by Conservative author Bethany Mandel was widely ridiculed after appearing on the rising Morning show aired by The hill and has apparently been unable to define “awakening” – the slogan some right-wingers have used as a bludgeon against liberals.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis often says, to cheers from the crowd, that his state is where “the place to wake up is to die,” and a number of conservatives recently blamed the awakening for the collapse of the Silicon Valley bank .
On Sunday, Dan Slott, a comic book author with a sizeable following on Twitter, wrote on the platform, “This is getting silly. Dear newscasts, every time a politician says the word “awakens,” ask him what he means by that. The far right is beginning to use “awake” the way Smurfs say “smurf.”
“The right didn’t invent the term,” said one Twitter user answered.
“NO. They just abused it, renamed it, and won’t stop saying it — even if it clearly doesn’t mean what it’s supposed to mean — or worse, if they don’t care at all what it means, as long as it does.” good boogieman to scare their base with,” Mr. Slott called.
Ms. Mandel, a conservative columnist and author, appeared on the rising Online show to promote her book Stolen Youthcriticizing the alleged influences of progressives on children.
“We hope that parents of all political persuasions will pick up the book,” said Ms. Mandel. “It’s kind of an awakened reinterpretation that’s very, very, very far left.”
“Only seven percent of Americans consider themselves very liberal,” she added. “And probably fewer of them think they’re awake.”
Host Briahna Joy Gray asked Ms. Mandel what she meant by “woke”.
“It’s come up a few times and I want to make sure we’re on the same page,” said the host.
“So, I mean, waking up is kind of an idea that … this is going to be one of those moments that’s going to go viral,” Ms. Mandel said. “Woke is something that is very difficult to define and [in the book] we spent a whole chapter defining it.”
“It’s the kind of understanding we need to completely rethink and reduce society to create hierarchies of oppression,” she added. “Sorry, it’s hard to explain in a 15 second soundbite.”
In a TikTok video, author Kaitlin Bird defined the awakening as “an awareness of systemic inequalities. It is an understanding of how our society is organized to deny people rights and perpetuate injustice.”
Ms. Mandel’s clip actually went viral with more than 6 million views.
Upon reaching The Independentshowed Mrs. Mandel Posts she made on Twitter after her performance rising.
“Well, everyone saw my viral brain fart from ‘Rising’ this morning. I can of course understand why it went viral,” she said. “Just before we went on air, Briahna Joy Gray sat at a hot mic. I heard her degrading parenting in general, in colorful and nasty terms, saying that parents only have children to fuel their own narcissism. Robby replied, ‘There are some good ones and some bad ones.’”
“As a mother of six, including a newborn, I was a little upset. No excuse, just reality. I’m human!” she added.
“As for awakening, here is an actual definition: A radical belief system that suggests our institutions are built around discrimination and claims that all inequalities are a result of that discrimination. It seeks a radical redefinition of society where equality of group outcome is the endpoint enforced by an angry mob,” she concluded.
writer for The Atlantic Jemele hill tweeted: “This is why I tell journalism students that open-ended questions are better than difficult-sounding questions. When Conservatives first misused the word “awake,” any journalist should have asked them to define it. Because these meltdowns would have happened a lot.”
“Oh my God. This Republican speaker was stunned when asked what ‘awakened’ actually meant,” said podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen wrote.
“WOW. Funniest thing I’ve seen all day! This MAGA grabber’s brain literally shorted out when asked if she woke up. She couldn’t. Maybe we should help her by reading her book… and leave a review”, the nearly one million follower progressive account Call to Activism wrote.
Davidson Professor of Public Policy, Issac Bailey wrote, “woke” was a positive term used by people (mostly black people) who wanted to be aware of things bigger and more important than themselves and their own experiences, but it’s clearly just an insult when they used by Bethany Mandel and others. There’s no reason to pretend otherwise.”
New York Magazine Writer Jonathan Chait replied after Ms. Mandel was mocked from Twitter users: “I find the bunch over this clip pretty disgusting. She may be wrong, but she’s not an idiot. She just froze on TV. It happens.”
