In today’s day and age, the word “woke” has frequently been tossed around in the world of social media. The term was first coined in the 1940s by African Americans and it translates to “becoming aware and woken up to the issues of inequality.” This term became popular and was ingrained into the African American Vernacular English, better known as AAVE. In the last decade or so, the term has gained quite some traction, becoming a pervasive catchword for an array of social injustices including but not limited to the BLM movement, LGBTQ+ issues, feminism, immigration and those impacting other marginalized communities.
As the term has been reclaimed in today’s generation, it has become heavily weaponized by all parties involved, turning what was once a term of empowerment into a shell of its historical meaning. With social media, social justice issues are regularly presented to everyday users, meaning different opinions and values are presented as well. The extensive usage of the term and its meaning has been a mask for people to hide behind; they use it in a performative way to seem “progressive” rather than believing in the cause and altogether weaken the original meaning.
So what seems to be the issue? Phrases such as “woke,” “cancel culture,” and “politically correct” are now detrimental, as they have become twisted in meaning and used for all the wrong reasons. Cancel culture is so normalized that it is basically expected on a regular basis. But the problem isn’t cancel culture itself; the problem is the people. All of sudden, everyone is the morality police. Most of the time, people don’t even know why they are “canceling” a person, they are just doing it cause everyone is. Rather than trying to understand the root of the problem and working towards eradicating it, people have shifted their priorities on those who are in the public eye. The real cause has been lost in the last couple of years and we are now in a fake woke frenzy.
Phrases like these are easy to hook onto. Instead of words with meaning, these phrases became letters strung together. We are not able to use these phrases for their intended purpose. Society has been rewired to do what other people are doing, assuming it’s right with no prior research about the issue in the first place. This sets back society as a whole because instead of working together to fight for the social injustices that still exist today, we look for the next A-list celebrity to blame for global warming. We are not making any progress, just throwing around a bunch of accusations.
If you would like to contribute to the well being of our world, I urge you to research on your own and participate in organizations that really fight for the cause. <3