The night was crisp and the air was chilly on my skin. I remember that night as one of many to be filled with college-kid shenanigans. My friends and I were going to a kickback to let off some steam from our stressful week of assignments and exams. That night, I only knew one girl in our gang, and as she introduced me to the rest of the group, she said something that didn’t sit well. It wasn’t until much later that I realized why what she said bothered me. She introduced me to the group of girls as “the most woke person she knew.” Many people, other than her, have used the word "woke" as an adjective to describe me. In millennial internet vernacular, the word woke means to be socially aware. A culture has formed around this concept of being socially aware and while this may be harmless in theory, it is harmful in praxis. Woke culture incites herd mentality, discourages discussion and curiosity, and creates a toxic environment.
Woke culture emerged in the resurgence of feminism on the internet. As people were beginning to unlearn sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and classism, they began to criticize others who were not as aware of these issues or those who simply didn't care. In the wake of these injustices having been brought to light by the efforts of countless people primarily through the internet as the main platform, people began to only passively understand feminism and what it was about. We learned and memorized terms and instances of prejudices but lost the ability to critically analyze and be empathetic toward our fellow peers who may not share our views. This results in the formation of a herd mentality and often ends up with people blindly following what other "big accounts" say, without doing their own research.
Woke culture is a double-edged sword. While on one hand, it is incredibly beneficial because it encourages a whole generation of young people who are becoming socially aware and trying to understand and decentralize the problematic beliefs instilled in them as children, it has also become a culture that people use to dehumanize and belittle other people who don't agree with their ideals. It does not encourage discussion, but only the practice of throwing insults back and forth at one another.
Many people claim that fighting the good fight is exhausting, that they aren't Google and that people need to learn for themselves. I understand all too well that having to deal with ignorance isn't a part of the job. And this shouldn't be a job. It's tiring to have this label thrust upon you, because it puts you on a platform that you didn't necessarily ask for. The moment you make a mistake, you're thrown under the bus. Woke culture doesn't allow for mistakes or "problematic" people because it is their way or the highway, which isn't right. I didn't ask for that pedestal. I still don't, and I reject the notion of being "woke" because it implies that other people are asleep. The woke culture in of itself is a toxic and hostile environment, especially to people who are learning about feminism. It makes it hard to educate others when there's so much hostility around and it pushes people away from feminism on the basis that we're all fed up and ready to bite. The reality is, we're just tired. We should be. If you look at this world through our lens, through the lens of the marginalized and the oppressed, you would be too. But we can't change that unless we are more open with uneducated people. We can't expect everyone to have the same level of knowledge as us. It's not fair. It's not right. It only promotes a herd mentality and creates a hostile environment, which stops curiosity and critical analysis.
I hate being called woke because it ties me to a culture that I deem to be toxic and places me on a pedestal I didn't ask for. Unless people tied to the woke culture learn to be more compassionate and less critical of others who haven't gotten the same education as them, you can count me out.
