Parlez-vous Woke?

THE WORD “WOKE” has been weaponised. Look at almost any headline on the matter and you’ll find it used as an insult, another sign that this country has lost its live-and-let-live mentality and is headed straight for the dogs. And the targets are indiscriminate. In recent months, the media haslabelled the following things as woke: the Oscars, private schools, corporations, the ABC, the concept of social distancing, Disney World, children, the Church of England and a video game called CyberPunk 2077.

In reality, “woke” just means that you’re alert to injustice. It means that you’ve opened your eyes and noticed the world around you. In most sentences, you could easily substitute it with the word “compassionate”. And being compassionate benefits you as much as others. Research suggests that a kinder, more considered lifestyle is linked to decreased depression, reduced stress, lower blood pressure and better recovery from illness. According to a study by the University of Michigan, it can even make you live longer. Plus, both men and women state that kindness makes a person more attractive. So, there’s that.

But there’s one problem. To be woke is to understand a dictionary’s worth of jargon that couldn’t seem any more impenetrable. Luckily for you, I’m here with a quick glossary. Read this, absorb it and change the world. Or perhaps just