woke mind virus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
First popularised by Elon Musk on Twitter in 2021.
woke mind virus (singulare tantum)
- (politics, slang, neologism, derogatory) Leftist, progressive, or social justice-supporting movements that are perceived by opponents to be fanatical or corrupting society.
2023 July 21, Domenico Montanaro, “Republicans can't stop using the word 'woke'. But what does it really mean?”, in NPR[1]:
"We have made Florida the state where woke goes to die," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a recent event in Virginia. "The woke mind virus represents a war on merit. It represents a war on achievement."
2024 July 25, David Ingram, “Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child”, in NBC News[2]:
Musk told Peterson that Wilson’s gender transition has been the motivation for his push into conservative politics. “I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that, and we’re making some progress,” he said.
- (politics, slang, neologism, derogatory, by extension) Perceived left-wing threats to freedom of speech or conservative values.
2023 April 28, Ellise Shafer, McKinley Franklin, “Elon Musk Talks Twitter, Censorship and the ‘Woke Mind Virus’ on ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’”, in Variety[3]:
“I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech,” Musk said to Maher. “So those are two of the aspects of the ‘woke mind virus’ that I think are very dangerous…. you can’t question things, even the questioning is bad. Almost synonymous would be cancel culture. And obviously people have tried to cancel you many times.”