Exactly my experience as well. I had occasionally heard the term in passing, but it never was more than a minor blip on my radar until I was having a conversation with my outspoken conservative uncle who asked me if I was "woke". (This was years ago, I want to say around 2015 or so.)

I knew vaguely that it was connected to the idea of being aware of social justice issues, but it became clear that what he was really interested in was whether I held the same set of naive, self-righteous, straw-man ideals that are so regularly pilloried in conservative media and labeled as "woke" culture.

For a group that claims to hate identity politics, the right sure is quick to slap labels on everyone and put us against each other.

/r/conspiracy 2001-2009