To be “woke” has three meanings. One of those is to be awake. For example, “Anna woke in the morning sun.”  The other meaning is to be “aware,” and in that awareness, to be politically or socially active. An example use of this is, “It is important to be woke in the fight for justice.” Or, to rephrase it, “It’s important to be aware in the fight for justice.”

The word doesn’t mean whatever Republicans think it means. In fact, I’m not sure they even know what they think it means. I’m embarrassed for them at each instance of them using “woke” as a way to say ”Black” or “Left” which is what they likely want it to mean. It’s another symbol of the social awkwardness that is pervasive throughout the Right.

To say that something is “woke” as a pejorative seems doubly odd because awareness is integral in understanding the world around us, and if one is lacking in awareness of what is fair, respectful, or correct, then what are we left with? The answer here is the modern Republican. The folks who believe that Trump won an election that he numerically could not and did not win. The same folks think that Mitch McConnell is doing a great job at representing Kentucky through his long silent pauses that show his deficits due to illness or, perhaps, agedness more than his political acumen. It’s a weird, upside-down world we live in.