The people who use “woke” as a term of derision are the same as those who used (or still use) the term “politically correct” for the same reason:
I think Mike Godwin — yes, the Godwin after whom “Godwin’s Law” is named — is right when he says this:
Or, to quote Neil Gaiman on “woke’s” predecessor, political correctness:
I was reading a book (about interjections, oddly enough) yesterday which included the phrase “In these days of political correctness…” talking about no longer making jokes that denigrated people for their culture or for the colour of their skin. And I thought, “That’s not actually anything to do with ‘political correctness’. That’s just treating other people with respect.”
Which made me oddly happy. I started imagining a world in which we replaced the phrase “politically correct” wherever we could with “treating other people with respect”, and it made me smile.
You should try it. It’s peculiarly enlightening.
I know what you’re thinking now. You’re thinking “Oh my god, that’s treating other people with respect gone mad!”