Conservative writer Bethany Mandel's "woke" brain fart goes viral

Washington DC - Conservative author Bethany Mandel was asked to define the word "woke" on live TV, and her response, or lack there of, has gone viral.

Conservative writer Bethany Mandel went viral on Wednesday after she was asked to define "woke," a central theme to her new book, but couldn't do it.
Conservative writer Bethany Mandel went viral on Wednesday after she was asked to define "woke," a central theme to her new book, but couldn't do it.  © Collage: Screenshots / Instagram / @bethanyshondark

The fiery debate over "woke" has been stoked.

Mandel sat down for an interview with The Hill's show Rising on Wednesday to promote her new book, Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation.

In a very notable moment from the show, host Briahna Joy Gray asked Mandel to clarify what she meant when she uses the term "woke," a central theme of her book.

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"So - I mean - woke is sort of the idea that…" Mandel begins, followed by an extended pause.

"I... this is going to be one of those moments that goes viral," she aptly says.

After more awkward pauses, Mandel tries again.

"I mean, woke is something that's very hard to define," she continued, "And we've spent an entire chapter defining it. It is sort of the understanding that we need to totally reimagine and redo society in order to create hierarchies of oppression."

Woke is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice.)"

According to the Amazon page for Mandel's book, Stolen Youth aims to provide "an urgent deep dive into issues surrounding the current woke indoctrination happening in politics, education, medicine, mental health, entertainment, and culture."

"These issues may seem subtle, insidious, and hard to make sense of, but armed with the information provided in this book, we now have a framework from which to fight," the description adds.

Now, Mandel herself has responded to her viral brain fart.

Bethany Mandel responds after going viral over "woke" debacle

Bethany Mendal has extensive experience writing about conservative issues for various media outlets.
Bethany Mendal has extensive experience writing about conservative issues for various media outlets.  © Screenshot / Instagram / @bethanyshondark

Mandel appeared to be a good sport about the whole debacle, sharing the clip of her delayed response on Twitter. She then went on to try to right her wrong in a bizarre way.

She began by telling a story about a conversation she heard between co-hosts Briahna Joy Gray and Robby Soave that she says "threw me off."

"I heard [Gray] demeaning parenting in general in colorful and nasty terms, stating parents only have kids in order to perpetuate their own narcissism," she explained.

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She then provided what she believes to be a proper definition of "woke," describing it as "a radical belief system suggesting that our institutions are built around discrimination, and claiming that all disparity is a result of that discrimination."

"It seeks a radical redefinition of society in which equality of group result is the endpoint, enforced by an angry mob," she adds.

Many critics argue that "woke" has become a term used by conservatives to shun and vilify those they disagree with, and Mandel's inability to explain it perhaps proves the point.

Cover photo: Collage: Screenshots / Instagram / @bethanyshondark

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