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How did “WOKE” get to be an insult?
As I rework my online Canvas classroom in preparation for Spring 2025, I recall seeing a Latino restaurant owner being interviewed on CNN. He said he voted for Trump because the alternative was too “woke.”
I had been wondering lately about that word and its connection to adding my preferred pronouns after my name on Zoom, part of the online class activities. I asked Claude AI, “How did the term “woke” get to be an insult?” Here’s what Claude responded in that shockingly quick way s/he has of answering questions:
The term “woke” has had an interesting evolution in its usage and meaning over time. Here’s a brief overview:
Originally, the term “woke” emerged in African American communities and referred to being aware of and attentive to issues of racial and social justice. It conveyed a sense of being “awake” to systemic injustices and inequalities that many in society remained oblivious to.
In the 2010s, the term gained more mainstream popularity, particularly among progressives and social justice advocates. It became associated with being actively conscious of and speaking out against various forms of discrimination and oppression.
(As a progressive English professor, around that time I began to note my preferred pronouns on my Syllabus and in my Zoom name. As an author, I was writing a memoir with the working title of “Another White Woman Wakes Up.”)
However, over time, the term “woke” began to be used increasingly as a pejorative, often by those who viewed the growing awareness and advocacy around social justice issues as going too far or becoming excessively politicized. Critics argued that being “woke” had become synonymous with having an overly sensitive, censorious, or ideologically rigid mindset.
The shift towards using “woke” as an insult was driven in part by political polarization. As the term became more closely tied to certain progressive causes, it was seized upon by more conservative or centrist voices as a way to dismiss or ridicule those perceived as being overly zealous in their social justice stances.
Ultimately, the transformation of “woke” from a positive term denoting critical awareness to a pejorative label reflects the ongoing debates and tensions around the role…
