[teg4n_]

“wokeism” isn’t a defined thing, that’s why it’s off putting, it’s just a boogeyman pushed by conservative politicians and media. Even when you ask what they mean by it it ends up being applied to basically anything they don’t like.

[Fredkin]

To most it's a blunt shorthand for radical progressivism to the point of an obsessive panic about who's the biggest victim and the biggest victimizer. It typically points to somebody who holds an ensemble of ideas surrounding race, gender, diversity, feminism, safety, sometimes mental health, disability, obesity etc with particular emphasis on performative acts of policing the language people use to refer to groups of people.

The terms 'whiteness', 'white privilege', 'diversity', 'social justice', 'equity', 'equality' are poorly defined too, and mean different things depending on who you ask. Our language is full of these poorly defined umbrella terms. But I know what to expect when I hear somebody described as 'woke'. In fact you use 'conservative' this way in your comment, but conservatism encompasses a very broad range of thought too.

[teg4n_]

Most people don’t even say woke at all because most people don’t talk with political shibboleths specifically and consciously pushed as a scare tactic for critical race theory. I expect the more neutral term would be “political correctness” and using it doesn’t make you sound like you watch too much fox news.