Woke to be Woke
As with any other aspect, social media has brought with it both the good as well as the bad. Nowadays, individuals have the convenience of immediate connections from all around the world. However, having all this information at the tip of our fingers does not necessarily imply a beneficial standpoint as this has a lot of implications on its own. Every individual can express what they truly think and raise awareness on what is “woke”.
The term ‘woke’ has found its way into mainstream vocabulary, however many are still unsure about the meaning behind the word. It is simply the “past simple of wake”, as in to wake up, or awake. Described by Merriam-Webster as “chiefly US slang”, the dictionary defines the word as: “Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially when tackling issues of racial and social justice).”
Cancel Culture comes into play when people are considered not “woke”. Therefore, the idea results to be not politically correct when most of the time subjects revolving discrimination, and make it known on their own social media. Thus one may put forward the question as to whether Cancel Culture falls under activism. This might be further elaborated when the canceller is attacking the cancelled for not being “woke”. In such instances, will the canceller be making their voice heard and in turn, raising awareness on a particular subject — hence classifying as an activist?
Former US President Barack Obama has criticised the “cancel culture” as it had become so popular on all social platforms. He described this new phenomenon as a way to pass judgement, focusing on the negative, which in turn might lead to other negative results. Furthermore, one does not bring about change through any form of hate speech. Hence, he clearly states that in light of this whole view, cancel culture does not classify as activism.
Moreover, people, nowadays tend to be more aware of what they post and share on their social media out of fear of being cancelled. Having said so, however, there might be instances where the canceller does not in reality believe in the issue they are reporting about. Consequently, they only used their supremacy to be able to cancel the individual as it is socially acceptable to do so. Nonetheless, ignoring the situation and not cancelling the individual does not imply that this same person shall not be reported and hence, cancelled by another individual along the way.
Obama went on to state that the world is messy and that there are uncertainties all around. Individuals who are capable of administering impeccable work, are still normal human beings, who have their own flaws. In turn, it could be that those people who we are arguing with, also have their own families and children who look up to them and are dependent on them. Furthermore, in light of this, one might ask whether we shall grant such individuals the chance for them to grow through their mistakes. All in all, this is what in reality activism truly is about.
Malala Yousafzai, education activist, explained how at the moment, “we have associated activism with tweets”. She expressed how this whole idea needs to in fact completely change as anything which happens on a social platform occurs in a different world to the one we know. Through this, she asserted her disheartenment at the thought of having the concept of activism be driven by clicks and outrage rather than meaningful, offline action that can actually head towards a positive direction and have advantageous implications.