It's More Than The Misuse Of The Word "Woke"

Pejorative: having negative connotations (see CONNOTATION sense 1)

especially: tending to disparage or belittle: DEPRECIATORY

The present Republican Party is drowning in the use of propaganda as they virtually have nothing of value to offer the US voter. Click on the link below to understand ALL of the ways they attempt to misinform besides misuse of the term "Woke:"

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES TO RECOGNIZE

Steven Pinker In-Depth

"Even as a young teenager, Dr. Steven Pinker (@sapinker) prized rationality as a virtue, and considered himself an anarchist. He changed that belief, however, when evidence indicated that anarchy was not a path to human flourishing. In this special episode, a co-production with the New Enlightenment Project, previous Podcast for Inquiry guest Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson returns as a co-host. Together, Lloyd and Leslie explore with Dr. Pinker whether universities are betraying their mission, how the human brain spectacularly fails while also working wonders, the loose connections between science and technology with social and moral progress, and what humanity needs to do to continue to thrive for the next 50 to 100 years."

Steven Pinker is a world-renowned intellectual who has many detractors regarding his focus on the red herring of a "woke" academia and other Neo-Liberal/Conservative thinking (link)(link). However, click on the link below for a deep and broad picture of his views on several important topics:

Steven Pinker Discusses Rationality and Humanist Values

This Is Not Education, It Is Ignorant Ideological Reaction To Such

"The new University of Austin seeks to be higher education’s premier institution of monetizing moral panics."

In recent years, there has been a movement by conservatives and some misguided liberals to discredit the US Higher Education system by cherry-picking some inappropriate constraint on free speech. One manifestation of this reactionary movement has been the formation of the so-called "Intellectual Dark Web." Click on the link below to see a new manifestation of this faulty ideology:

Do We Really Need an Anti-Woke University?

Wokeness And Education

Wokeness used to mean a state of being aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality.  It now is another pejorative used by right-wing hate-preachers (link). Click on the link below for an article regarding the proper way of handling questions about it in the classroom:

Homeroom: I'm Concerned About Wokeness At My Child's School

Making Positive Words Negative

Language is fluid. The meaning of words can change so rapidly that, unless one is regularly deeply into social media, one may be confused and defensive when someone uses a word that was initially positive in a negative manner. For example, religious apologists may criticize atheists for using science in a positive way by pejoratively saying that such is "scientism." Likewise, people who are active in the causes of social justice may be labeled pejoratively as "social justice warriors", being "woke", or are promoting "cancel culture." The following links push back against the pejorative uses of these words:

In Defense of Scientism

In Defense of "Social Justice Warriors"

What Does "Woke" Mean?, How the word 'woke' was weaponised by the Right

In Defense of Cancel Culture, What is cancel culture?, In Defense of Cancel Culture, Complications and All,

A final word on this topic: generally, I don't support de-platforming speakers on college campuses as long as they are respectful AND are not allowed to spew hatred and/or blatantly un-scientific propaganda. In other words, truth and falsehoods are not equivalent. A college campus should be supporting critical/science-based thinking and, thus, should not be obligated to allow the latter to speak.