Ep. 94: The Long Take: What Is Woke?

Conservative activists, pundits, and politicians love to mock the “woke.” But what does it mean to be “woke?” What is the ideology of “wokeness” and where does it come from? We do a long take on this term and explore why many conservatives purposely redefine its original meaning.

 

00:00 Intro

04:45 Bethany Mandel asked to define “woke”; opens mouth, inserts foot

22:10 History of the political definition of woke

27:35 Why Conservatives purposely get this wrong

01:03:12 The Scott Adams Saga

01:13:30 When leftists try to use wokeness to racially awaken non-black American minorities

01:21:13 Vivek Ramaswamy's blame in misdefining woke

 

SHOWNOTES

Conservative commentator Bethany Mandel completely shuts down when asked to define “woke:” https://twitter.com/vanguard_pod/status/1635749284355211264 

Slate’s post-mortem on Mandel’s meltdown, revealing that she similarly couldn’t answer the same question months earlier: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/03/bethany-mandel-define-woke-video-stolen-youth.html 

Mandel writes up an excuse column in Newsweek, basically claiming to suffer PTSD from her humiliation: https://www.newsweek.com/define-woke-bethany-mandel-conservative-book-1788538 

Twitter users shred Mandel’s excuse that she can’t define “woke” in a “15-second soundbite:” https://twitter.com/dennistrainorjr/status/1636164360933457920 

British newspaper The Independent correctly understands the true history of the word “woke:” https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woke-meaning-word-history-b1790787.html 

Conservative media outlet IJR mislabels a pro-lesbian Air Force recruitment ad as “woke:” https://ijr.com/on-heels-of-woke-army-recruitment-ad-air-force-releases-one-that-has-people-excited-again/ 

Babylon Bee compares woke-ism to transgenderism: https://babylonbee.com/news/conservatives-cant-define-woke-shouts-leftist-who-cant-define-man-or-woman 

Babylon Bee’s cringe skit mocking their idea of “woke:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SObAWGCr0Y 

In 2005, black author Kamau Kambon called for "exterminating White people off the face of the planet:" https://twitter.com/DrEllaBridges/status/1638464479427014657

Medical journal calls “Whiteness” a parasitic-like condition: https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/10/medical-journal-article-calls-whiteness-a-parasitic-like-condition/ 

A New York psychiatrist admits in a Yale lecture to fantasizing about shooting White people: https://amgreatness.com/2021/06/07/new-york-psychiatrist-admits-in-yale-lecture-to-fantasizing-about-shooting-white-people/

UNC journalism school dean worried that diversity of thought would interfere with the school’s goals of social justice: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/unc-dean-worried-diversity-of-thought-would-interfere-with-social-justice-ahead-of-nikole-hannah-jones-appointment/

Ibram X. Kendi's article defending CRT after Glenn Youngkin’s victory: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-danger-more-republicans-should-be-talking-about/ar-AAWhoim

An argument between Darren Beattie and James Lindsay on how to best combat CRT: https://twitter.com/DarrenJBeattie/status/1621753299845226496

Rasmussen Reports survey shows that 72% of people agree with the statement “It’s OK to be White,” with 47% of black people disagreeing: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/washington-secrets/its-ok-to-be-white-agree-72-including-53-of-blacks 

Scott Adams’ full statement on black people who don’t think it’s OK to be White: https://twitter.com/JLPtalk/status/1629614546116833281 

Elon Musk defends Adams: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1629764614870167552 

Vivek Ramaswamy was previously speculated to be a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2022: https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2021/01/26/a-look-at-the-race-for-portmans-senate-seat-and-a.html 

The Cincinnati Enquirer compares Ramaswamy’s life story to that of Senator J.D. Vance: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/2023/01/18/anti-woke-crusader-vivek-ramaswamy-mulls-political-future/69814260007/ 

A portion of Ramaswamy’s announcement interview on Tucker Carlson’s show: https://twitter.com/vivekgramaswamy/status/1628249151195553792

Ramaswamy calls on DeSantis, Haley, and other Republicans to condemn the possible indictment of President Trump: https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1637233081806364675 

Politico’s long-form profile of Ramaswamy as the presidential speculation first began, calling him "one of the intellectual godfathers of the anti-woke movement:" https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/02/13/anti-woke-ramaswamy-2024-election-00082414

The New Yorker Magazine calls Ramaswamy “The CEO of Anti-Woke Inc:” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/12/19/the-ceo-of-anti-woke-inc 

Our prescient post on Gab warning about Ramaswamy back in December of 2021: https://gab.com/TheRightTake/posts/107386487987371505