April 25, 2023
RACISM IS A TOUGH SELL IN AMERICA:
Swing Voters: Still Not Into the Anti-Woke Stuff: Maybe don't bet the house on convincing swing-voters that CRT and trans stuff are the most important issues in the world? (RICH THAU, APRIL 25, 2023, The Bulwark)
There was a bizarre "Who's on First?" quality to the focus group exchanges when I asked respondents to define the word "woke."It happened when Scott, a 49-year-old, Republican-registered Trump-to-Biden voter from Monessen, Pennsylvania, took a stab at defining it. Here's a slightly-abbreviated version of our exchange:Me: Scott, what's the definition of woke?Scott: Woke is a term that was initiated by right wing media to try to stop the progressive movement under the age of 30, and going against the government and going against corporations to whereas they did not want the upper hand in anything.Me: Give me a definition, what does it mean? I understand who's charging [others with] it. What does the word "woke" mean?Scott: The word woke means that it's a scare tactic.Me: [If] I open Merriam-Webster's dictionary; what's the definition of woke?Scott: I don't think they have one in there yet, but that's a good question.Six of the 14 voters could not come up with a definition for woke. Among those who could, the most accurate version came from Jason, 45, from Allison Park, who said, "I think it means awake. And it's used to say a person or a corporation is awake to social issues and focused on these social issues."
Posted by Orrin Judd at April 25, 2023 12:00 AM