We Asked Conservatives at CPAC What Woke Means

Has the term “woke” replaced the culture wars as the buzz word for Republicans? Vice News went to the Conservative Political Action Conference - better known as CPAC - to ask conservative voters and lawmakers if that’s really the winning message for the 2024 presidential election.

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[C.R.W]

They're all afraid to say "I have no idea, but if I don't get on board, I'll be ostracized by the rest of the idiots I hang around with".

[TheNeoVid]

DeSantis' lawyers had to legally define 'woke' in court at one point. The official legal definition (direct quote): "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them." Straight up saying you're against that is a... bold move for a politician.

[Debthouse]

We need to reassure everyone that “I do not know” is a perfectly valid answer to discourage people from falsifying answers and perpetuating misinformation.

[centurionzen]

Conservatives: "We're sick and tired of culture wars and identity politics."

Also conservatives: "All our political platforms should be focused on culture wars and identity politics."

[jackglossop]

A man dressed as a king with a trump mask. Literally the antithesis of everything the country is supposed to stand for?

[justintime]

Woke started in the African American community meaning political awareness, social consciousness and like always it gets hijacked and mimicked . Its an old terminology

[IsThisHandleTaken]

That woman who said she's worried schools are teaching wokeness in schools then proceeded to say "disruptative" which leads me to believe she should just let the schools do their thing.

[jellybean]

I became woke at 27 yo, now 54. I was in the utility department of Crestview FL. there was a white man being helped by the white lady behind the counter. when he left she asked me to come up to the counter. As I did a black lady let out a sigh and gathered her child and stuff then left. After the lady left the lady behind the counter pulled out a can of air freshener and said "don't they just smell?". That was the first time I became aware of the racism that runs rampant in the South. I felt so bad for that woman not being helped and looking like a racist myself. I am aware now that much of the way I was raised included racism. I have been calling out racism every time I see it in hope of atonement for not standing up for that woman.

[brewcitymike]

To hear that blonde mom say that "woke" is bad because school is teaching kids to be excepting of things that they didn't teach about in their home...that is quite literally one of the purposes of school. To teach kids about new things and to introduce them to the different types of people and situations that they are going to encounter in daily life. So the fact that she was bothered that her kids' world view was being expanded is disturbingly ignorant to say the least. And that guy right before that couple had NO CLUE what he was talking about. He has zero idea of any of the details regarding ESG, 1619 Project, and most of all Marxism, lol. He was just spouting off buzzwords and "boogeymen" that fox news has fearmongered about. Also gas prices have been back to their normal price ranges since like Halloween and inflation has been dropping for 5 months straight from aound 9% to around 6.4% but you wouldn't know it cuz the corporations are still keeping their prices the same and still blaming inflation, which is ironic given that the prices on common goods like meat, produce, poultry, gas, had been increased between 17-34% before inflation had even hit 8%. So in instances where the price was up 32% that is 4 times the increase in inflation but the right wing will fight tooth and nail to block any form of regulation, tax increase or penalties for the corporations price goughing us for nearly 2yrs and their base is dull to that fact due to their politicians keeping them constantly distracted by the "Woke" bullshit or war hawking about the CCP or fear mongering about the "invasion" at the border (which has also seen a decrease in illegal crossings)

[tonyabrookes]

"Woke" essentially means "aware". It says a lot that there are people out there who are threatened by the idea of people being aware

[TurtleChad]

So basically woke means whatever they don't like.

[leotuber]

Did that guy actually just refer to a state governor as that state’s CEO? Wow late stage capitalism is something else.

[robertthompson]

I’m a math teacher. Pretty much all I ever do is teach kids stuff they’re not taught at home.

[HM-rznv]

"Anti-woke" pretty much means conservative ideology and "woke" means anything to the left, up and down from conservative ideology. Yet another meaningless term. "Everything i don't is a big bad woke", "Everything with more progressive politics is a woke conspiracy". It's utterly meaningless except as a way of someone to expose their own conservative ideology.

[spinstersuccess]

1:41 “children are coming home thinking that they have to accept things we didn’t teach in our home” I can’t. I’m not teaching algebra or chemistry here in my home

[-BeFree-]

People at cpac calling other folks brainwashed is pure comedy

[dannmarceau]

An educated public is the Republican's worst fear.

[anonnnymousthegreat]

Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination".

[BLWard-htqw]

Lol, “children are coming home thinking that they have to accept things we didn’t teach in our home.” Oh, the unknown irony for Mr. and Mrs. Clueless, but if their kids question any of the things they're 'teaching' them at home, then guess what...they're turning into one of the, ooh scary, "woke" because they're using critical thinking skills to get informed.

[writerdirector]

So all of these people are blatantly saying they are "anti-woke" need to know that, Woke is basically a slang word in the Black community. To be WOKE is to be aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). So all of these folks who are out there screaming anti-woke need to check the meaning and if they still stand behind their stance, then the cat is out of the bag. They'd rather be the opposite of woke, which means, asleep.