Something that I have noticed throughout the last couple of months on social media, or even in everyday conversations, are phrases along the lines of the following: “Good morning world, what will we get offended by today?” Many claim that people nowadays get offended by every little thing, that people search for things to get offended by.
The more that I came across such phrases, the more that I pondered what it meant and tried to find an answer.
I actually believe that it is not that people are getting offended by more things, but rather that individuals are finally speaking up about issues that that tended to be swept under the rug, unacknowledged.
Some speak with nostalgia about the so-called “peaceful” days of the past, but what few stop to consider is the fact that silence is not equivalent with peace. Silence is the equivalent of oppression, and speaking up against oppression that has been cemented brick by brick for centuries is bound to be noisy and perhaps even messy.
Members of oppressed communities are speaking out and protesting against things that have been occurring for several years, the only thing that has changed is the fact that people are now finally drawing attention to these matters.
In fact, to borrow a slang term that is becoming increasingly more popular, people are “woke." They are becoming aware of the cemented racism and of the social injustices that have prevailed throughout time. People are waking up, and it’s causing a rift in the hierarchy that is our society, there’s noise, there’s discomfort, but it’s necessary to address these systemized forms of oppression.
I know it can be easy to romanticize comfort, days where no one spoke out about such topics, to tranquility. But before we give in to instincts we should stop and think. Let us work for a more equal and just society, rather than spend our time trying to revert things to times of unopposed subjugation, simply because it was quieter and easier. Let us say to each other, “Good morning world, how can I do my part to dismantle institutionalized oppression today?”
