Are You WOKE?

If you're paying attention to the modern Republican Party, the biggest threat to the bedrock of American society today is that America's enemies (liberals) are "woke".  

During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland on Friday, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said “Wokeness is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic, hands down!" 

The 1.1 million Americans dead from COVID-19 might take issue with that statement but who cares what the dead think. The dead just fraudulently vote for Democrats to steal elections from Republicans, right? 

Republican governors Ron DeSantis in Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas blame everything that is wrong in the country on "woke" agendas.

In Congress,right wing nut cases like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Bolbert decry the crisis of all things that are "woke" that are destroying America.  

What the hell does "woke" even mean?  

The word "woke" originally emerged from African American vernacular English, signifying a general awareness of systems of injustice.

But what does "woke" mean to those on the right who are using it as a pejorative insult? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Or their's for that matter. 

Here are some CPAC attendees answering the question of what they think "woke" means.  

Daniel Francis had this to say: "My opinion is: they're trying to wake up what shouldn't be woken up.  They're stirring the pot in the wrong direction." And then he added, "I think the woke side is kind of keeping the border open. I mean, that's what they want."

Johnny McEntee is the CEO of a right-wing dating app that explicitly declares that "other dating apps have gone woke." When pressed on what "woke" means, he said "That's tough. Let me think on it. Give me like two minutes to come up with something good."  

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama spoke at a CPAC panel on Thursday about "Sacking the Woke Playbook," where he made sweeping claims about a left-wing agenda to uproot existing gender and sexuality norms, declaring at one point that "they want one gender."

68 year old Mary Phelps complained that "woke" means "Everything's gotta be a hyphen-this, hyphen-that. people are hyper-focused on certain facets and using them to start conflict."

So you can see there is little definitive or cohesive in exactly what "woke" means.

Other than it has become a catch all term for anything Republicans don't like.  

Or as Groucho Marx once sang, "Whatever it is, I'm against it!"