Well, the term has been around since the 1940s and represents another little bit of misappropriation from the African-American community.

What is new however is its use as a cultural boogeyman to scare the (white) kids - except not really. Kids are tough and smart - it's their snowflake parents that can't sleep at night.

I too despair of any meaningful dialogue with anyone on the far right. Just like "Make America Great Again" (when exactly were we "great"? What will "great" look like when we get there?), "woke" is just a trigger word they can't define. All those experiments where a rat pushes a lever and gets a piece of food? They just keep pushing that damn lever until they die of overeating. (I may be exaggerating here) - perfect stand-in for the modern-day GOP... ("Woke" "Woke" "Woke" - they just can't help themselves)