[griomnib]

I find people who use it in a derogatory don’t do much actual thinking to start with.

The literal origin of its use in social justice realms was to put an emphasis and value on critical thinking.

By pondering the nature of society one can be “awoken” to the deeper sociological forces which shape individual lives.

I’ll freely admit the term has been perverted by a range of actors with motivations I disagree with.

But the original meaning and intent is valuable: all of us live in a world of hidden boundaries and power structures, but seeing that requires thought.

Many people don’t want to think for themselves, and they hate those that do.

[codr7]

That's far from the whole story though.

Part of being woke is usually seeing others as asleep and not as enlightened, which means it's ok to lecture them to hell and back. There's a difference between thinking critically and looking for problems to feel superior.

[griomnib]

I agree to an extent, I think the term lost the original meaning.

My main complaint with the state of politics is too little thoughts and reflection. I think cable news, talk radio, and social media are the root cause.

Reading a daily newspaper or viewing the nightly news gives you a full day to think things over. We are more driven by emotion as a result of never having time to digest and reflect.

[codr7]

They tend to.

Agreed, and not just politics, too little thought and reflection period.

Fear will override almost anything, which is why we're being pounded with it from every angle. Time away maybe, disconnected.

[seattle_spring]

Probably worth noting that the people who throw around “woke” as a pejorative also tend to be the ones calling people they disagree with “NPCs.”

[krapp]

You aren't wrong, but to be entirely fair, the original meaning of "woke" came from the black activist community and referred to the hidden boundaries and power structures of systemic white supremacy, ignorance of which could directly threaten their lives.

I think it's important to remember that specific context when talking about where "woke" as a concept comes from, its general acceptance within the leftist community has, unfortunately (and maybe inevitably,) come with a bit of whitewashing.

[griomnib]

Totally agree.