If you’re bothered by the pressure to announce whether you go by “he,” “she” or “they” on your email signature, or if you cringe at the use of “Latinx” rather than Latino or Hispanic, then Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to be your guy. And he has a diagnosis for what’s causing such discomfort: “Wokeness.”
There are “woke” teachers. “Woke” corporations. “Woke” elites, which has a subcategory of the “woke” Hollywood elite. There’s also the “woke” mob, a versatile moniker that covers everything from Black Lives Matter protesters to Twitter commentators.
The genius behind DeSantis’ use of this word — “Florida is where woke goes to die,” he said after his reelection — is that it can mean anything to anyone, especially white conservatives frustrated with cultural changes. But he never fully explained what “woke” actually means, at least to him.
