, Socialists, Communists = Left.
            Libertarians, Greens = Center.
            Christian Democrats, Republicans, Patriots, Nationalists, Fascists = Right.

            That’s how it always was, the natural order of things. But nowadays it all shifted in weird ways. I find myself marching in line with burgeois rightwingers in a peace protest against the war in Ukraine, while my former comrades of the Social Democrats can’t wait to start the umpteenth attempt to invade and destroy Russia. And, in a total perversion of all things holy, the most prominent members of the hated rightwing, anti-immigration, racist AfD party are a black guy, and their chairman, an elegant lesbian with a Swiss wife. 😮


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  8. Pingback: USA Today: Most Americans Think It’s Good to Be WOKE — Filosofa’s Word | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

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