To conservatives they’re the same thing. Every decade or so conservatives pick a new loose catch-all term to describe everything they hate. It’s necessary to organize an otherwise empty philosophy. There have been a whole series of these over the decades. After awhile, the general public recognizes them as the bad faith labels they are, so they adopt a new one. The following terms have all been used in the exact same way by conservatives over the years:
Woke
Politically correct
Gay
Cosmopolitan
Intellectual
Elite/Ivory Tower
Subversive
Degenerate
Bolshevik/Red
Untermensch
Note, most of these terms have actual definitions outside of the one used by conservatives. Bolshevism for instance is an actual political philosophy and movement. You can go read books written by real historical and present Bolsheviks if you want. But when conservatives in the McCarthy era used the term Bolshevik, they weren’t referring to the actual political philosophy. Anyone trying to push for absolutely any modicum of social change or improvement was slandered as a Bolshevik. You could be the CEO of a major company, completely onboard with the capitalist enterprise. But if you advocated for desegregation, conservatives would call you “Red” or “a Bolshevik.” As used by conservatives, these terms have no real meaning beyond “bad.” Hell, sometimes people count as “woke” simply because of who they are. Transgender people are “woke” regardless of their actual beliefs. You could be a conservative Catholic trans woman who wants nothing more than to marry a cisgender husband, adopt six kids, and go to church every Sunday. You would still be “woke” to conservatives.
Now, if you want to talk about the actual definition of “woke” and “political correctness” before they became conservative dog whistles? AFAIK, political correctness never had any widely used definition outside of conservative fever swamps. Woke, however, was originally a term from the left, referring to anyone that was actively mindful of social injustice.
You can practice this yourself. Listen to a conservative rant about the people they hate. Whenever they use the word “woke,” try substituting one of the historical terms in your mind. You’ll find they work just as well. This is possible because ultimately they mean nothing other than “bad.”
To conservatives they’re the same thing. Every decade or so conservatives pick a new loose catch-all term to describe everything they hate. It’s necessary to organize an otherwise empty philosophy. There have been a whole series of these over the decades. After awhile, the general public recognizes them as the bad faith labels they are, so they adopt a new one. The following terms have all been used in the exact same way by conservatives over the years:
Note, most of these terms have actual definitions outside of the one used by conservatives. Bolshevism for instance is an actual political philosophy and movement. You can go read books written by real historical and present Bolsheviks if you want. But when conservatives in the McCarthy era used the term Bolshevik, they weren’t referring to the actual political philosophy. Anyone trying to push for absolutely any modicum of social change or improvement was slandered as a Bolshevik. You could be the CEO of a major company, completely onboard with the capitalist enterprise. But if you advocated for desegregation, conservatives would call you “Red” or “a Bolshevik.” As used by conservatives, these terms have no real meaning beyond “bad.” Hell, sometimes people count as “woke” simply because of who they are. Transgender people are “woke” regardless of their actual beliefs. You could be a conservative Catholic trans woman who wants nothing more than to marry a cisgender husband, adopt six kids, and go to church every Sunday. You would still be “woke” to conservatives.
Now, if you want to talk about the actual definition of “woke” and “political correctness” before they became conservative dog whistles? AFAIK, political correctness never had any widely used definition outside of conservative fever swamps. Woke, however, was originally a term from the left, referring to anyone that was actively mindful of social injustice.
You can practice this yourself. Listen to a conservative rant about the people they hate. Whenever they use the word “woke,” try substituting one of the historical terms in your mind. You’ll find they work just as well. This is possible because ultimately they mean nothing other than “bad.”