What does U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) think of wokeness?
She sees no problem with it.
However, Warren says those who oppose wokeness, particularly right-wing politicians, are doing so to drum up hate in America.
Warren was asked by CBS Boston’s Jon Keller during a recent interview what she thought of wokeness.
She started by talking about right-wingers before going into further depth on the topic.
“I think that what the right-wing is trying to do with this term is to see how much division and dissension and just plain old hatefulness they can stir up,” she said.
When pressed further on what she thinks “wokeness” means, Warren said she takes it to mean an awareness of systemic inequities in society. However, she said she thinks right-wingers use it to mean something different.
“All I take it to mean is that you pay attention to what’s going on around you, that you are awake, you are awake to the racial implications of what is happening around us, to gender, to LGBTQ issues, to age issues, to class issues,” she said. “That is a part of being aware of the world around you.
“But I’m not at all sure that that’s what the right-wing folks mean. I think what they mean by that is a series of, you almost hate to call them dog whistles anymore because they are playing at 90 decibels, of a way to try to say, ‘there’s a problem here’ and it’s speaking to a very targeted audience and says all of those people are getting something you are not.”
As Warren notes, right-wingers typically use the term woke to describe something different from how liberals and progressives use it. However, Warren’s description is not a commonly accepted one.
Here is how NBC News defines the right-wing view of wokeness:
Among conservatives, “woke” has been adopted as term of derision for those who hold progressive social justice views. In particular, the word’s right-wing connotation implies a ‘woke’ person or entity is being performative or phony. It’s directly linked to language like ‘political correctness’ and ‘cancellation’ — which are also at the forefront of conservative messaging.
Warren’s office could not be reached for comment on Sunday or Monday..
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