"Woke," "DEI," "critical race theory," and a bunch of other terms were coined to address anti-Black racism in the US and each and every one of them has become a snarl word in the minds of white conservatives, whether they are Republicans or Democrats.
Oct 8, 2026, 5:55 PMI feel like this is most explicitly shown with 'antifa'. Anti-fascist. Like, you know what they call the people who are against anti-fascism.
So they obfuscate, they confound, and they slice off the end of the word. They never say 'anti-fascist'. They never admit that being woke is actually about being aware of the inconsistencies and inequities in society. They never, ever say that critical race theory is about being critical in one's assessment of the past, present and future state of affairs.
This is linguistic gaslighting, and it's pretty Orwellian in its every particular.
@theogrin critical race theory is an off-shoot of the Frankfurt school's critical theory which contends that to effect meaningful change, you need to focus on the critical structure of the system, not simply observe the system evenly.
You're right, though, that it doesn't mean to criticize others, which is what the right likes to push in its pursuit of false victimhood.
Oct 8, 2026, 8:28 PMAh, thank you for the clarification! I'd thought it meant application of critical thinking to the various aspects of the system, asking how it came about, why, and how it can be changed.
Which I guess is a sideways version of the same thing.