My Unpopular Opinion About “Woke” Culture

I Am Awake But Not “Woke”

“I am sick of cancel “call-out” culture. It gives people a false sense of power and dominance over others.” — Melanie J.

If I had a major presence on social media, I would be preparing myself to get cancelled after completing this piece, but I am not in that space, so I will unapologetically state my opinion freely. And if somehow I end up getting canceled or called out for writing this piece, then I know that I said something impactful.

What does it mean to be “woke”? According to Wikipedia the definition is as follow:

Woke — a term, originating in the United States, that originally referred to awareness about racial prejudice and discrimination. It subsequently came to encompass an awareness of other issues of social inequality, for instance, regarding gender and sexual orientation.

I am baffled at the state of the new wave of “woke” culture as it exists today. What began as a legitimate movement to fight racial injustice and eventually social inequality has now been sabotaged by “woke” individuals, some of whom have no clue about the original plight of the movement. They have morphed it into a mob of online bullies, perhaps a cult even, flexing their internet muscles at every chance they get. Some of these self-proclaimed “woke” people are sitting around scouring the internet with their trigger fingers ready waiting for their next victim to strangle.

Like with many of our modern day movements, there are always certain individuals who take things to the extreme, why though? What is this deep desire to go as far as you can by pushing the limits of insanity?

Shame, shame, shame, is their game and nobody is safe from their trigger fingers. If you don’t comply or fall in line you will get cancelled or called out which basically means you are forbidden from expressing any independent thoughts. How can we begin to fix a broken country when we are all so divided? And then we spend excess time and energy fighting over meaningless and frivolous issues which overshadow the real issues that plague our nation today.

I am awake to the turmoil that I see happening every day around us, but I am not “woke” enough to participate in the frivolous antics of this newfound “woke” mob mentality.

I recall walking the yard of my college campus and stopping to listen to those students who were shouting, at times with bullhorns, about racism, America, government corruption, injustices, war etc. Back then, these were the “woke” people before the internet and social media became a phenomenon. They stood on their physical “soap boxes” and they tried to grab our attention to inform us young and impressionable college students of the ills of this world.

I wonder what they would think about the new wave of “wokeness” today? The word “woke” has evolved to tackle the need for reform in other areas where there are social injustices, but in the process, it has become part of the fabric of mainstream pop culture. Consequently, due to its popularity in the mainstream, there are many people who have hopped onto the bandwagon shouting hot air, at times for no good reason. They are wasting so much time and energy as not every issue deserves that level of effort.

Today, the internet and social media have birthed many people standing on “soap boxes” some of whom have self-proclaimed their “wokeness” by supporting one cause that they care about while ignoring the many other issues that plague our society. I am not here to pander to the left or to the right by stating my opinion, I think both sides have excessively pandered to their respective audiences and have contributed to the toxic “wokeness” that we see today. Through their frivolous use and weaponization of the word “woke”, it has certainly lost the impact of its original intent.

The state of humanity is in crisis and the more yelling and fighting and canceling we do, the less chances we will have to solve many of our deep-rooted issues. I am awake to some of the real problems that are causing our decline, but some of these new wave self-proclaimed “woke” individuals are trapped in their own slumber. Too asleep to realize that they are merely distractions and are perpetuating the divisiveness in our society. #youaretoowoke, #gobacktosleep, #restyourtriggerfingers

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