There are multiple definitions of the word woke. In modern day, conservatives and leftists tend to subscribe to the"New age mainstream White America" definition, which is essentially reducing it to "anything diverse is woke." There are 3 other definitions of the word:
1. **Original Definition**: This is rooted in the Black community, where "woke" refers to an awareness of social and economic issues affecting Black people, especially concerning systemic oppression and historical events like redlining or the Tuskegee syphilis study. The phrase "stay woke" emerged from this context as a call to remain vigilant about such issues.
2. **Moral High Ground Definition**: Some people label themselves or others as "woke" to assert moral superiority. This version often disconnects from the original social justice focus and instead centers on personal righteousness, sometimes dismissing differing opinions by deeming them "non-woke."
3. **Virtue Signaling Definition**: This more recent and broader definition criticizes people, companies, or media that are seen as hypocritical or performative in their advocacy for social justice. It often highlights how these efforts can be shallow, profit-driven, or even inadvertently harmful, like a company pandering for profit or a person adopting a self-righteous, yet close-minded stance.
1. **Original Definition**: This is rooted in the Black community, where "woke" refers to an awareness of social and economic issues affecting Black people, especially concerning systemic oppression and historical events like redlining or the Tuskegee syphilis study. The phrase "stay woke" emerged from this context as a call to remain vigilant about such issues.
2. **Moral High Ground Definition**: Some people label themselves or others as "woke" to assert moral superiority. This version often disconnects from the original social justice focus and instead centers on personal righteousness, sometimes dismissing differing opinions by deeming them "non-woke."
3. **Virtue Signaling Definition**: This more recent and broader definition criticizes people, companies, or media that are seen as hypocritical or performative in their advocacy for social justice. It often highlights how these efforts can be shallow, profit-driven, or even inadvertently harmful, like a company pandering for profit or a person adopting a self-righteous, yet close-minded stance.
Example 1:
For people this can mean inadvertently racist or sexist in their attempts at social justice, as seen with the idea of the white savior looking down on minorities. For a company this can manifest as many different things.
Such as the live action atla trying to champion gays by changing OMA and Shu to lesbians, and somehow managing to play into the "bury you gays" trope while fucking up the context behind the story. It can manifest as the developing trope of replacing red head characters with black actors, to drum up controversy for monetary gain, i.e pandering. Or even something like the boys preaching about a social message against big companies while having their show streaming on prime video and having their actors show up in the same type of Amazon ads they make fun of on their Vought YouTube channel.
Example 2:
Red: I'm tired of all this woke crap in my media
Blue: how's it woke
Red: they made ice man gay
Yellow: it does seem like an unnecessary pandering change. He could have been in the closest for years and just now felt comfortable.
Blue: so do you think that's their mindset when making the decision.
Yellow: who knows...
Examples 3:
Red: you hear about that lockdown
Blue: yes
Red: I bet they just trying to do a trial run see how well they can get the black community rounded up in one space. They see us listen, it's over. Army gonna be marching through the streets.
Blue: nigga what
Red: you don't know, you gotta stay woke
For people this can mean inadvertently racist or sexist in their attempts at social justice, as seen with the idea of the white savior looking down on minorities. For a company this can manifest as many different things.
Such as the live action atla trying to champion gays by changing OMA and Shu to lesbians, and somehow managing to play into the "bury you gays" trope while fucking up the context behind the story. It can manifest as the developing trope of replacing red head characters with black actors, to drum up controversy for monetary gain, i.e pandering. Or even something like the boys preaching about a social message against big companies while having their show streaming on prime video and having their actors show up in the same type of Amazon ads they make fun of on their Vought YouTube channel.
Example 2:
Red: I'm tired of all this woke crap in my media
Blue: how's it woke
Red: they made ice man gay
Yellow: it does seem like an unnecessary pandering change. He could have been in the closest for years and just now felt comfortable.
Blue: so do you think that's their mindset when making the decision.
Yellow: who knows...
Examples 3:
Red: you hear about that lockdown
Blue: yes
Red: I bet they just trying to do a trial run see how well they can get the black community rounded up in one space. They see us listen, it's over. Army gonna be marching through the streets.
Blue: nigga what
Red: you don't know, you gotta stay woke
by Sema blue August 10, 2024

by perilpawzz November 21, 2023

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by kmptR April 11, 2023

by grayforester November 9, 2021

The belief that everything is entitled to or should be against the main core or a long history to be forgotten by putting ideology politics into entertainment, always in media that has nothing to do with the iedology politics that the group of people want labelled under, and backfires most of the time.
Guy 1: Did you hear about that woke company that abandoned all it's main audiance?
Guy 2: Which one? There is like so many of them putting ideology politics into things they don't need it to be part of.
Guy 1: Oh you right, the entertainment industry is way too woke nowadays.
Guy 2: Which one? There is like so many of them putting ideology politics into things they don't need it to be part of.
Guy 1: Oh you right, the entertainment industry is way too woke nowadays.
by Commander8750 July 6, 2022

Somebody who swears on their life they are "anti-woke" while embodying the negative aspects of unreasonable identity politics that being "woke" is so often characterized by. Often characterized by strong sensitive reactions while claiming that anyone who disagrees with them is being "overly sensitive".
by KJaydeB May 26, 2025
