Stay woke

"The truth is, America is not as woke 

as the Democratic left likes to think it is."

I'm up, all right? I'm awake. I've been out of bed for at least twenty minutes, just outside my window the sky is striped with flat pink clouds, I've got some melons in front of me right now--first course of breakfast--and the new day is dawning. Lookin' good--I'm woke. 

As in past tense of wake. Twenty minutes ago, I was awake. Now I'm woke. 

It's a new usage, and I'm 72 years old. Forgive me. I've got to try to get with the program. I've got to get woke on woke.

It's not just straight-up usage, I guess. The word has context, a range of meaning, an implication and very little to do with getting the sleepers out. It's a condition, a shape of mind, a worldview; like everything else these days--like face masks--it's political. Some of us are woke apparently, but there's those who sure as heck aren't. And apparently, if I believe the line above, there are fewer woke than I think. There's lots and lots of nappers.

It you use it about yourself, it feels like campfire testimony: "I'm woke. I'm not what I was." "I've grown up a lot since then." Now, finally, I understand." "Once I was lost but now I am found, the light of the world is __________________"--go ahead and fill in the blank. Could be almost anything, I guess. 

It's not exactly a by-word of the Democratic left, but if you're out woke hunting someday soon, you'll find far more wokes on the left than on the right. 

"'Black Lives Matter'--get it?" 

"Sure, I'm woke." 

What I don't know is whether someone other than myself has to judge my wokeness, or can I just proclaim it myself? Can I know I'm enlightened, or must someone else document it? I don't know. 

And who's the gate keeper? Tucker Carlson can use it, right? He might say he used to believe in, say, the Supreme Court, but after their rulings last week, he's of a wholly different mind. He gets what's going on with the Supremes now. He's caught on to their program. He's woke. 

May he say that? Or is he gas-lighting? (Look it up)

I want to know the rules because mostly; according to Bustle, it's lingual high-fashion among those of us on the left:

The rise in popularity of "woke" has been tied to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, which initially surfaced in 2013 following the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. #StayWoke often accompanied social media posts about police brutality, systematic racism and the industrial prison complex. #StayWoke reminds readers to look past the provided narrative, to examine their own privilege (or lack thereof). #StayWoke reminds readers that there is more than one reality to life in the United States.

Bear with me. I'm trying to get it. Yesterday I heard that line at the top of the post on a news program. I'm sort of "Democratic left." I need to be woke because apparently many aren't.

Do I have that right? Or am I?

Probably not. 

I'm confused. This much I know: I'm no Tucker Carlson. In that context, I am woke.

Pardon me now--I'm going back to bed.