In practice, it seems to me that social conservatives use the term "woke" most when referring to:
- Pushing for LGBT rights, especially trans rights these days.
- Pushing diversity in media, both with LGBT and with non-white-male lead characters.
And I don't get the Marxist connection in either case.
Disclaimer: I'm going to be operating from an American perspective, because I am an American and more familiar with my own nation's history and circumstances. But I know that a lot of what I'm going to mention in the following applies, or has parallels, outside of the US.
"Marxism" is a bogeyman word. It serves two purposes, depending on how self-aware the person using it is. For white-collar Fascists it's a way to manipulate blue-collar conservatives toward their way of thinking; because the average blue-collar conservative would have no desire to be associated with anything openly fascist, they also have over a century of worry instilled by authoritarian regimes which claimed to be Marxist in the form of, for example, the USSR and Maoist China. "Marxism", "Communism", "Socialism" are all blended together indiscriminately, and are simply presented as Stalinism/Maoism. That means that people with power who exploit the blue-collar conservative are able to convince the blue-collar conservative to actively fight against their own interests.
The term "woke" was coined within African American communities as a way to talk about being awake to the realities of racial injustice. The term, like as often happens with words coined within African American communities, was co-opted by the larger (predominantly white) population. And then taken up by some as a way to try and then attack those advocating for justice and systemic change. So now "woke" is pretty much used exclusively as a pejorative to dismiss conversation about systemic injustices which negatively affect marginalized groups. This is what phrases like "woke mob" and "woke mind virus" are intended to do.
By associating "woke" as a pejorative with "Marxism", it is intended to perpetuate the "Cultural Marxist" conspiracy theory. It's simply, again, the attempt by elitists who manipulate and exploit ordinary working class people into acting against their own interests by sowing division and creating scape goats.
Because a light has been starting to be shined on the dark and sinister realities of power, and exposing evil as evil and exploitation as exploitation, and that our present civilization is essentially built upon the foundation of exploitation for the sake of the few and the wealthy--that upsets, and frightens the powerful. And since there are more of us than there is of them, the only real way they can maintain their hegemony of power is by manipulating and exploiting at least a good amount of the population into being afraid of "those people over there".
Conservatives aren't dummies, they know that politicians are crooked, they know rich billionaire CEOs are corrupt. But if you can also convince those blue-collar conservatives that it's actually undocumented workers entering into the country, or that it's the 0.1% of people who undergo gender affirming care, or that anyone who is gay is actually a pedophile trying to groom children, or
that black men are out to steal white women, or that
the Chinese are going to take all the good railway work--well then that at least presents a supposed "more immediate" threat than the obvious devil in the room--take care of the scape goat first, then address the problem of the devil. But there is always going to be a new scape goat. They keep creating new ones. Jews, Muslims, Socialists, homosexuals, immigrants. There's always a group to blame, always a group to be afraid of.
If it helps to sow discord and exploit fear, then sure, call it Marxism. Call it anything, but the goal is to keep people afraid and distracted.
-CryptoLutheran
